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Photobooks Meet Facebook

In this analysis, Barb takes a look at the impact of social networking Websites on printed photos and photo merchandise. She also provides examples of companies that are evolving their methods and creating photo applications for social networks to maintain revenue and attract potential customers.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

The adoption of social networking has accelerated significantly over the past year and it shows no sign of stopping. Social networking has changed the way that people communicate, share images, as well as market products and services. Digital word of mouth is disrupting traditional business models, and executives in all industry segments want to understand its opportunities and threats.

The most predominant social networking site today is Facebook. Recent Facebook statistics indicate that the social networking giant grew from 350 million active monthly users at the beginning of December 2009 to more than 400 million in April 2010. Approximately 50% of active users log-on to Facebook in any given day. The average user has 130 friends and people spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook. If Facebook was a country, it would now be the third largest in the world.

For anyone logging onto Facebook, photo sharing is a key application. The rate of photo uploads also continues to grow. Facebook says more than 3 billion photos are currently being uploaded every month, up from 2.5 billion in December 2009, 2 billion in September 2009, and 1 billion in July 2009.


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About Barb Pellow

A digital printing and publishing pioneer, marketing expert and Group Director at InfoTrends, Barbara Pellow helps companies develop multi-media strategies that ride the information wave. Barb brings the knowledge and skills to help companies expand and grow business opportunity.

Please offer your feedback to Barb. She can be reached at [email protected].

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