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Ronald Reagan challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy the Berlin Wall with the famous quote, “Tear down this wall.”
The exact opposite is happening in social media. Today’s social media platforms, the internet in general, can allow us to reach anyone at any time. There are no more walls when it comes to communication. But this isn’t news to you. You know this.
What’s news is that lack of attention people are paying to international social media networks. That’s the wall that needs to be torn down. I became more hip to this idea when I was looking at our Twitter link stats through HootSuite. Apparently 20% of the people who click on our tweets come from the Russian Federation. Seriously, the Russian Federation. It’s amazing what analytics can tell you!
So why is the Russian Federation so interested in what we have to say? I’m not sure, but I am starting to pay attention to Russian business news. I mean I never imagined I would be blogging about my RSS feed to the Moscow Times. I don’t expect to fly to Russia anytime soon, but this kind of data has to make you curious.
Too often, I am so short sited. I think the U.S. is the world and fail to think about the impact we have on the 6.3 billion other people on the planet. No more.
Here’s the challenge. When it comes to planning social media for your company think beyond the U.S. powerhouses like Facebook and Twitter. If you do business outside of the U.S. or sell products online you need to take a look at some of the international players. Start by checking out sites like Orkut which is huge in Brazli or hi5 which is the most international of all social networks reaching people in places like Romania, Peru and Central America.
Check out the World Map of Social Networks 
or consider the following report by Ignite Social Media, which shows penetration by social media network within a world map.
Where is your business now? Where is it going? Make sure that people beyond the U.S. can have the ability to develop that 1:1 relationship with you, or your company.
Author: Josh Fleming
www.lessingflynn.com
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I like the reward of learning something new when I take a minute to read a blog post or article. Feeling as though there is no bottom to this pool that is social media/networking, I’m not sure why it was such an epiphany to read about other social networking sites in Brazil, Central America, Romania and Peru…that FB and Twitter are only part of a substantially larger whole. But it was, and I think your point of having a larger world-view–both personally and in business– is a relevant and timely message, given the recent circumstances in Haiti. I mean, just think about the immense reach that the Red Cross is getting from SM for the “Text $10 to Haiti” campaign. There’s no way they’d get that from running TV and the good graces of the news outlets alone. Amazing.
Other than the picture of ol’ Empty Head, this is a great post.