LinkedIn passes 1 million users in Singapore
According to a recent report by TheNextWeb, LinkedIn has officially hit the seven-digit mark in Singapore. The professional networking platform announced that this makes Singapore the fourth country in Southeast Asia to reach the 1 million user milestone. They also revealed that Singapore’s user base has doubled since 2011, to reach a staggering 70 percent of professionals and students in the market. Although LinkedIn has over 200 million users worldwide, 1 million in Singapore is an incredibly impressive feat given the fact that it currently reaches a substantial 20% of the country’s total population of 5 million.

Path has 10M users, adds 1 million per week
The previously rocky road has finally led to smooth sailing for Path–a private social network that experienced  legal troubles and slow growth in the past–as it currently has over 10 million registered users. The number is small, relatively speaking, but also indicative of a sudden increase in the platform’s growth rate in the last few months. As TheNextWeb notes, Path only had 2 million users in February 2012. When they reached 3 million in June 2012, they were adding about 250,000 users per month. According to the founder Dave Morin, this rate has ballooned to a whopping rate of 1 million users added per week. Indeed, this recent uptake would suggest that things are finally looking up for Path–at least, they are for now. But whether or not these users will stick is another story, and one that will be interesting to witness as it unfolds in the social media landscape.

Chat app Line has reached 150M users
TechInAsia recently reported that Japanese chat app Line has reached 150 million users worldwide. This news doesn’t come as a surprise given the recent boom in chat apps across the globe. What is astonishing, though, is just how quickly they announced this milestone. When Line doubled its user base from 50 million to 100 million last year, it took over seven months. Impressive, but to put this in perspective: the next 50 million users took just over three months. The magnitude of this steep climb is illustrated further,  in the line graph the company produced to celebrate the occasion. In any case, it seems more likely that we will see the next 50 million soon–perhaps much sooner than expected as well.

Chat app KakaoTalk approaches 90M users
In more news of chat apps milestones, KakaoTalk has also seen impressive momentum in the growth of its user base. As TechInAsia reports, the Korean chat app has recently closed in on the 90 million user mark. As indicated in the graph produced by TechInAsia, KakaoTalk has continued to see rapid growth since early 2012, adding about 10 million new users per quarter. There is still a considerable gap to be broached between KakaoTalk’s user base and Line’s 150 million (not to mention WeChat’s 300 million). But as the 90 million milestone is approaching any day now–and 100 million can’t be far behind–KakaoTalk has surely put some pressure on its Asian chat app counterparts to try and stay ahead of the curve.

Facebook has 1.11B monthly active users, 751 million on mobile
According to a recent report by TheNextWeb, Facebook has continued to grow its user base and surpass milestones, beyond the famous ten-digit landmark it reached last year. Earlier this week, the social network announced that the user base now stood at 1.11 billion monthly active users, with 665 million of them active on a daily basis. The monthly active users are up by 26 percent year-on-year, while daily active users is also up by 23 percent for the same period. The biggest increase comes from active users on mobile: the figure stood at 751 million users at the end of March 2013, indicating a significant year-on-year increase of 54 percent. Last quarter, Facebook reported having 1.06 million active users, of which 618 million were mobile. While 60 million users were new or became active, about 133 million users were added to the number of mobile users. As noted by TheNextWeb, this figure also means that more than 67% of active Facebook users access the platform through mobile devices.

In US and Europe, more tweets come from mobile than PC
The increasing adoption of mobile web has continued to have a significant impact on the online behaviour of internet users. Using a study conducted by Strategy Analytics, TheNextWeb proves that this has clearly remained a trend amongst Twitter users as well. The survey compared how 6,500 Twitter users in the US and Europe used the platform between March and October of 2012. The findings showed that mobile users increased from 56% to 71% during the period. Of these users, mobile phone users increased from 53% to 64%, while tablet users doubled from 9% to 18% of the respondents. Meanwhile, users who tweeted through desktop or laptop computers declined considerably, from 77% down to 64%. TheNextWeb notes that this trend may continue to unfold given the sharp drop in PC sales in the last year.

