European Social Media Stats

Since living in Austria, (for about 2 1/2 months now) I was extremely interested to see how Europeans interact with Social Media. I know that technology advances and utilization vary greatly across the globe, but I found myself wondering "How different can social media use REALLY be in such a "westernized" part of the world" (this of course coming from my experiences in Vienna, Austria...I often sometimes forgot I'm even in Europe!) 

I recently offered a friend here my assistance in helping her to market/advertise a Chalet in Austria via social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter) from the ground up: creating accounts, engaging/targeting an audience and coming up with marketing solutions and strategies. I thought, "Why not?! I've got this social media marketing thing down in the states, i'll just use my current knowledge and we'll nail this project on the head!"....then common sense kicked in and I did a little research, since I was initially interested anyway.

I came across this Infographic HERE and thought it was pretty interesting. I'm intrigued with a few of the numbers, especially with Austria having the lowest percentage of users, 39% who utilize social media for reading and writing blogs. If you notice Portugal, 76% of their social media users engage in reading and writing blogs. Geographically, the two countries are just as far away from each other as Manhattan, NY and Miami, FL. So, how can it be that there is such a significant difference in how many people within these two countries utilize social media for the same purpose. (I just need to state that I understand that they are two totally different countries and therefore hold two different cultures, but the geographical stats still spark my interest). Plus, I just got done explaining the importance of blogging to build a brand and attract and engage an audience to this friend i'm helping out...guess I should recant those statements!! 

Its no secret that in the United States blogs are one of the most important trends and growing platforms in the industry. I'm now on a personal mission to try and rationalize/figure out what the differences are in each of these individual cultures that could directly cause such conflicting numbers. Wish me luck!!!