Facebook Is the Most Valuable Social Media Brand in 2012
According to a global study from BV4 and the Department of Social Media Management at the HWZ University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich, Facebook sits atop the heap of social media brands in terms of value in 2012.
With an estimated brand value of $29.1 billion, Facebook ranked as the No. 1 social media brand in 2012.
YouTube was second with a brand value of $18.1 billion, followed by Twitter with a brand value of $13.3 billion.
Qzone, based in China, was fourth with an estimated brand valuation of $11.2 billion, followed by fellow China-based company Sina Weibo with a value of $4.0 billion.
Badoo ($3.7 billion), LinkedIn ($3.6 billion), Tencent Weibo ($3.5 billion), Zynga ($3.1 billion) and Habbo ($3.1 billion) rounded out the list of the top 10 social media brands in 2012, according to the study.
The top 10 social media brands have an aggregate value of $92 billion.
The 30 most valuable social media brands are worth more than $125 billion, according to BV4.
“It is not only the high number of visitors that makes these brands so strong, but also their high level of global awareness and the remarkable user statistics of the platforms,” the report noted. “For instance, Facebook has 845 million users; this means that roughly every eighth inhabitant of the planet is registered on the biggest social network.”
Max Meister, CEO of BV4, said social media brands from China, Russia, Brazil and other “emerging countries” will become increasingly significant in the future.
The U.S. boasts $82 billion in social media brand value, followed by China with $28 billion and Europe with $13 billion.
A separate study conducted by the School of Business, Empirica Research, and StyleCaster Media Group found that when a product for which public consumption was desirable, the presence of Facebook and Twitter icons made people 25 percent more likely to purchase the product.
However, when a product was more private in nature, these social media icons suppressed purchase intentions by 25 percent.
“The impact on intended buying behavior emerged regardless of whether people had any memory of having seen the social media icons,” the study noted. “This suggests that these symbols have penetrated people’s unconscious processes and can influence decisions and behavior in ways that may bypass our awareness and ability to control.”
Sources:
http://www.bus.miami.edu/news-and-media/recent-news/townsend-social-media-12.html
