Overview According to Internet World Stats more than half the population (58.7%) of Italy was online in 2012.

That accounts for 35,800,000 users in total. However comScore data was on the conservative side totaling the internet users to a little over 30 million.

Internet Demographics

41.3% 58.7%

Online Offline

From the comScore data it was found that in 2012 Italy recorded one of the fastest growths in terms of internet users in the world ranking no. 4 and the highest growth in Europe as is illustrated by the figure below.

Growth in Internet Users (Top 5 countries)

Venezuela India Indonesia Italy Mexico 0% 10% 20% 22% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 24% 29% 34% 62%

This phenomenal growth is expected to continue in the near future and the internet population is expected to grow to 36 million by 2016, a prediction once again provided by comScore.

Internet Users in Italy (in millions)

38 36 34 35 32 30 28 26 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 30.1 31.4 32.6 33.9 36

While back in 2006 gender and regional disparity in terms of internet penetration was huge, over the years the growth of internet has decreased quickly. Although still not comparable to similar countries such as Spain, France or U.K. (with almost equal distribution) the closing gap should bring the female population at par with the men soon enough.

Growth of Internet Users in terms of Gender

46.70%

Female 26.90% 56.60% Male

37.10% 2005 2011

When compared to other countries of EU5 (France, Spain, U.K. , Germany) Italy is still developing in terms of internet usage. However, with the extraordinary growth seen in past few years, it would soon be at level with others. Mobile internet is one of the strong growth markets in Italy. It was estimated that by end of 2012 mobile internet penetration would go up by 26% as compared to 2011 and reach almost 1/3rd of the total mobile user population. As of 2011 Italy stood at 5th position in the world in terms of percentage of total mobile audience in the country.

% of Total Mobile Audience

U.K. U.S. Spain France Italy Japan Germany 17.8% 22.8% 22.1% 20.2% 25.3% 32.3% 35.4%

Even in EU5 countries, it ranks above Germany in terms of % total mobile audience using the internet.

While the mobile has been used for various activities such as text messages, playing games and music, the activities where internet was used social networking seems the second most common activity after web browsing. (comScore Oct. 2011)

Mobile Internet Use in Italy

Accessed news

16.4%

Accessed social networking site or blog

20.0% 29.4%

Used browser

Even in general internet use Social networking is the third most popular vertical, following search/navigation and portals. Other popular verticals are displayed in the figure below.

The verticals popular today

Search/Navigation Portal Social Networking Directories/Resources Multimedia Retail Blogs Referance e-mail Technology 0 5,000 10,000 15,000 Total Unique Visits 21,594 20,572 19,838 19,146 18,150 17,616 20,000 25,000 30,000 25,709 24,504 27,990 27,918

Social Media Social Media in Italy has shown consistent growth and is expected to grow at similar pace. It is expected that social media users will account for almost 63% of the internet users by 2014.

Social Media Users in Italy (in millions)

65.0% 62.7% 60.0% 55.0% 50.0% 45.0% 2011 2012 2013 2014 52.5% 56.9% 60.3%

The distribution of the Italian population in terms of gender and under different age categories is represented by the figure below.

Social Networking Demographic Reach

94.4% 82.3% 97.9% 89.2% 97.2% 90.8% 95.6% 97.4% 93.0% 91.9% Female Male

55+

45-54

35-44

25-34

15-24

With the exception of age group 25-34, Female population is the uncontested leader. Especially when it comes to the age categories above 44, the lead is massive. Italians have been spending a lot of time in social media too. The figure below demonstrates the time spent on social media by Italians in different age categories.

4.4 11.2 5.1 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+

4.9 5.7

Average Hours Per Visitor

Of all the activities that Italians are involved in on the internet, total time spent on social networking has been increasing continuously, while time spent on portals has fallen sharply. Currently the difference of total time spent on social networking is almost double of the next contender as is demonstrated by the figure below.

The fall of portals can be attributed to the closure of the biggest blogging website splinter late in November 2011. Although the decline can be seen from 2009 or earlier, the closing of Splinter was a big blow to the Italian blogging culture. The major social media network in Italy is Facebook which leaves behind all other players by a fair margin. The main contention is for the second spot between LinkedIn, badoo, Tumbler and twitter. The following figure compares the social networking platforms in terms of unique visitors and the change that has occurred between February 2011 and February 2012.

Social Networks in Italy

Unique Audience (000; Feb 11) Unique Audience (000; Feb 12)

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin

Badoo

Tumblr

While the study done by Audiweb-Nielsen shows growth for twitter, the growth may still be underestimated. The study did not take into account the mobile platform where a significant number of twitter users are present. There is also significant fall seen in Badoo (-33%) which is possibly due to the rising interest in Tumbler which showed growth of 1260% in terms of visitor when comparing October 2011 with 2012.

