Overview As per Internet World stats, the internet penetration is at 45.

6%, the total online population in Brazil was 88,494,756 as of June 2012.

Internet Penetration

46% 54%

Online Population Offline Population

In terms of population Brazil ranks 5th in the world and with the rise in internet penetration as predicted by eMarketer it may well go up the ladder. The figure below shows its current position in the world in terms of user. Next figure demonstrates the rise in internet penetration in previous years and the rise to be expected in the coming years.

Internet Population June, 2012 (in mn)

China United States India Japan Brazil 101 88 137 245 538

Internet User Penetration

39%

42%

44%

46%

47%

48%

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Brazil is the most active country in Latin America, and the growth has been steady. It is also observed by the IBOPE Nielson Online study, that more Brazilians have started using TV and internet at the same time. The number is approximately 60% of the total internet population. As per eMarketer, Feb 2012, every second Brazilian was online at least once every day in 2011. This was a phenomenal increase when compared to 2008 when 32% of Brazilians were online every day.

Daily internet users in Brazil

38% 37% 38% 32%
Aug-08 Apr-08 May-08 Nov-08 Dec-08 Jun-08 Jul-08 Oct-08 Jan-09 Sep-08

44% 50% 41%

32%
Aug-09 Aug-10 May-09 May-10 May-11 Mar-09 Mar-10 Mar-11 Aug-11 Apr-09 Nov-09 Apr-10 Nov-10 Apr-11 Dec-09 Dec-10 Feb-09 Jun-09 Feb-10 Jun-10 Feb-11 Jun-11 Jul-09 Oct-09 Jan-10 Jul-10 Oct-10 Jan-11 Sep-09 Sep-10 Jul-11

Also when compared to the top nations of the world in terms of time spent on internet, Brazil again makes it in the top 5 as is illustrated by the figure below. Average Hours Per Visitor among 10 largest online Markets
United States United Kingdom South Korea France Brazil 40.9 35.6 31.1 27.5 26.7

Figure below represent the age demographics in Brazil. The most noteworthy point here is that there has been a slight increase in the 55+ age group, which means even the elderly population who are more reluctant to change have started feeling the need for the internet now.

54+ 35-54 35-44 25-34 15-24

2009 2010 2011

The major users of the internet are mainly concentrated in specific regions as is represented in the figure below. This represents the potential there is for expansion as internet spreads from the more urban regions to other places in Brazil.

Of the various activities that Brazilian internet users are involved in on the world wide web, the % reach of these different platforms have been shown through the following figure.

% reach of visitors
Blogs e-mail Retail Social Networking Entertainment Search/Navigation Portals
95.9% 84.6% 87.7% 97.5% 97.5% 99.1% 99.3%

Now the reason why social networking and portals have been highlighted is because of the change in the time spent by a user on portal and social networking between 2010 and 2011. Social media has been slowly rising while in it is portals declining. This can be seen by the figure here.

Social Media The rise of social media in Brazil is predicted by many, but with different figures. For example, while IBOPE Nielson Online predicted earlier that social networking penetration would be 87.6% in 2012, eMarketers estimates were on the more conservative side. eMarketer predicted the social networking penetration to be 74%. The social networking pattern so far and the predicted growth for the future are represented in the figure below.

Social Network Users (in mn)

79.3 47.3 56.3 63.9 72.3

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

In terms of % penetration among internet users and % penetration in the Brazilian population, the figure below gives us an idea.
% penetration among internet users % penetration of population

82% 65% 71% 74% 79% 37.7% 23.5% 2010 27.7% 2011 31.1% 2012 34.8%

2013

2014

In terms of time spent on social networks, the figure below shows the change from December 2010 to December 2011.
Average time spent on Social Networks
10 8 6 4 2 0
8.5 6.2

5.8 3.4

5.6

3.9

5.1

5.4

6.0

3.6

3.4

2010 2011

2.9

Total

15-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55+

The time spent by the age category 55+ has more than doubled in a year. This is consistent with the rise that we have seen in internet users age above 55. With this the users aged 55 or more are now the second largest category of social network users in terms of time spent on social network, next only to 15-24 age category. The top social networking sites in Brazil along are shown below.

Top Social Networking Sitesin Brazil in terms of Unique Visitors

Facebook Orkut Windows Live Profile Twitter Google Plus Tumblr LinkedIn Badoo Formspring Slideshare

36,098 34,419 13,301 12,499 4,300 4,029 3,182 2,953 2,020 1,698

As can be seen, Facebook again has emerged as the leader. This was possible through the phenomenal growth of 192% registered between Dec. 2010 to Dec. 2011. Orkut only registered 5% growth in the same period and lost its position as the top social networking site in Brazil in December 2011. However, most users in Brazil have accounts on both Orkut and Facebook. Another social networking site which registered good growth was Tumblr (206%). With the exception of Badoo (-5%) and Formspring (-58%), all the social networking sites registered growth in 2011.

Dramatic change was seen in terms of average minutes per visitor when Orkut and Facebook were compared. While the time lost by Orkut was 33%, it was the time gained by Facebook which make this noteworthy. An extraordinary growth by 667% was seen in average minutes spent on Facebook by a user, and this growth was registered within a year. Facebook After lagging for years in Brazilian market, Facebook secured top position in December 2011, when it surpassed Orkut, the former champion of social networking sites in Brazil. A more detailed look into Facebooks growth can be seen in the figure below. Facebook.com Selected Metrics Total Brazil Internet Audience, Age 6+Home & Work Locations* Source: comScore Media Metrix Dec-10 12,379 66 37.2 10.4 Dec-11 % Change 36,098 500 285.2 27.4

Total Unique Visitors (000) Average Pages per Visitor Average Minutes per Visitor Average Visits per Visitor

192% 655% 667% 163%

The following figures give the demographic profile for facebook in terms of gender and age categories.

