As an introduction for today's post, I want to tell you from a conversation in a WhatsApp Birthday Group:
birthday boy: "Welcome to my birthday WhatsApp group. I know, you don't like new groups but otherwise I would hurt my fingers with all the typing."
guest 1: "Well, at least you couldn't create groups then"
This shows two things: First of all, I have strange friends and secondly, WhatsApp and in particular WhatsApp groups are THE way to go for fast instant messaging in Germany. If you look at Facebook, it's different. On the one hand, the type of content at Facebook is more and more changing from user generated content, like short commentaries, private photos and more to corporate content and like pages. Facebook is a communication instrument for companies and everyone has it. Even the grandparents.
The following plot shows the percentage of people in the corresponding age that use facebook in Germany:
This developement motivates young people to leave Facebook and the Facebook Messenger and look for alternatives. They found them in the more private and direct messaging service WhatsApp. They were even open to pay for it. (Do you remember the time when you had to pay an annual fee for WhatsApp? - long ago...)
They also switched to Instagram and Snapchat. I have to admit that WhatsApp and Instagram are also services of Facebook but it's about the service and not about the company.
With this mindset (young people are increasingly inactive on Facebook), I came to Canada. And what I saw was confusing for me. The way to go to speak about class projects is not the WhatsApp group, it's the Facebook Messenger. Friends are using Facebook to actually communicate and not just for sharing funny posts. Exchange Students from France, Mexico, Great Britain and the Netherlands are actively posting on their Facebook pages. That was something, I didn't really know from German people in my age.
I registered that I became significantly more active on Facebook because I knew that there are actually other people using it. During my exchange, I wrote more Facebook posts than ever before in my whole life.
But what do I want to say with this post? I want to encourage you to also look to other countries when it's about online trends. Even in our highly connected world, there are tendencies that still depend on the country. Especially if you want to focus on (Digital) Marketing in a global setting, this is something that should be considered.
Oh and by the way: Happy Nicolaus Day!
(only 18 days until christmas eve!!!)