All set aside, Facebook with its more than 20 million users of which 14 million are active daily has set the bar very high for competition. Interestingly within Facebook, the age demographics have seen a change in leader category from 19-24 olds to 36-45 year age category. To lay rest to all doubts if any regarding Facebooks dominance in Italy, all it would take is one pictorial comparison. Although in the interest of actually analyzing the competition we will represent the time spent function in three different graphs.

Time spent per month on Social Networks (in minutes)

20 15

Time spent per month on Social Networks (in minutes)

69
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

17 13 10 14

41 13 14 17

10 5 0 Google+ Pinterest Linkedin Tumblr Twitter

10

Time spent per month on Social Networks (in minutes)

470
500 400 300 200 100 0 Google+ Pinterest Linkedin Tumblr Twitter Netlog Badoo Facebook

10

13

14

17

41

69

Clearly, if we are talking about social networking sites in Italy, first thing that will be talked about is Facebook.

Facebook

With 21 million registered users, 13 million daily users and 7.5 million users on the mobile, facebook is almost everywhere in Italy. Having said so, comparatively a lot less facebook users exist in the southern region with major concentration around Palermo (404,260) and Catanzaro (161,020) the region around Rome outscores any other region in terms of Facebook users (2,624,420).. While male users are on the higher side, this can probably be attributed to the lower participation of female population in internet as was discussed earlier. The two dominant age categories are 19-24 and 36-45, and the study from Audiweb-Nielsen says that the 36-45 category has taken the lead in 2012.

What is different when compared to conventional age distribution is the higher participation of 36-45 age category than 25-35. While the young population is more active than others in most countries, here facebook users with age from 36-45 have surpassed the 19-24 category. The growth in number of Facebook registered users picked up

After picking up late in 2008, Facebooks growth worm has only gone up in the charts. One of the main reasons could be attributed to lack of local competition, and another to the earlier emphasis to blogs in Italy. Facebooks growth was also aided by lack of internet access in the past and then as the internet grew, facebook tagged along.

Badoo Run from its London office by Russian entrepreneur Andrey Adreev, Badoo is probably the strongest competitor to Facebook. Even though with 33% decline in Italy in 2012, Italy still remains Badoos strongest fort.

What is noticeable here is that of the above mentioned countries, Badoo has more users in Italy and Venezuela, both of which are experiencing strong growth in internet and fall in the top 5 nations as far as internet growth is concerned (with Venezuela being the fastest). A mix of social networking and online dating website, the prospect of meeting new people is the USP for Badoo. Although still a lot of work needs to be done on the privacy factor, Badoo has still managed remarkable growth. Only the first name is required to use Badoo and it also rates the popularity. A couple of snapshots given below illustrate the idea.

One of the major areas Badoo scores in is the mobile app. The idea of Badoo fits perfectly in the mobile internet version. It shows the people nearby in the area that you could meet up with, and may work like a charm for people looking to make new friends. With 1,751,000 unique visitors in Italy in October 2012, and recent hiring of Googles big shot employees such as Benjamin Ling and Jeff Hardy, Badoo is possibly the closest network to challenge Facebook in coming years.

Social Media Monitoring Tools There are many tools available to track social media in Italy. Some of them are listed below with a brief description. Klout: This is used to measure the social activities related to a profile. Using different algorithms it tries to score the influence that a profile has on a subject. This is measured by taking into account Facebook and Twitter. The influence is defined as the ability to lead people to a decision. Topsy: Unlike a regular search engine, Topsy is a social media search engine, where results are indexed based on the activity on a particular subject, be it a topic, a page or a domain or even a specific term.

HowSociable: It is basically a brand visibility measurement tool. It provides its results by scoring the presence of a brand on 22 social networks at the same time. Sysomos: This is basically two different application clubbed together. One application provides real time monitoring services for brands and products, factors influencing the brand reputation, and the degree of influence a factor holds. The second application allows access to the social media conversations. It also provides sentiment analysis and geo-demographic, which facilitates an in depth study when one is required. Spiral16: The uniqueness of this tool is in its visual format. By using proprietary technology and 3D mapping it provides the data in visual format. Also considering the real time element of social media, it only takes into account recent data and automatically filters out old information. Because of the visual output, it helps the user surf through the data quickly and make inferences almost automatically. BrandEye: It looks for possible threats to brand reputation in the social networks by using real time information. It is pretty much an online reputation management tool which could alert the user of any risks to the brand reputation beforehand by analyzing the information.

Other than the ones mentioned above there still quite a few other tools which can help social marketers in monitoring social media in Italy. These are listed below. Ubervu OneRiot Chatterscope Alterian Brandwatch Trackur Attentio

With good utilization of these tools, one can keep up with the pace of changes in social media.

