Private Social Networks. A brief overview of the German situation.
November 24th, 2009 • Social, Trends
This little overview about the status of Germany’s private social networks is a Point of View which me and Johannes Kleske were working on for our employer Neue Digitale / Razorfish. It is not an empirical study. It describes a rough status quo in a highly dynamic environment with just few reliable figures. Please understand it as a brief paper which tries to picture the current situation in the extremly unique and difficult market Germany. But it is also a paper which enables us to give a clear recommendation on which platforms are hot or not in our home country.
Germany was always tough terrain for social networks. According to a recent Forrester report on social network use in Europe, “Online Germans remain the hardest to engage with social media“. In terms of total membership, choice of service, international connectivity, etc Germany always lagged behind. There are several possible reasons for this effect: One of them may be a deep traditional concern about privacy issues. Germans tend to believe their personal data might be misused and are skeptical about institutions securing their data properly. Language barriers (in comparison to UK, US) and a slight skepticism towards new, individualized technology may contribute to the current situation.
German Social Networking really took off in 2009
Growth rates in German member communities skyrocketed in Germany since late 2008. According to Bitkom and Comscore, 26.4 million Germans are registered in social networks. That is little more than 50% of Germany’s online population as of October 2009.
While in 2009 most countries were dominated by Facebook, the situation in Germany is slightly different. Germany was not a key battleground for networks such as Facebook and Myspace in the first place. Even though the big social networks were present in Germany for quite some time, German copycats managed to come up with their own German versions of established US networks. Key Players such as the VZ Group and Wer kennt wen? are owned by major German media companies Holtzbrinck and RTL.
Key players
VZ Group: “Traditionally” the VZ Group is the biggest player among all networks in Germany. Its three subnetworks are integrated and users can switch from one to another. Combined, they are by far the strongest network originally from Germany if one focuses on monthly reach. To demonstrate its size the VZ Group integrates monthly user reach not only from Germany but from neighboring European countries AND by integrating all subnetworks into one figure, making it thus incomparable to Facebook’s „Germany only“ statistics.
- StudiVZ, as of late summer 2009, the single largest social network in Germany. This Facebook clone traditionally targets college students.
- SchuelerVZ: A similar concept targeted at high school students.
- MeinVZ: Broadly targeted at those not necessarily related to university or school surroundings.
Facebook: Facebook was traditionally underrepresented in Germany in comparison to other countries. Germany was one of the few countries in which Facebook was not even among the Top3 in social networking. Thanks to the unprecedented growth of Facebook lately, the site is now in the Top 3. In October 2009 Facebook was the number two independent network in terms of registered users.
Wer kennt Wen (WKW): Apart from the VZ Group, WKW (“Who knows whom?”) was traditionally the second largest player in Germany. User-wise, Facebook is very close to surpassing this network.
Twitter: As with most other countries, Twitter holds a niche position but is also growing steadily. It is well used among a rather tech-savvy crowd but has gained more momentum throughout 2009.
Regional differences
Germany is a Federal Republic where strong local traditions play an important role in almost every aspect of society. Although the largest social networks are present almost everywhere you can roughly draw a line between which regions social networking is represented to a greater degree than in others. The following figures represent only a rough estimation based on Google Trends (no empirical evidence here, just trends). However the trend is clear: Germany’s urban areas in the south, west and southwest, as well as Hamburg and Berlin in the north are heavily connected. Rural regions in the north and east lag behind.
One very interesting aspect is the regional role of the major private network Wer-kennt-wen. It has an exceptionally strong userbase in Hessen and the rather rural areas of Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland in the west.
Latest developments
Research from Nielsen analysts show that Facebook has increased its reach by more than 50% from March to July 2009. In July, Facebook had nearly 6.2 million unique users in Germany according to its own counts . By contrast StudiVZ had 4.28 million uniques, though it continues to claim 6 million registered members while we see about 5 million registered Facebook users as of Oct 2009. The problem is the discrepancy between registered users and monthly reach and a statistical trick which the VZ Group frequently uses to modify public perception of its size: the combination of all its users of three distinct social networks (StudiVZ, SchuelerVZ, MeinVZ) into one figure.
Figures from August 2009
Reach (in millions of users) and usage time (in h/month) in Germany (via FAZ)
Recent trends
The following diagrams show the current trend of social networks in Germany as visualized by Google Trends. This of course cannot replace information about reach and registered users, but it gives an idea of what’s hot in Germany and what is not (google Trends does only display search terms and not registered users or reach. It can only show trends in the search of brand names via google).
Summary
Facebook is currently seeing the strongest growth rate of any major private social network in Germany and in German-speaking countries. The platform grew by an impressive 14% in both Austria and Germany in September 2009, placing both countries at the top of the network’s growth rate in Europe.
Simultaneously VZ Group is under pressure. Both, the growth of Facebook in German speaking countries and various scandals have had an effect on the network and its users. While Facebook is a trusted, international brand with many innovative technological features, the VZ Group is a local rival which currently seems unable to match Facebook’s dynamic, innovation-driven growth.
Platforms such as Myspace, Lokalisten and WKW are struggling with similar problems as those of the VZ Group when it comes to technology and innovation. Myspace is losing market share globally, the same holds true within Germany. Lokalisten might remain as a niche community, especially for the rural population. As in the U.S., Twitter is not yet in a position to reach many mainstream customers. Nevertheless its German userbase, of approximately 150K to 200K, consists of high profile networkers who can be very valuable to address.
Current recommendation for brands: Focus on Facebook. Use the VZ Group’s reach to display banner ads. But when it comes to interaction, Facebook is a good investment into the future in Germany.
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