AddThis 2011 Social Sharing Trends [Infographic]

Zach Davis Dec 13, 2011 Tweet

It’s official – we are hyper-connected.

But you didn’t need me to tell you that.  One quick stroll down the sidewalk will reveal people intently focused on the 10 sq. inch screen in front of their face.  You’ve seen it for yourself.  Or maybe you haven’t; you were too busy looking at your own smartphone to notice.

This qualitative analysis has been quantified with a year-in-review, social sharing infographic by AddThis, the immensely popular social sharing service developed by the Washington, DC-based Clearspring.  The AddThis data accounts for more than 11 million websites across 350 social platforms with a total user base of more than 1.2 billion.

The underlying theme for this year is pretty clear: mobile is big, and it’s only getting bigger.  Sharing from mobile devices (i.e. smartphones and tablets) has increased 6 fold in 2011.  What’s even more attention grabbing is that sharing from iPads overtook that of iPhones back in the middle of this year, with a year-end growth of just under 600%.

Businesses, take notice of this trend.  Having a website alone is no longer good enough to obtain visibility and your customers’ eyes.  You must have a mobile marketing plan.  Does a mobile app make sense for your business model?  It should.  Does it make sense to use QR codes?  Does your site require loading many large file images?  Does your website use frames?  Do you have a mobile version of your site?  Can users find what they’re looking for quickly and easily?  Is it easy for users to switch between mobile and standard versions?  Does your website load correctly on different devices? Keep in mind the screen size of a Droid X is different from an iPad is different from an iPhone.  Tip: Run a quick test over on mobiReady to see how your site performs.

More importantly, does your site emphasize social sharing?  More than half of all AddThis’ user’s shares came via Facebook.  Is it easy for a visitor to your website share your content with their friends?  Are you focusing your efforts on Google+?  According to the data, it’s use has plateaued.  How about Twitter, whose growth in 2011 exceeded 500%?

As the data shows, the increase in mobile browsing has coincided with a drastic increase in social sharing.  If your business model doesn’t take this into account, it may be time to go back to the drawing board.

Other interesting tidbits from the AddThis social sharing infographic includes:

• Sharing via Tumblr is up 1300%
• Shares via Chrome passed Firefox in November
• The #Occupy movement caused a 217% spike increase in mobile sharing on October 25th
• The Royal Wedding accounted for more shares than Mubarak’s resignation, the Japan tsunami, and Steve Jobs death.
• Twitter accounts for more than half of all shares in Japan