Hello From Croatia! Social Media Grows, World Shrinks

Today I happened to be reviewing some of the latest stats on the use of social networks from ComScore. The numbers were released earlier this week. But I've been swamped and unable to dive in.

You can see the press release announcing the numbers here, as well as a few charts below.

The numbers that stuck out -- 580M people now use social networks, which represents a 25% increase from last year and about two-thirds of all internet users. MySpace and Facebook alone reach about half of the social networks (note to self -- I'm definitely in the right space right now). While Facebook grew 3% last year globally, Facebook grew by 153%.

The real action and growth is outside of the US. Only 22 percent of social network usage is in the US. Total usage in the states grew 9% in the last year versus the 25% global average.

As I was reviewing the impressive numbers about global social media growth, I received a LinkedIn message from a friend from Croatia I had not spoken to in at least 9 years, Domagoj Bebić. I first met Domagoj in Hvar, Croatia, in 1998 at the Student Voice conference in Hvar. I was running U-Wire at the time (now owned by CBS) and was fortunate enough to participate in a 3-day summit of student journalists from about 60 countries. The main theme was press freedom and the emergence of the internet as a major force in giving young voices an audience once unavailable. I remember many of the details of the conference as if it were yesterday, including wonderful seafood meals and a quick trip to Zagreb.

Domagoj was and continues to be a fascinating guy. When I first met him he was about a year into creating a student magazine, Puls, at a time when and in a part of the world where student journalism was rare.

Thanks to LinkedIn, I now know he has gone onto do some amazing things. He's an assistant faculty member of political science at the University of Zagreb. He's also a co-founder and general secretary of INMED, the Institute of New Media and eDemocracy in Zagreb, as well as a member of the Hvar city council. (If you have not been to Hvar, you should go. It's a tiny island off the coast of Croatia that is one of the most beautiful and charming places on earth.) Domagoj is currently writing his PHD thesis on role of the internet in the 2007 Croatian elections.

As social media usage grows, the world shrinks.  Thousands of miles turn into emails, Facebook messages and instant messages. Distance and time once killed relationships and connections. Now they never go away and can be rekindled at any time.

10 years later, almost to the month, I am once again connected to Domagoj. And it goes without saying that I look forward to re-connecting and hopefully grabbing a beer (in person!!!!) again soon.