The development of social networks in Google terms. I just played a little around with Google Trends. In my eyes there are remarkable trend lines with the chosen networks, SnapChat, WhatsApp, Instagram and LinkedIn.
google trends – social media network trendline 2012 2014
Facebook didn’t fit into the graph above because it ‘outshined’ all others, but also an interesting fact: It is down around 25% in search volume if compared with January 2013. I guess a large part can be explained due to the shift to mobile. A lot of Chrome users just type in Facebook instead of the complete URL address. But the other platforms don’t have this much of a drop (or better: rise ), Twitter has the same figure as Facebook by the way.
Google Trends – Facebook search terms trendline 2012 2014
And at the same time Distimo delivers another report that shows how gigantic Facebook is. The four (4!) most downloaded free apps on Android are all property of Facebook (Facebook, Whatsapp, Facebook messenger and Instagram).
Some conclusions
- Facebook.com itself isn’t a populair as it used to be, but with Facebook unbundling strategy it owns social in every way possible.
- Like Google bought a gem with YouTube, Facebook found the gold with Instagram.
- Not really visible on the graph above but SnapChat made a hit with its new video and chat function.
- Snapchat is the only (Western) social network that is independent. (Hello Alibaba billions from Yahoo! )
What do you see?