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Earlier this month we learned that maybe teens are better at social media then the average person. Partly because they are actually being social with their friends in real life and not living all of their lives online. Now Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project says that teens are increasing their usage of social media and using a variety of technical and non-technical steps to manage the privacy of that information.

With at least 60% of teen Facebook users having a private profile that only their friends can see. It’s not a shock what they’ll share on their profiles:

• 71% post the city or town where they live, up from 61%.
• 53% post their email address, up from 29%.
• 20% post their cell phone number, up from 2%.

If you market to teens or leverage Facebook for a client, then the study, Teens, Social Media, and Privacy, is a must read because teens aren’t abandoning “social.” They’re just using the word correctly.

eMarketer has a couple great post about the growth of social networks around the world. One of the more interesting tidbits is that Facebook usage is actually not declining but holding steady across the US as it grows around the world.

Plus Google+ is actually doing better then many people think because people assume if it’s not taking off in the US then it’s not taking off around the world. However, it’s taking off and doing well around the world.

Which Social Networks Are Growing Fastest Worldwide?

Behind Facebook, there was a crowded field of second-place contenders, with Google+ out front at 26% of internet users. In the US, Google+ gets limited attention, though its user base is growing. Worldwide, however, Google+ has been much more successful. Given that YouTube was right behind, in use by one-quarter of active internet users, there’s no question that Google, which owns YouTube, is giving Facebook a run for its money in the global social network space.

Emerging Markets Drive Facebook User Growth

Asia-Pacific leads the rest of the world not only in Facebook user growth, but in sheer number of Facebook users. By 2017, eMarketer estimates, 616 million internet users in Asia-Pacific will use Facebook at least monthly, with nearly half that number coming from India alone. Latin America is the second-largest region in terms of number of Facebook users, and fast growth in the Middle East and Africa will push that region’s Facebook population ahead of North America’s this year.
Read more at http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Emerging-Markets-Drive-Facebook-User-Growth/1009875#jjtiXUmBPOh2THdy.99

A lot of report has been released this month on the habits of the UK consumer. How we spend our time online across varies age groups to how we’re picking up the economy and beating the odds during this recession.

However, Deloitte has put out a great report looking at the habits of people in the UK across video games, newspapers and digital media. The paper also looks at the divide between the have and the have nots. If you want to understand the evolving UK consumer then this is the best place to start in 2013: Deloitte’s Media Consumer Survey.

The battle rages on between search, display and social. Everyone is fighting for the same piece of the pie. I’ve often felt it’s never black and while or one channel over another. It’s about all channels working towards a common gaol, that makes sense and is SMART.

We find that display ads significantly increase search conversion. Both search and display ads also exhibit significant dynamics that improve their effectiveness and ROI over time. Finally, in addition to increasing search conversion, display ad exposure also increases search clicks, thereby increasing search advertising costs. After accounting for these three effects, we find that each $1 invested in display and search leads to a return of $1.24 for display and $1.75 for search ads, which contrasts sharply with the estimated returns based on standard metrics.

If you work in paid search or display, then this is some required reading this weekend.