Report: emerging markets steal social media lead on old world rivals

PanARMENIAN.Net - Businesses in emerging economies have stolen a march on their western counterparts in the use of social media, according to the latest findings from Grant Thornton's International Business Report (IBR).

The research reveals that 43% of businesses globally use social media in some capacity. However, this rises to 53% in Latin America and 50% in the BRIC economies. In mature markets the figures are much lower, at 40% in the G7 and just 35% in Europe. The Armenian average is closer to the European data, with only 34% of businesses using social media. Meanwhile, more than three quarters (78%) of Latin American businesses plan to increase their use of social media, compared to two thirds (66%) in the EU and just over half (55%) across the G7.

The results are a wake-up call to business leaders reluctant to embrace digital opportunities, who could lose out in an e-commerce market expected to be worth $1.4tn by 2015.

Mark Henshaw, head of media and entertainment at Grant Thornton UK, said: “The results … show businesses in emerging markets embracing social media much faster than their peers in mature markets.”

The results also indicate that globally, advertising is the most common reason companies use social media (53%), followed by communicating with customers (51%) and recruitment (43%). Advertising is the most common use in Armenia (28%), followed by recruitment (10%) and with no responses collected on communication with customers.

The IBR also indicates that despite the rapid proliferation of new media, newspapers remain the preferred source of information to business owners. Globally, four in five read a newspaper (79%) at least three times a week. This is also true in Armenia with 76% of respondent businessmen confirming that they read a newspaper regularly. In addition, newspapers, both hardcopy and online, are still the preferred source of news in Armenia (66%), followed by television news with 21%.