Is the internet “over” or has it just begun?
July 8th, 2010 by Kevin Smith
Recently, the musician Prince, announced something pretty shocking. He announced that, “The internet is over.”
I know, right? I didn’t know either.
Prince went on to claim that “computers and digital gadgets are no good either and they just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.”
As much as I’d like to believe the man who penned such insightful lyrics as:
“I ain’t wit that, cuz she too fat, so I give her to my buddy cuz it’s like that!”
I think the web is going to stick around for a while – especially the social web.
Now, I don’t want to speak for Prince, but I can’t help but notice that his “internet is dead” claim came around the same time that Lady Gaga became the first living person to pass 10 million followers on Facebook. Prince only has a little over 230,000.
I’m going to assume that Prince listens to the show and reads our blog, so I want to take this opportunity to say, it’s okay. Let Lady Gaga have Facebook. It’s a big world out there and there are other social networking sites that you can make a run for.
How about China?
Right there you have over 1.3 billion people…and believe me…they love them some internet. Sure, they’re a little restricted by their government, but that doesn’t stop them from leading the world in engagement with the social networks, according to the July-August issue of the Harvard Business Review. In China there are over 176 million social network users and they’re not on Facebook – which is blocked in China – instead they’re split between many different sites.
You could be the star of Qzone or 51.com, heck, play your cards right and you could even dominate wangyou.com while you’re at it.
Keep in mind, each culture is a little different in how they approach social media, so you’ll have to adjust. For instance, people in China tend to be much more open online than they are when face-to-face. Also the Chinese have been found to have a much higher tolerance for intrusive calls to action – so don’t be afraid to push that new CD while you’re there or add some friends to your Farmtown or Mafia war.
Once China is taken care of, consider moving on to India. Like the Chinese, Indians are sited as being at the forefront of social media usage as 23% of their online population is involved in micro-blogging sites like Twitter, compared to only 7% in the US.
Now, be warned, Facebook usage is growing in India – and growing fast. Facebook has experienced 400% growth within India in the past year alone. However, the number one site in India is still Google’s Orkut. But just to be safe, I suggest you target ibibo and Fropper too.
Speaking of Orkut, that brings me to my final recommendation:
Prince, my friend, I see no better place for you than Brazil.
According to Nielsen research, Brazil is the country that leads the world in both usage and time spent on social networks. Nearly 80% of the population is active on social networking sites, and of that group, 73% use Orkut. Furthermore, Brazilians have been found to carefully craft their online persona, much like you would Mr. “Artist formally known as but now known as again”. Everything they do and say online is thought out and intended to promote the image they want to portray about themselves.
Which brings me back to Lady Gaga. Let’s be honest, she’s a big star and I get it – she kind of stole your act and maybe some of your fans. But don’t blame the internet. To borrow a phrase that we’ve been hearing lately, the internet is just too big to fail. So adapt, try new things and embrace your future fanbase on Fropper, before Lady Gaga does.
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This post was featured as a social media dream segment of the July 8th edition of This Week In Social Media.
Kevin Smith is an Account Supervisor at PJA Advertising & Marketing. Follow him on Twitter: @Mr_KevinSmith
