We Are Social’s Top Ten Posts of 2014
2014 proved to be yet another amazing year in social, presenting significant changes in the digital and social media landscape. Throughout the year, we’ve been using our blog to deliver you our own research, insight and perspective and to keep you up to date with developments in world of the social media.
So, to re-cap on a great year, we thought we’d share our top ten best read posts from the last 12 months:
1. Social, Digital & Mobile Worldwide in 2014
Our report on the key social, digital and mobile stats from around the world, led by Simon Kemp, our Regional Managing Partner in Asia, was our most viewed blog post in 2014, revealing trends, changes and the growth of mobile. The Worldwide report was followed by more focused overviews of regional digital and social media landscapes, such as the Americas, Europe, APAC, China and India over the year.
2. WhatsApp: The Numbers You Need
Following Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp, we published an infographic highlighting the reasons behind Facebook’s move. It also examined who WhatsApp’s competitors were on a global level, with a particular focus on China’s messaging apps.
3. Global Social Media Users Pass 2 Billion
In August, the latest figures indicated the number of people actively using social media each month had surpassed the 2 billion mark. On the basis of this we created an infographic to assess global digital statistics on social and mobile, and recent active user numbers on social platforms.
4. Measuring Facebook Engagement
2014 saw Facebook continue to lead the social media landscape globally, growing at a phenomenal rate. To help brands develop effective strategies on Facebook, Jamie Robinson, our Global Research and Insight Director, gave this analysis on the best way to measure engagement on the platform.
5. The state of Google+
Luca Della Dora, Strategy Director at We Are Social in Milan, produced an infographic to analyse the growth of Google+ since its launch in 2011. It looked at registered and active users numbers and user behaviour on a global level.
6. 10 trends for 2014
Our sixth best read blog post came courtesy of Dan Calladine, Head of Media Futures at Aegis Media, who shared his thoughts on ten trends for 2014 and what they meant for brands, featuring wearable technology, iBeacons and push notifications.
7. WhatsApp overtakes Facebook Messenger
As the title of the post suggests, big news hit social when WhatsApp overtook Facebook Messenger in terms of active monthly users in the first half of 2014. Figures came from GlobalWebIndex, and Jason Mander, Head of Trends in the company, talked through factors driving the growth of mobile messaging and the future of SMS.
8. Social Brands: The Future of Marketing
All brands strive to own the social media landscape. In Simon Kemp’s post, he looked at how brands can improve their social media presence, and highlighted the need for brands to place social thinking at the heart of all their marketing.
9. Five Reasons to look again at Google+
Cristina Forlani, an Account Director at our Sydney office, shared her thoughts on why brands should reconsider using Google+ as part of their marketing initiatives. She outlined the features and benefits of using Google+, and brands that have successfully interacted with people on the platform.
10. Facebook buys WhatsApp, WeChat grows
You can clearly see that instant messaging has been a popular area of interest in 2014, as our tenth best read post of the year focuses once again on WhatsApp and other messaging platforms. This infographic reviews the growth of social platforms from Q2 to Q4 in 2013, highlighting that Tencent-owned WeChat grew the most out of all platforms globally, by a huge 375%.
As well as these, other posts that generated lots of interest included our research into the Neknominate phenomenon and UK Marketing Director, Tom Ollerton’s opinion on what Facebook will look like in ten years time. Other popular posts included our thoughts on Facebook dropping Sponsored Stories, and news on We Are Social being named an outstanding company to work for in Best Companies in 2014.
We hope you have enjoyed everything featured on our blog in 2014, and we look forward to what this year’s news will bring!