The future in social media terms is rarely predictable - surprises will always be a part of their power! However, the growth of some social media trends can be estimated with certain confidence.

 

This growth will be much bigger in emerging markets, such as India and Indonesia, as it was in 2011 and 2012 and smaller in more established markets such as the U.S. In fact, India and Indonesia are expected to have the biggest growth in 2013 as well.

 

Moreover, mobile engagement is going to be even higher this year! This trend will again be higher especially in emerging markets, where mobile social media seems to be the norm.

 

According to Nielsen’s Social Media Report 2012 more and more people use social media while watching TV- 63% in Middle East and Africa and 52% in Latin America. These results show us that people aren't just chatting while they do so. They're also shopping and looking up relevant program and product information.  Once again, the above countries are developing and not developed markets.

 

Facebook, the leader of social media is dominant in all, but 10 countries - among them China where it is officially banned. Meanwhile, VKontakte and Odnoklassniki remain popular in Russia. Twitter and LinkedIn held the second spot in many countries, but the huge rise of Pinterest and Instagram demonstrated that there's still room for new players.

 

The only certain prediction one can make is that the continued growth of social media on a global scale is not going to slow down, so Brands and Social Media Marketers should get into emerging markets as quickly as possible!