The folks at Arkovi, one of the premier social media archiving firms in the industry, shared a sneak peek at their revision of an infographic they created last year.  It is interesting to see information on true usage and not what respondents choose to answer in surveys, making the information even more accurate and valuable.

The Makeup Of Social Network Users
Blane Warrene, CEO of Arkovi, said, "We took a random sample of a thousand users--not weighted in any direction. We looked at content volume (number of messages) in each platform and by content type, against overall database totals to get percentages."  The accounts in the sample were dispersed as follows:
? Twitter = 888  (89%)
? Facebook = 867  (87%)
? LinkedIn = 527  (53%)

The heavier Twitter figures are explained by a big representation of earlier adopters, shared Warrene. With that said, Arkovi is seeing LinkedIn accounts and content pacing the other two social networks. There are also users in the sample that were archiving blogs, Web sites and social monitoring via search engines without one of the big three social accounts. "Their inclusion in the study helps illustrate the shift from desktop software to browser and mobile tools for online content management," Warrene added.

Twitter Analysis
From first quarter 2011 to first quarter 2012, a Twitter content trend was that mentions went from 12% to 18%. "A Twitter mention is a sign of engagement," shared Caitlin Zucal, marketing coordinator at Arkovi. "The jump in mentions volume points to stronger interactions with Twitter followers."  The inverse change was a lower percentage of tweets, now at 80%, while direct messages stayed the same at 2%.

Another interesting trend that probably is no surprise is the growth of mobile as the content source for Twitter, as the sample shifted away from using the traditional desktop.

When it comes to how content is posted to Twitter, Warrene also explained, "Seeing that Dlvr.it remains at the top of the graph along with Twitter Feed is continued evidence that blog automation to Twitter remains a part of many content strategies. We also see that many users are exploring more tools for Twitter content management, with it tipping toward mobile apps entering the top ten."

Facebook Analysis
From last year to now, it was interesting to see that Facebook photos and wall posts dropped significantly, although they are still the top two uses for the world's largest social network.  Mail and comments both almost doubled for what is being used on Facebook.

"Like Twitter mentions, the increasing volume of Facebook mail and comments is a continued sign social users are seeing engagement from their efforts," Zucal noted. "The new brand timeline and messaging features in Facebook will only improve this for firms of all sizes."

LinkedIn Analysis

The increase in archiving of LinkedIn accounts is largely a sign of the continued understanding of the compliance requirements. Warrene notes that while content volume is wider on other networks, the number of LinkedIn users continues to rise.

"Clearly, LinkedIn is natural for engagement with its approach to connecting individuals and providing a forum for discussions," Warrene said. "The LinkedIn profile is one of the hubs of an individual's online identity."

The Trends
Overall, there is an emerging trend of engagement pointing to some social strategies producing fruit. Warrene said, "It clearly illustrates that social-engaged business needs to be determined, consistent and patient, and engagement rewards good content and quality interaction. We see this from our perspective with the addition of YouTube and BrightScope among our integrations."

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