Developing nations adopting social media quickly

(Credit: Pew Research Center)

Not as many people in developing countries have access to the Internet as those in more developed areas of the world, but when they do get on the Web, they are more likely to join a social-networking site, according to a Pew Research Center report released today.

The report -- which looked at the state of social media globally based a survey of 21 nations -- found the majority of Internet users in Mexico, Brazil, Tunisia, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Russia, and India use social media.

"Once people in these countries are online, they generally become involved in social networks at high rates," the report reads.

This is compared with more economically-developed countries of Japan and Germany, where only half of Internet users are on social networks. The growth of social-networking sites in developing countries fall in line with the direction of companies like Facebook, which is putting efforts into countries where there is still a lot of opportunity for growth.

The Pew report shows how the adoption of cell phones have led the way for this growth. The median percent of the world's population who owns a cell phone was 87 percent, with 26 percent using the Internet o... [Read more]