Man, China is killing the US in EVERYTHING!

Universal McCann has published the third part of its global study of usage and attitudes about social media platforms. This wave surveyed 17,000 internet users in 29 countries and the results, while not surprising to me, were certainly eye opening.

A couple of key takeaways:

1.     Video clip platforms have grown from when they first began this survey in September 2006 from 31% penetration to 83% as of March 2008
2.     36% think more positively about companies that have blogs
3.     China has the largest blogging community in the world with 42MM bloggers, more than the US and Western Europe combined

It is a fascinating survey that I urge all marketers to take a look at as it illustrates that opinions about your brand are more than ever being formed in the social media space. As we have discussed here and in our podcast, buying decisions are seldom made in a vacuum. 32% trust bloggers' opinions on products and services. "All companies and brands should consider employing them to create open and honest dialogue. Any blog that spins the truth will be found out. In a world of social media, honesty is the only policy." (Bold mine)

Much like gas prices, these numbers will not be trending downward anytime soon. Control is shifting to the user and people get more and more of their information their way from the internet. Are you going to be there to help them make up their minds?