Urban netizens in China have a vast appetite for digital content
A recent report by eMarketer suggests that a vast majority of netizens in metro China are keen on digital content consumption. Based on a survey by KPMG, the findings indicate that social networking and streamed music constitute the highest share of digital activities, each claiming a response rate of  72%. These activities are followed by downloaded music (68%), streamed online films (67%) and accessed news (61%).

In fact, internet users in metro China surpassed those in other metropolitan areas across the globe when it came to music and international news. The highest number of respondents indicated they had accessed music content in urban China (77%), followed close behind by metro Brazil (75%). While 69% of internet users in urban China accessed international news through digital media, Singapore came second–this time at a considerable margin of 58%.

Spotify launches in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong
According to TechInAsia, Spotify has launched in three markets across Asia: Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. As these are the first steps into the region for the music streaming giant, many questions were abound regarding the decision to come into these Asian markets.  After all, the platform already claims 24 million active users across 23 different markets, with a whopping total of one billion playlists created. Spotify’s Sriram Krishnan indicated that Asia had actually been in sight all along–it only took a while to launch in the region because they had to tune it correctly “for this part of the world.” Although Spotify will face a local competitor called KKBOX, TechInAsia notes that Chinese-language music constitute the majority amongst the songs offered by the Taiwanese platform.

Smartphones help drive users to Facebook in US
A recent study conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC) has illustrated how smartphones are encouraging Facebook users to visit the platform more often than before. As noted by eMarketer, the findings suggest that 74% of the respondents in the 18-24 age bracket used their smartphones immediately upon waking up in the morning. A whopping 89% of the participants claimed to use their smartphones within the first 15 minutes of their day. The overall results amongst all of the respondents show that the numbers did decrease but only slightly.  Even amongst the 18-44 age bracket, 62% of the participants reported using their smartphones immediately, with 79% of smartphone users taking to their devices within 15 minutes of waking.

IDC also found that amongst these smartphone users, Facebook usage through mobile constitutes an average daily engagement time of 32.5 minutes overall. Over half of these minutes are spent checking their newsfeeds (16.4), while 9.5 minutes are spent messaging and 6.6 minutes are spent on photos or photo statuses every day. The total number of sessions averaged 13.8, with Newsfeed claiming the top spot again with an average of 7 sessions. Messaging similarly came in second with 4.1 sessions, while photo/photo status averaged 2.7 sessions per day.

Sina Weibo enters Thailand, aims to reach 1.6M users by year end
TechInAsia recently reported that Chinese microblogging platform Sina Weibo has made strides toward entering the Thai market. To this end, Sina Weibo has partnered up with Jiaranai Entertainment, a local company, and set some lofty goals for their expansion into Thailand. In particular, Sina Weibo aims to earn $1 million in revenue, and acquire 1.6 million active users by the end of their first year in the market. On one hand, Thailand is a popular destination amongst Chinese tourists; as TechInAsia notes, however, this hardly supports the venture on its own, not to mention the ambitious goals set forth within the short span of a year. Given Twitter’s presence in Thailand, as well as the increasing reach of (and possible displacement by) chat apps, Sina Weibo may be facing an uphill battle–one that is much steeper than they had anticipated.

Vietnamese chat app Zalo reaches 1 million users
Chat apps have been on the rise lately, and particularly so across Asian markets. The active user numbers from this past quarter have indicated that KakaoTalk and Line have already claimed the largest number of active social network users in South Korea and Japan respectively. As noted in an earlier blog post, this growing trend has also been demonstrated in Vietnam. As TechInAsia reports, local chat app Zalo has recently reached a milestone of 1 million users. This news comes just days after KakaoTalk and Line had similarly reported reaching the seven-digit mark in the Vietnamese market. The mobile app Viber has also grown to a considerable user base of 3.5 million. On one hand, the 20 million smartphone users in Vietnam illustrate that there is still a lot of room for growth. We also found that the number of Facebook users currently stands at 12 million in Vietnam, far exceeding the total number of chat app users by a significant margin. On the other hand, these milestones amongst chat apps are precisely what collectively predict that a new trend is on the horizon for social media. It may be too early to tell whether or not chat apps will unfold with lasting implications on a global scale; however, the potential locked in the increasing momentum of chat apps is undeniable to say the least.