40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

36.1

17.73

18.36

Total Users in mm Average Hours per visitor

4.8

4.1

5.3

Total

Male

Female

Not only female population leads in terms of number of Facebook users in Brazil, it also leads in terms of average time spent on Facebook. Clearly women in Brazil have adopted Facebook better than the men. The next figure displays the information in terms of users of Facebook in different age categories.

55+

4.5 2.57 4.1 3.89 3.8 7.14 4.5 11.03 6.2 10.17

45-54

35-44

25-34

15-24

Average Hours Per Visitor

Facebook Users in Different Age categories (mn)

While the age category of 25-34 leads in terms of number of users, maximum time spent (6.2 hours) is recorded by the youngest population (15-24) of the lot. People in age category 35-44 spend surprisingly less time than most, even the 55+ category which has minimum number of users on Facebook. The next figure displays the regional distribution of Facebook users in Brazil.

Regional Distribution of Facebook Users in Brazil

So Paulo Rio de Janeiro Paran Minas Gerais Rio Grande do Sul Santa Catarina Bahia Distrito Federal Other
1.62 1.52 1.32 4.3 5.1 5 7.08 2.66 2.56 2.35 4.3 4.5 4.7 4.7 4.7 5.1 4.65 12.33

As we can clearly see that Facebook has claimed majority of its users from the Sao Paulo area. As far as the time spent on Facebook is considered, they are all spending 4-5 hours. The growth of Facebook has been consistently high as can be seen through the growth curve below from social bakers.

Orkut Orkut was the most popular social networking site in Brazil till December 2011 when it was overtaken by Facebook. While Orkut still continues to grow as can be seen from the figure below, the growth has been slow.

Although even though Facebook surpassed Orkut in terms of users (36 million compared to 34.3 million) , 87% of social network users in Brazil have an account on both Facebook and Orkut. Orkuts simplicity was its USP and had it not been functional problems in the website such as limiting number of friends to 1000, lack of ease in uploading and sharing photos, and network blockages, Orkut could still have been the leader in social networking sites in Brazil.

But as far as the applications and the games are concerned its very similar to Facebook. However, with less than 50% internet penetration in the country, the social networking field is still wide open.

Other Social Networking Websites Google+, LinkedIn, Tumbler and Twitter, all experienced growth in 2011. In terms of numbers, Twitter has around 33 million users in Brazil, making it the worlds second largest country in terms of number of Twitter users. It is also the second largest country in terms of Google+ users.
% Growth Dec. 2010 to Dec. 2011

250% 200% 150% 100% 50% 0%

206%

79%

65% 40% 13%

Tumblr.com

LinkedIn.com

Slideshare.net

Twitter.com

Windows Live Profile

For those wondering where Google+, since the numbers were not available for 2010, growth could not be measures. The only way we know it has grown is that it is visible now in the top 10 social networking websites in Brazil. Social Media Monitoring Tools Some of the social media monitoring tools in Brazil are given below in the table. The table gives information on the platform and media type monitored. Company name Platform Media type All: Blogs, News Sites, Consumer Sites (Radar, Kieskeurig etc), Review Sites (Yelp, Travelocity), Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Orkut, Hyves, etc) Website

BrandReact, Inc

Social Media Monitoring, Reporting & Response

http://BrandReact.net/brand

Chleba Agencia digital Scup Media Monitors

Social media Monitor Scup Brandtology

Google Blogs / Flickr / Twitter / Google News / Yahoo Respostas / Facebook / Orkut Comunidades / Reclame Aqui / YouTube All All

http://www.socialmediamonitor.com.br/ http://www.scup.com.br http://www.brandtology.com

As internet penetration and Social networking grows in the country, many other social media monitoring tools will also in, in the coming years. Tips for Social Marketers Despite internet penetration of less than 50%, Brazil ranked 5th largest country in terms of internet users. With a social culture where sometimes even business meetings can end in hugs, this is one place where a social marketer would want to be. Some of the things to keep in mind when in Brazil are While the growth of internet has been consistent, it has been slow and same is expected in the coming few years. So one must not get carried away with the potential and plan their approach accordingly. Even though Facebook has surpassed Orkut with phenomenal growth in 2011, Orkut is still growing and Brazilians are still on Orkut as well as on Facebook. So the advertisers who are quickly shifting to Facebook need to be careful, as the Facebook raised ad cost by 75% in 2011 as soon as it experienced growth. The elderly age category (55+) is growing a little more quickly than others. This represents an opportunity for marketers who have products targeted at elderly. Female population is more active on social network users than male. They also seem to be spending more time, which represents an opportunity for marketers catering products for women. 74% of internet users were on social networks in 2012 and this penetration is expected to grow further as internet penetration grows. Internet penetration in urban areas grew by more than 80% in just 5 years. This is a good sign for the future as internet spreads to more rural areas. While Orkut was released in 2004, it started attracting Brazilians when it was launched in Portuguese in 2005. So sticking to the language/regional preferences would be a wise move.

References European Travel Commission, New Media Trend Watch, http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/markets-by-country/11-long-haul/42-brazil A Wiki of Social Media Monitoring Solutions, http://wiki.kenburbary.com/

Brazil Facebook Statistics, http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/brazil How Google helped Facebook beat Orkut in Brazil Feb 16, 2012, http://ibnlive.in.com/news/howgoogle-helped-facebook-beat-orkut-in-brazil/230644-11.html Why Brazil is a social media marketer's dream, by Patrick Eve, November 08, 2012 http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/33043.asp