Social networks online are fundamentally different to our offline social networks – our friends, acquaintances, colleagues and others. Offline we have distinct groups of people that we interact with in different ways, whereas online in social networks we tend to merge all of our friends into one main pool. This great presentation from Paul Adams , head of user experience at Google, looks at how we interact offline and online and takes a sociological approach to understanding how people interact in social networks and the consequences of this. MORE >>

below is his latest infographic on Social Networks Adoption via a bell curved distribution (click to enlarge): From Cosenza’s article : The diffusion of new technologies follows a classic normal distribution or “bell curve” and, according to Everett Rogers’ studies ( Diffusion of Innovation , 1962), anyone who engages with a given innovation fits into one of five categories: innovators (2.5% The rate of adoption is defined as the relative speed with which members of a social system adopt an innovation. Please share and help me to improve my research. MORE >>

the sources below provide a vast wealth of data, statistics and research results, as well as a bit of interesting social media trivia. How are consumers and b2b decision makers using social media in their buying processes? Which social media platforms are most effective at influencing buyer behavior? How do the audiences differ across various social networks? How do social media marketing strategies in small businesses differ from those in larger enterprises? Social Media Facts and Stats. by Social Media Today. And much more. Email. MORE >>

A study carried out by Sensis shows how consumers are using social networks. Here are some of the findings: 12% research products they’re interested in purchasing. 12% research travel offers or holiday destinations. Of course, most people are using the social networks for personal reasons, but you should pay attention to these numbers. They seem small, but what they tell me is that people are on the social networks for personal reasons, but while they are there they are also using their time to research consumer opportunities. MORE >>

Earlier this year we reported on how Russia is the fourth largest social networking market in Europe. Data from TNS showed that use of social media and social networking in Russia is widespread, making it the fourth largest market in Europe for social networking behind the UK, Germany and France. In part this position is driven by strong local social networking sites, principally Odnoklassniki ( ????????????? ), which reports some 30 million registered users, and VKontakte ( ? ???????? The research showed that in May this year, 1.1 MORE >>