Private Social Networks. A brief overview of the German situation.

November 24th, 2009 • Comments Social, Trends
Tags: Business, Future, Germany, Media, Predicitions, Social Influence Marketing, Social Networks, Strategy, Trends, World

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.

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