Monthly active users on Vine increased by 50% in the last month
Earlier this month, we cited a report by TechCrunch that indicated Vine was far more popular than similar apps like SocialCam and Viddy, and outperforming them particularly amongst highly active Twitter users. TechCrunch recently followed up with another report on Vine. Based on a study by Onavo Insights, the results demonstrate that the video-sharing mobile app has continued to attract users at an increasing rate. It’s only been two months since its launch in late  January, but Vine has steadily grown its market share, particularly amongst iOS devices to a considerable 2.66% in the United States. Monthly active users have also increased in the last month by 50%. Unlike Vine, all three of the competitors in this app category are declining in both market share and monthly active users. This indicates that first-comers are not always at an advantage when it comes to social apps. Moreover, it may suggest that relative to other social platforms, video-sharing apps do not constitute a substitute-friendly category on mobile devices.

Jakarta is still top city on Twitter, generates 2.4% of all tweets worldwide
A recent report on Twitter users indicated that a significant portion of all tweets come from the capital city of Indonesia. A study conducted by Brand24.co.id indicates that 2.4% of the 10.6 billion tweets worldwide were tweeted from Jakarta, making it the top city in terms of total tweets across the globe. Tokyo came in a close second with 2.3%, while London claimed the spot for third at 2% of all tweets. Jakarta’s status as the top city for Twitter is especially impressive given the fact that there are 29 million Twitter users in the entire country. Jakarta also ranks high across other social platforms: the Indonesian capital is the second largest city for Facebook, with roughly 11.7 million users as well. Interestingly, this data from SocialBakers also demonstrates that the penetration rate for the social platform comes out to a whopping 136.52% of the total population.

In urban India, 74% of active internet users are on social media
Social media has made impressive gains in India, and much of the growth is tied to urban netizens in the market. A report cited by the Times of India notes that social media users in urban India accounted 62 million users by December 2012. The report was a joint effort by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB). It predicted that this number would increase to roughly 66 million by mid-2013. These figures indicate that almost 3 out of 4 active internet users are social media users in urban areas. These increasing levels of penetration are attributed to multiple factors, such as the decreasing cost of smartphones; the growth in overall internet penetration; and the subsequent increases in the penetration of mobile web. Also noted in the report is the fact that 72% of active internet users in urban India partake in some form of social networking; the activity is only second to email which claims a slightly higher rate of 80%.

YouTube has 1 billion unique monthly users
YouTube recently announced an impressive milestone: 1 billion unique users on the video-sharing platform on a monthly basis. Mashable notes that this comes roughly six month after Facebook announced their billionth user in October 2012, meaning that both social giants achieved this ten-figure user base in roughly eight years. Twitter is the youngest platform amongst the three, and had around 200 million users as it celebrated its seventh birthday earlier this week. YouTube’s reported billion users suggest that nearly half of all internet users are visiting YouTube each month, and 53% of them are viewing videos on multiple screens. As noted in YouTube’s blog, this percentage is actually higher amongst its core audience, whom YouTube identifies as Generation C or “Gen C”. While members of this core audience were just as likely to use smartphones as they were to use PCs for YouTube access, a 67% majority of them were using two or more devices to watch YouTube videos.

WeChat downloads up by 3000% in Indonesia
According to a recent report by Daily Social, WeChat has met an unprecedented level of growth in Indonesia. The increase is attributed to a TV advertisement that introduced the Chinese chat app’s launch in the market. Japan’s chat app Line had recently claimed the top spot on Google Play’s rankings; however, WeChat’s recent surge in popularity has bumped Line down to second as WeChat quickly overtook the first place spot. Whatsapp ranks third on Google Play’s top downloads, while KakaoTalk has been knocked out of the top 50, to 52 amongst free apps on mobile platforms. While a majority of WeChat’s users are based in China, Daily Social notes that the app has gained in excess of 300 million users in the past two years. In terms of the total number of downloads, WeChat still tips its hat to Whatsapp and Skype; though it is important to note that WeChat is also amongst the newest chat apps around, having only launched domestically in 2011. Equally important is the fact that “WeChat” was the result of a rebranding in 2012, that introduced languages beyond Chinese, such as English, Russian and Indonesian to name a few. As WeChat becomes increasingly accessible on a global scale, it will surely become an increasingly intimidating contender for both local and global chat apps to face.

