Most of us will easily be able to name the top three social networks worldwide based on their number of users. As this infographic from Silverpop shows, Facebook tops the list with over 1 billion, Twitter lands on second with 500 million while Google+ snaps up the third place with its 400 million users. Next on the list are the big networks in China, Weibo and RenRen.

But what is more interesting  to us social marketers, are the rising stars of the social media world. The three fastest growing social media channels have been found to be Tumblr, Instagram and Foursquare.

With more or less every single brand worth noting being on Facebook or Twitter, it is those that dare to branch out to more unfamiliar territory that are doing exceptionally well  these days. British label Burberry is a great example of a brand that has embraced Instagram, sharing both product news and behind-the-scenes shots as well as general images snapped around London.

Foursquare on the other hand has not taken off as much here in the UK as it has in the US but as the number of smart phones have exploded over the past year, we’re not surprised that this location-based social site has been experiencing a bit of a revival.

Tumblr, with its focus on the visual and easy posting and sharing, offers opportunities for brands (read more here) and could potentially be a competitor to Facebook for brands that want more control over their digital output.

If you want to find out how your brand could potentially use one of these social networks in your marketing activity, get in touch with us today for a chat.

View a larger image of the infographic here.