Yet another area the US is falling behind in

A new global study on social media use by Universall McCann shows the US is falling behind in participation rates.  A couple of highlights directly from AdWeek:

• A little over 60 percent of Internet users in the U.S. said they read blogs, but just 26 percent had created one, compared to over 70 percent of Internet users who blog in South Korea and China.
• Consumers in Asian countries are also much more likely to read blogs: 92 percent of South Koreans and 90 percent read them. In China, 88 percent read blogs
• While 30 percent said they watched video online in UM’s initial survey in September 2006, over 80 percent said they had this year.
• Less than 30 percent of respondents said they set up a social network profile in 2006; over 60 percent did two years later.
• Social networking is still growing worldwide, but is reaching a “saturation point” in the U.S., while countries like the Philippines, Brazil and Mexico more avidly use it.  The Philippines, Hungary, Poland and Mexico all boast participation rates over 75 percent, while just 43 percent have joined social networks in the U.S

UPDATE: I finally found the presentation for sharing since the AdWeek link is down

Weekly Round-Up 4-18-2008

Latest and greatest that caught my eye this week:

• The Economics of Social Media - Very interesting conference taking place in LA at the end of April.  Wish I could make it out there…
• Ian Schafer: Integrated (Big) Agency Model -The CEO of Deep Focus asks if all the reshuffling at major holding company agencies is really going to work.  Ian nails the answer when he writes “Brands need smaller, more nimble, more innovative agencies built as integrated problem solvers from the ground-up — with creativity as its religion and the ability to deliver experiences (with the results to back it up) as its practice.”
• Merging Real World and the Internet - Very interesting facts…”Gartner Group predicts that by 2011, 80% of internet users will participate in at least 1 virtual world. While Second Life has received about 99% of the media’s attention, it only accounts for about 1% of all the users globally. Globally, sales of items in virtual worlds account for $1.5 billion.”
• What I Want a Social Media Expert to Know - I would love to see a count of how many people claim to be “Social Media Experts.”
• Facebook Ads Don’t Rock -Bob Gilbreath put Facebook to test to see if advertising on the social network could drive traffic.  Unfortunately for MSFT and the $15 billion valuation they put on the site, Facebook ads didn’t deliver at all.
• A Billion Dollars in Internet Advertising is Wasted -Interesting study on where Internet advertising is going and what parts arent working at all.