I was going to talk about the benefits of Social Media Marketing. Then I started thinking…I think the first thing I should do before I even get into the benefits of Social Media Marketing is throw some facts at you. These facts will indeed amaze you. For some people may already know these facts.  Others will undoubtedly be surprised by them.

Let’s put the social media revolution in numbers. The internet started being widely used by the general public in early 1995. It is safe to say that baby boomers were among the first generation to really start using the internet. What has happened in the 15 years since we first started using the internet will amaze you.

1. The first commercial text was sent in December 1992. The number of text messages sent and received today exceed the population of the entire planet.
2. In 1984 there were 1000 internet devices worldwide. In 1992 there were 1 million, 2006 there were 600 million as of 2008 there are over 1,000,000,000 that’s right 1 billion internet devices.
3. It took the radio 38 years to reach 50 million users. It took television 13 years, computers 4 years, the Ipod 3 years.
4. Facebook took less than 9 months to reach 200 million users.
5. Ipod application downloads took less than 2 years to reach 2 billion.
6. If Facebook was a country it would be the 4th largest country. Myspace would be the 5th.
7. More than 1.5 million pieces of content are shared on Facebook….DAILY!!
8. Youtube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world.
9. Hulu has grown from 63 million total streams in April 2008 to 373 million in April 2009.
10. 70% of 18-34 year old’s have watched TV on the web. Only 33% have ever viewed a show on DVR/TV.
11. 25% of Americans in the past month said they watched a short video…ON THEIR PHONE..
12. Over 50 million business users and 500,000 CEO’s are connected on linkedin.
13. 80% of businesses are using Linkedin as their primary tool to find employees.
14. In 1996 Ebay was founded. Today they have a revenue of over 7 billion dollars..A Year!!
15. 35% of book sales on Amazon are for the Kindle.
16. 10 million users share millions of micro messages a day on twitter.
17. At 276% 35-54 year old’s are the fastest growing demographic on Facebook.
18. Social network is now more popular than email.
19. Generation Y and Z consider email passe.
20. Every 5 minutes 694,000 songs are illegally downloaded.
21. Social media has over taken porn as the #1 activity on the web.
22. By 2045 a $1000 computer will exceed the computational capabilities of the entire human species.
23. By 2010 Generation Y will outnumber baby boomers.
24. 96% of them will have joined a social network.
25. 21 year old’s wasted 20,000 hours on television, 10,000hours on video games, 10,000hrs on cell phones and sent and received over 500,000 emails and IM’s. Not includng this year.
26. 70% of 21 year old’s have written content on the web.
27. 1 out 0f every 8 couples married today, met on the web.
28. 70% of 4 year old’s have used a computer.
29. The amount of new technology information is doubling every year. This means that for Students starting a 4 year Technology school, half of what they learn will be outdated by their 3rd year of study.
30. The top 10 in demand jobs did not exist in 2004
31. We are currently preparing students for jobs that do not exist yet. Using technology that has not been invented, in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.
32. The average 19 year old college student knows more about computers than their professors.
33. 1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled online.
34. Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres have more twitter follower than the entire population of Ireland, Norway and Panama.

I could keep going with this list. I think you all get the picture. The internet is becoming a people driven economy. As it has been said; “Social Media isn’t a fad, It’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. The way I see it, If it took just 15 years for this to happen, behold for what the future in computers hold is yet to be seen.

Here is my prediction: I believe that within the next 5 years just about every college and university will give up on text books. Students instead will carry an electronic device such as the Kindle or Iphone with all their material and books in it. many colleges are following this pattern already.

Business will no longer really need to advertise their products because it will be the consumer seeking out the products through peer to peer recommendations.

Like I said; It will be a people driven economy”. But hey you know what? That is another story in itself.

Note* A lot of credit in obtaining these  facts goes to Erik Qualman from www.socialnomics.net who put together an outstanding video

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Alex Miranda

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