@globalwebindex indicates @Snapchat is King - Why @Tumblr and @Pinterest on the rise as @Facebook has higher engagement levels

“Facebook has some major challenges to face. Firstly, people are growing tired of it, with 50% of members in the UK and US saying that they’re using it less frequently than they used to (rising to 64% among teens). Since the start of 2013, we’ve seen behaviors like sharing photos and messaging friends fall by around 20 percentage points.”

Head of trends and author of the Global Web Index report, Jason Mander, commenting on the GWI Social Report Q3 2014

Tumblr isn’t just tumbling along anymore and Snapchat isn’t just an uber popular Mobile Social Network to Nude Selfies.

Now comes the news from the Website Traffic Analyst GWI (Global Web Index) that point to Tumblr as the fastest rising star in Social Media with 120% growth in their  active user base and Snapchat being the Fastest growing Mobile Social Network, growing 56% in the last six months as reported in the article “Tumblr Overtakes Instagram As Fastest-Growing Social Platform, Snapchat Is The Fastest-Growing App”, published Nov 25, 2014 by Ingrid Lunden, TechCrunch.

This is a big shift from earlier in January 2014, when Instagram was the fastest growing Mobile Social Network as reported in the article “Instagram Is The Fastest-Growing Social Site Globally, Mobile Devices Rule Over PCs For Access”, published Jan 21, 2014 by Ingrid Lunden, TechCrunch.

The older Social Networks had their start on the Web and are still largely access via computers, making their Apps afterwards. The most popular Social Networks from this era that began when Facebook exploded onto the scene in 2005. GWI (Global Web Index) stats for Monthly Active User are based on interviewing 170,000 users across 32 markets for the past six months.

1.      57% increase for Pinterest

2.      45% increase for Tumblr

3.      36% increase in Instagram

4.      27% increase for LinkedIn

5.      18% increase for Twitter

6.      13% increase for YouTube

7.      12% increase for Google+

8.      6% increase for Facebook

The graph below illustrates this clearly. 

It also shows that Pinterest has had the largest increase in Membership overall for the past six months of the Global Web Index survey:

1.      111% increase for Pinterest

2.      120% increase for Tumblr

3.      64% increase in Instagram

4.      16% increase for Google+

5.      54% increase for LinkedIn

6.      26% increase for Twitter

7.      25% increase for YouTube

8.      2% increase for Facebook

However, Facebook is still king when it comes to engagement, with more people using Facebook more than once a day as shown in the graph below:

Their kingdom, however, still hasn't expanded much into China which is mostly ruled by Local Social Networks. In China, they're ranked 8^th behind Google+

Snapchat rules the Social Mobile Networks roost with 56% increase in their active user base over the past six months! Social Network were born purely on mobile computing Devices i.e. smartphones and Tablets I refer to as Mobile Social Networks.

Most of them began as VoIP and IM (Instant Messenger) Services, but eventually morphed into Mobile Social Networks as their popularity increased. The once featured in the Global Web Index are as shown in the graph and clearly Snapchat is out front.

Good to note that Skype, strictly speaking, isn't a Mobile Social Network but is more of a VoIP Platform that Microsoft owns and is transitioning towards Web-based calling as reported in my blog article entitled “Skype for Web Beta allows Skype Calling in Google Chrome - Skype for Business replaces Lync as Skype for Web Beta finally allows Chromebooks to use Skype”.

GIW indicates Snapchat is King – Tumblr wants Youtubers and Pinterest has private Pins

This renewed Growth for Tumblr may partly be because Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has big plan for Tumblr, possibly involving snagging YouTube Celebrities to host their videos on Tumblr in exchange for higher payouts as predicted in my blog article entitled “Marissa Mayer's Yahoo Tumblr Partner Program - 30-70 Split to attract YouTube Stars, Value Brands and Grassroots Fans as Youtube's Kingdom Crumbles”.

Pinterest continues to grow within the US of A, especially among women and is proving to be more popular than Instagram or even Twitter according to the Social Media Report from The Pew Research Center as reported in the article “Pinterest adds the ability to chat privately about a specific pin”, published August 7, 2014 By Mike Flacy, Digitaltrends.

Their latest feature that allows you to have private chats about a particular pin suggests that they're tapping into the trend among Americans concerned about privacy and a desire to circumvent NSA or CIA monitoring of their conversations.

As for Snapchat, their the new Mobile Social App Sensation, recently launching their SnapCash Mobile Money Platform in partnership with Square that's really an expansionary move for Square into the Millennial (ages 18 to 28) market as predicted in my blog article entitled “Snapchat rolls out Snapcash - Teenagers and Millennials Mobile Money Catalyst for Digicel Jamaica's Mobile Money Platform going Global”.

Facebook has higher engagement levels – 1/3 of the World is on Facebook but 8^th in China

As far back as December 2013, Whatsapp had Facebook on the ropes as noted in my blog article entitled “Facebook is Trailing Behind WhatsApp in Social Messaging - Teenagers and Millennials wooed by Mobile Social Networks on smartphones and Tablets that have Snapchat-esque Privacy Controls”.

Now they're on a comeback trail in 2014 having first gobble up WhatsApp, then Oculus Rift as noted in my blog article entitled “Facebook buys Oculus Rift for US$2 billion - Facebook Social Virtual Reality Future as Smartwatches and smartglasses herald the death of the smartphone in 2015”.

Then launched a series of Mobile App versions of their various services, from Friends Nearby, Slingshot, FB NewsWire to their latest, the anonymous Facebook Rooms as noted in my blog article entitled “Facebook launches Facebook Rooms - The 90’s Return as Facebook faces competition from Anonymous Mobile Social Networks”.

Their latest app, Facebook Groups, allows you to log into your various Groups on Facebook as described in the article “Introducing the Facebook Groups App”, published November 18, 2014, FB Newsoom, is my next article on my personal blog.

Facebook now has some 1.35 billion monthly active users as of September 30, 2014 based on the stats as displayed on FB NewsRooms Company Info Page. That’s almost 1/3 of the estimated 3 billion that the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) states is online as noted in their article “ITU releases annual global ICT data and ICT Development Index country rankings”, published 24 November 2014, ITU Website.

But it's clear that Facebook's Mobile strategy has paid off, just not in China.