3.2 billion accounts registered on Chinese social media sites
In China, the growth rate of social media has been unprecedented to say the least. The latest figures indicate that there are roughly 597 million active social media users in China. These social media users are also using multiple platforms; Citing an infographic via Go Globe, TechInAsia reported that these users have also registered a total of 3.2 billion accounts across the top 10 social platforms in China. Overall, more than 9 out of 10 internet users in China are on social media (91%)–a surprisingly large margin in comparison to the 67% of netizens on social media in the United States. Go Globe‘s infographic also indicates that social sharing increased by 60% in 2012, and 9 out of the top 10 social media sites have at least 100 million registered users. The largest demographic of Chinese netizens on social media belongs to the bracket of 26- to 30-year-olds (30%), followed by 31- to 35-year-olds (21%) and 19- to 25-year-olds (19%).

On Facebook, videos have double the engagement of YouTube videos
Socialbakers recently reported that brands were more likely to reach fans through videos posted to Facebook rather than YouTube. The data indicated that brands still prefer to post videos on YouTube; the sample presented a distinct bias for the video-sharing platform, with 4,731 videos posted on YouTube, compared to 554 Facebook videos. Facebook’s engagement rate for brand videos came out to an average of .22%, more than double YouTube’s engagement rate of .10%. Socialbakers notes that this may be because Facebook videos can be directly streamed from the mobile news feed, whereas YouTube links are redirected out of mobile apps. Facebook videos saw 10 times more viral reach than YouTube videos as well. It is interesting to note, however, that both kinds of videos were met with similar levels of interaction types, with 77% likes, 16% shares and 7% comments.

57% of Sina Weibo statuses are empty
Citing a recent study conducted by Hong Kong University, China Internet Watch demonstrated that Sina Weibo users are not nearly as active as you might think. The survey was based on a random sample of 30,000 users, and indicated that 57% of the Weibo timelines were completely blank. Although there are reportedly 503 million registered users in total as of December 2012, this data whittles the number of Weibos with at least one post to a mere 220 million. China Internet Watch also notes that the survey’s data is extrapolated to reveal that only 30 million users are likely to publish at least one unique post in a given week, potentially challenging Sina’s assertion that there are 46.2 million daily active users on the microblogging platform.

Traditional media ad spend declines, marketing budgets shift to digital in US
A recent report by eMarketer indicated that  traditional media ad spend was continuing to decline as more marketers increased focus and spending on digital media. Based on a survey of US marketers in February 2013 (as commissioned by the American Marketing Association, and conducted by the Duke University Fuqua School of Business), the findings confirm the downward trend in spending on traditional media. Indeed, this decline is neither steady nor subtle; while August 2011 had seen a promising increase of  1.3%, marketing spend quickly turned around to decline by .8% in February 2012. The rate of decline accelerated rapidly, to show that marketers had decreased traditional media spending by another 2.7% in February 2013.

eMarketer notes that this decline in traditional media is in favor of increasing spend on digital media. Interestingly, the changing ratio of spending on traditional and digital media differ considerably by sector and industry category. The highest growth in digital spending goes to business-to-consumer brands in the product category; while traditional ad spending will decline by 0.6%, digital spending will increase by a significant 14.6%. B2Cs in the service category will also see an increase of 10.4% on digital media spend. Interestingly, they will also decrease traditional media spending the most across sectors, reporting a negative change of 5.4% over the next 12 months.

Daily active users on Sina Weibo up by 82%, add 46 million in 2012
Sina Weibo’s growth over the past year has been an incredible spectacle. The Chinese microblogging service flew past 300 million in February last year, and the milestones kept coming in increments of 100 million: 400 million through July and 500 million by the end of December 2012. Onlookers may easily cast doubt upon these sort of numbers, however–after all, the number of registered users hardly describes user behavior. A recent report by China Internet Watch seems to dispel these doubts, as active users are reported to have increased at an impressive rate as well. Just as 500 million in December 2012 constituted a doubled user base from 2011, active daily users were up by 46.2 million or 82% compared to the same time last year.