Impact of Social Media Social media is making waves on almost every section of society. The impact extends from business to politics to even religion. Almost half the HR recruiters are using social media to look for new candidates. However, when you look at the size of these companies in terms of employees, companies with 250+ employees use it almost 60% of the time compared to 19% of companies with 25-50 employees. Of the ones which do, the figure below suggests that Job seekers need to start spending more time on Linkedin than facebook.

Social Media Platforms used by HR recruiters

Linkedin Facebook Blog Twitter Mobile Apps
8% 4% 2% 7% 9% 24% 21% 55% 52%

31%

The profiles on social media are however used almost equally to reject (27%) as well as to widen the pool of prospective employees (34%). There are new social media platforms which are exclusively dedicated to a particular industry. For example, take a look at Citizens Online. Made for the construction industry, here professionals involved such as buyers and suppliers, can discuss and compare prices. You can also promote your company and its services here. Leaving feedbacks and also quotes can increase the speed of decision making significantly. And now the church is also getting into social media, as an Italian startup backed up by Vatican has launched a website www.aleteia.org. Here users can ask a question which will be answered by a church representative. Also you can share stories here by using the fish icon, which is very similar to the like option on Facebook. The purpose is to provide uniform and correct information, and prevent false interpretations. The ads displayed will need the approval of the Catholic church so as to prevent profanity or connection with bogus religious groups. With the growing influence of social media in businesses and other sectors, it is now furthermore important to keep an eye on the developments in the social media platforms.

Tips for Social Marketers Compared to other EU5 countries, Italy lags behind when social networking is concerned. However with the growth seen in the past few years, it also presents an opportunity as a fresh market. Some of the things which social marketers would need to take into consideration are Facebook is THE dominant social network, and it will continue to be so in the next few years, so the best bet is obvious here. Tumblr has recently gained grounds and very possibly at the expense of Badoo and Netlog, which suggests an increasing interest in Tumblr. This well may turn out to be the dark horse in the social networking arena. While still a lot behind Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are catching up. Especially with social media making waves in religious and political arena, twitter is expected to grow swiftly having already registered a growth of 142% in 2012 as compared to 2011 (Audiweb/Nielsen). There is a gap between the Italian Job seekers and Recruiters when it comes to LinkedIn. There is a good chance that once this is highlighted, increased participation will be seen by Italians on LinkedIn. Maximum time is spent on social networks by 15-24 category which is double the time spent by any other. With Badoo being the runner up on the time spent race (only behind Facebook), and the dating element in the website, this will be an ideal social media platform for marketers targeting the young population. The surge in participation in facebook by the 36-45 age category, marketers aiming this particular age demographic will benefit more from Facebook. The large number of social media monitoring tools available will make it easier than other places for social marketers to keep an eye on social networking sites. Also with so many players providing social media monitoring tools, a customized pack best suited to the needs is a probability.

At the end, Italy may not be as well developed as far as social media is concerned, but they are growing quickly and are one of the less saturated markets in Europe.

References New Media Trend Watch, http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/markets-by-country/10-europe/70italy Internet World Stats, http://www.internetworldstats.com/top20.htm Social Media Italia, http://www.socialmediaitalia.com/?page_id=355 Social Network in Italia: ecco I dati 2012, http://blog.sitebysite.it/2012/05/02/social-network/socialnetwork-in-italia-ecco-i-dati-2012/ Social Media in Italia: Google+ sorpassa Twitter? by vincos on venerd, dicembre 14, 2012, http://vincos.it/2012/12/14/social-media-in-italia-google-sorpassa-twitter/

Vatican launches social network challenge to Facebook, By Philip Willan, IDG News Service September 20, 2012, http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/092012-vatican-launches-socialnetwork-challenge-262651.html Abitanti Online: nato il social network per i professionisti della casa, dicembre 18, 2012 by SbS, http://blog.sitebysite.it/2012/12/18/social-network/abitanti-online-social-network-professionisti-dellacasa/ How Do Recruiters In Italy Use Social Media? [INFOGRAPHIC], By Lauren Dugan on July 23, 2012 12:00 PM, ,http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-recruiters_b25758 Badoo, http://www.improve.com/Badoo/2195 Social Networking Watch, Badoo, http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/badoo/ Another Top Googler Jumps To Social Network Badoo, b Leena Rao Wednesday, August 15th, 2012, http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/15/another-top-googler-jumps-to-social-network-badoo/ Content Display Advertising: le tendenze future 14 novembre 2012 Seguici su Twitter: @comScoreEMEA Chiara Galli, Head of Business Development - Italy, comScore, http://www.scribd.com/doc/118669365/A-Day-Intervento ITS A SOCIAL WORLD, Top 10 Need-to-Knows About Social Networking and Where Its Headed, http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations_and_Whitepapers/2011/it_is_a_social_world_top_1 0_need-to-knows_about_social_networking