A new global study of social media use shows that the consumers in the U.S. and Western Europe are more likely to be "passive social-media participants," sharing videos and reading blogs, while those in emerging markets "often create content through blogging, social networks and video and photo sharing sites."

The Interpublic Group media agency had found in its first survey, which was conducted in 2006, a little over half of respondents said they read blogs. Their latest survey found that over 70% did.

Universal McCann conducted surveys to 17,000 Internet users to "track the global rise of consumer-generated content and online communities" over a period of time:
- Their first survey found that 30% watched video online, while this year over 80% had. Video watching platforms such as YouTube has caused watching video clips to become mainstream.
- In 2006, less than 30% said they set up a social network profile, while this year over 60% had. The survey shows big increases in listening to podcasts, subscribing to RSS feeds, commenting on news items, and most other online sharing activities.

Though social media is a global phenomenon, UM found that the way people use social media is more of a cultural difference.
- A little over 60% of Internet users in the U.S. said they read blogs, whereas 26% had created one. Over 70% of Internet users blog in South Korea and China, and about 90% of South Koreans read blogs and 88% read blogs in China.
 
"By and large, in the U.S. we're a country of voyeurs," said David Cohen, U.S. director of digital communications at UM. "We love to watch and consume content created by others, but there's a fairly small group that are doing that creation -- unlike China, which is a country of creators."

Source: Adweek