Leadership

Net Geography: Russians Skype, Asians Blog

By Sean Silverthorne

Updated on: July 12, 2010 / 1:16 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

Fascinating new research showing how netizens from around the world use the Web provides fodder for marketers and product creators to consider.

For example.

Up to 45% of Asian Internet users blog, compared to 15% in the U.S.
Some 55% of the population of South Korea has joined Cyworld, the country's massive social network.
The Japanese view social networking as away to connect with friends rather than to extend their networks. Status updates often run for pages.
Indians are three times more likely to share videos than users in the West.
About 40% of Russian Internet users have used Skype or similar technology to place phone calls.
North American, European, and Australian users are more active than Eastern users when it comes to photo sharing, but do less microblogging.

The authors of the HBR article Mapping the Social Internet, Harvard Business School's Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and data visualization designer Tommy McCall, say the most interesting developments are in emerging markets.

"Unlike Western users, many of whom established their patterns when the technology was fairly limited, users in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) nations are joining a much more diverse Web."

What can you tell us about your own experiences about how people in different parts of the world use the Web. What are the opportunities this presents diligent entrepreneurs?

(Social Networking image by 10ch, CC 2.0)