2.8% of Twitter’s highly active users adopted Vine in its first month
It’s been six weeks since Twitter launched its micro-video sharing app Vine. Despite a few blunders with explicit content early on, the new video creation platform has started gaining some serious momentum in the social appmosphere. As TechCrunch reports, 2.8% of Twitter’s highly active users had adopted Vine in its first month.

Competitors like Viddy and Socialcam are also growing, but not quite as quickly. While Viddy lured 0.5 percent of Twitter’s active users, Socialcam came in with 0.2 percent of the same population–growth rates that contradict the rapid-fire expansion popularly associated with the growth of social platforms. This is because overall, video creation continues to be a relatively underdeveloped area in social media–a point that makes Vine’s adoption rate particularly striking.

The data was calculated from a sample of 2,500 randomly selected users who had tweeted at least 100 times within a month of Vine’s launch date, or January 24th 2013. On one hand, we know that the total population of active Twitter users exceeds 200 million; On the other, the number of users who tweet over 100 times per month isn’t as clear. Despite some indications of growth, only time will tell if a micro-video is worth 1000 words–not to mention 140 characters.

Line was the top social app for revenue in Jan 2013
TechInAsia recently reported that Japanese chat app Line claimed the top spot for revenue amongst social apps on iOS during January 2013. This claim is especially impressive as it is understood in relation to an increasingly popular category; social apps came in third globally in terms of revenue. Social apps also saw a significant increase in monthly downloads during the month, up by 30% compared to January 2012. Line has also become the top non-game for monthly revenue, on both iTunes and Google Play. This popularity may come as a surprise given the fact that the Japanese chat app constitutes the only Asian-made app in a list filled with American apps. As we have tracked through the recent months, Korean chat app KakaoTalk is quickly catching up as serious contender for the spot. AppAnnie notes that KakaoTalk ranks third highest for revenue on Android phones.

In US, 68% of small businesses to increase or maintain social ad spend
eMarketer reports that small business owners are increasing their devotion to, and investment in social media platforms. Based on a November 2012 study by Ad-ology Research, the findings suggest that a sizeable portion of businesses with fewer than 100 employees planned on increasing their budgets for marketing and advertising on social media.

The study indicated that the highest level of interest went to social advertising, with nearly 68% of respondents planning to increase or maintain their social media ad spend. Over 36% also responded that they would increase or maintain spending on promoted posts or sponsored tweets. While a majority of small business spending will still go toward conventional modes of marketing, social platforms are clearly casting a wider net of interest for their marketing potential amongst small business owners in the US.

In Singapore, average Facebook user likes 23 pages, mostly brands
Recent insights from Socialbakers indicate that Singaporean Facebook users like an average of 23 pages on the platform. The report indicated that brands were also the most popular amongst Facebook users, with 6.1 brand pages liked on average. This is followed by the categories of celebrities and entertainment, with 2.9 and 2.1 pages respectively.

The report also stated that images were the most popular form of content in Singapore, with brands posting images the most frequently on their pages, and fans sharing visual posts the most.  Socialbakers also notes that McDonalds Singapore, KFC Singapore, FlyScoot, Singtel and Starbucks are the most popular brand pages. Meanwhile, Starhub claims the top spot as the most socially-devoted brand, with over 110,000 fans and an impressive response rate of 90.3%

420 million Chinese netizens access web via mobile phone
The number of internet users in China has soared in the past year. As Resonance China reports, the number of netizens reached 564 million in 2012, and promises to hit the 600 million mark soon. What’s particularly striking, though, is the fact that many of these internet users are using their mobile phones to go online. The number of people using mobile web hit 420 million in 2012, up by 64.4 million from 355.6 million users in 2011. This also means that almost 3 out of 4 netizens, or 74.5% are mobile web users in China. On the other hand, internet access via PC stands at 70.6% of netizens. Resonance China reports that this is the first time that mobile internet access has exceeded the number of people going online through PCs.

100 million monthly active users on Instagram
TechCrunch reports that popular photo-sharing app Instagram has reached 100 million monthly active users worldwide. This significant milestone came soon after the platform had announced 90 million MAU just last month. These numbers may seem small in comparison to the 1 billion users on Facebook, the social giant that acquired Instagram for 1 billion US dollars (S$1.24 billion) during 2012. Even Instagram’s competitor Twitter announced twice that number in users, reaching its 200 million milestone in December last year. What’s impressive about Instagram’s 100 million though, is the fact that it’s just over 2 years old. Ever since its launch in October 2010, Instagram users have posted a total of 4 billion photos; currently, it sees 40 million photos posted to Instagram each day. It seems like brands are jumping on the bandwagon, as many global companies are starting to adopt the platform, increasing their existing social media presence on Instagram as well.

In South Korea, smartphone penetration at 78.5%, up from 38% in 2011
A recent report by eMarketer indicates that the number of smartphone and tablet users soared in South Korea during 2012. Based on a survey by the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), the findings suggest that the penetration rate for smartphones in particular skyrocketed from 38% in 2011 to 78.5% by December 2012. The highest percentage of users with 97.4% penetration are in the 20-29 age bracket.

eMarketer notes that the survey did exclude individuals who were over 60 years old, the least likely demographic to adopt smart devices. Given the aging population of Korea, this exclusion seemingly skews the numbers toward the perception of a higher adoption rate. Nonetheless, the huge jump amongst all of those surveyed still exceeds an average increase of 40% from 2011, proving to be a real eye-opener on its own. The penetration rate of tablets also indicated a considerable jump from 3.1% in 2011 to 7.5%, with the highest increase amongst 20-29 year olds (from 5.8% in 2011 to 13.5% in 2012).

Line hits 1 million user mark in Vietnam
According to a recent report by TechinAsia, popular chat app Line has passed 1 million users in Vietnam. The Japanese mobile messaging service had only recently surpassed 100 million users worldwide, with over half of the user base located in Japan. The chat app has weathered significant competition lately, from regional and global competitors such as Whatsapp, Tencent’s WeChat (called Weixin in China), and KakaoTalk out of Korea. While Line’s global user base is impressive in its own right, it faces tough competition from WeChat’s 300 million users, and KakaoTalk with over 70 million users worldwide. What makes Line’s milestone in Vietnam particularly impressive, then, is the fact that it is far exceeding the performance of these global competitors in this market. Granted, WeChat was reported to have a rough road ahead in the Vietnamese market, given the existing political tensions between China and Vietnam. KakaoTalk’s reach into Vietnam has also shown relatively slow growth, with reports of roughly 150,000 users on the Korean chat app (UPDATE: TechInAsia reports that KakaoTalk has just reached 1 million users in Vietnam as well). In Vietnam, the main global competitors for Line are Viber and Whatsapp. The Vietnamese messaging service Zalo also stands as a competitor, with over 700,000 users and predictions that it will hit 1 million users within a month.

98% of recruiters use social media to find talent in US, Canada
eMarketer reports that an increasing number of recruiters are using social media to find talent. In a recent survey of recruiters and executives conducted by recruitment software company Bullhorn, a whopping 98% of participants responded that they had used social media to find talent last year. As eMarketer notes, this is a slight but significant increase from the 94% reported in 2011. Most of the increase stems from LinkedIn, as 97.3% of recruiters reported using the professional networking platform in 2012.

The use of social media for recruitment is far from a fad, however, as many of the respondents predicted that social would become even more integrated with their jobs in 2013. While 82.6% of the participants indicated plans to increase LinkedIn usage, other platforms were also on the docket of social recruiting: 38.3% plan to increase their focus on Twitter while 37.4% intend to increase the time spent on Facebook in 2013.

The most effective platform was reported to be LinkedIn, as 93% of the respondents indicated that they had used LinkedIn to successfully place a candidate during 2012. While Facebook and Twitter came in second and third respectively, Facebook’s 17% candidate placement is a slight decrease from the 19% reported in 2011. Meanwhile, Twitter’s 13% in 2012 is a slight increase from the 11% recorded in the previous year.

In China, e-commerce driven by prospect of anytime shopping, low prices
Last month, We Are Social’s report on Social, Digital and Mobile in China detailed the rise of e-commerce in the burgeoning market. The report noted that there are over 240 million online shoppers in China, collectively spending at a staggering rate of $40,000 per second. TheNextWeb cites another insightful report in this regard, that casts further light on the state of e-commerce in the Chinese market. An infographic published by Go-Globe indicates that B2C e-commerce sales have nearly doubled in the last year, increasing by 94% or roughly 132.8 billion SGD in 2012. The infographic further suggests that e-commerce in China is mostly driven by the prospect of anytime shopping, low prices, and convenience. 28% of Chinese respondents cited the ability to shop anytime as the reason for making purchases online, whilst 25% of them cited low prices. Convenience was the main reason for 18% of participants, while 7% indicated the ease of making price comparisons online.

US airport becomes first location with one million check-ins on Foursquare 
Earlier this week, Foursquare reported that it had logged its first single location with one million check-ins. As TheNextWeb reports, this milestone check-in took place at the Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta, the state-capital of Georgia, USA. As recently as November 2012, the mobile location-based social network had announced an impressive number of 3 billion check-ins worldwide. As TheNextWeb notes, this means that airport’s check-ins account for 0.03% of total check-ins, which is “still quite sizeable if you remember it’s just one place.” To commemorate the 3 billion check-ins, Foursuqare launched a site that details the most popular locations to check-in across the United States.

In China, online ad revenue increased by 46.8% in 2012
A recent report by iResearch indicated that revenue from online ad spending had increased by 46.8% in China. The revenue was up to roughly 75.3 billion Yuan, or  14.9 billion SGD in 2012, from ad spend of 10.2 billion SGD in 2011. While the revenue was considerably higher in the past year, it is interesting to note that the year-over-year growth rate itself had declined somewhat, down from 57.6% in 2011.

iResearch notes that this growth can also be understood further based on a breakdown of the online platforms involved. Revenue from search engines only increased sightly, from 33.5% to 40%. By contrast, ad revenue from e-commerce and online video sites grew at a rapid rate. E-commerce share of online ad spend was at 23.3 in 2012, up from 17.5% in 2011. Video sites took 7.7% of the segment share, up from 7.1% in 2011.

iResearch suggests that this corresponds with the increasing popularity of e-commerce in China, as well as the growing interest in online video amongst Chinese internet users. Indeed, as Chinese internet users increased rapidly in the past year, online video also became more popular than search engines as an internet service in May 2012.

In UK, 98% of growing tech companies on LinkedIn–not so much on FB
According to a recent report by eMarkerter, LinkedIn was the most popular social network used by fast-growing tech companies in the UK. Based on a study by PR firm EML Wildfire, the study confirmed that 98% of the companies listed in this segment were using LinkedIn to engage with their audience.

Twitter came in second, with a strong 82% of companies reportedly using the microblogging platform. While Facebook came in at 68%, perhaps the most striking aspect of this share is the fact that it represents a decline in usage for B2C companies in 2012. B2B companies had increased their presence on Facebook to 65%, up from 32% in 2011. However, while all of the B2C companies cited in the report used Facebook in 2011, the numbers had dropped to only 83% of those companies in 2012.

While many of the growing tech companies in the UK seem to have a presence on Twitter, eMarketer notes that its use for customer engagement has sharply declined amongst the companies as well. As the graph indicates, many of the companies that have established a Twitter presence have decided not to start or continue engaging their customers online.

53% of Indian smartphone users prefer game, chat apps over call/text
Nielsenwire recently reported on the increasing penetration of smartphones in India. Of the 900 million mobile subscribers in India there may be about 40 million smartphone users amongst them early on in 2013. Nielsenwire’s smartphone user survey demonstrated that those users who switched to smartphones had also changed the way they used their mobile phones as well. In particular, Indian smartphone users were showing an increasing preference for using apps on their mobile devices.

The most popular kind of apps were games, taking up 58% of the poll; however, chat and instant messaging apps came close behind, with 53% of respondents indicating that these were their preferred smartphone applications. By contrast, voice calls and text messaging had declined  to consist of 25% of smartphone usage. Nielsenwire notes further that almost half of polled smartphone users do not have access to active data, and 48% of whose who were data users were also under the age of 25.