Wave 4 of UM's ground-breaking Power to the People study (the largest of any media agency globally) reveals that consumer-created content is becoming an ever more important part of digital media consumption. UM questioned 22,729 active internet users in 38 countries between November 2008 and March 2009 for Wave 4, making it the largest global analysis of social media usage.

The study, which looks at the global uptake and usage of social media platforms, shows that the desire to write, upload images and videos shows no signs of abating. It also reveals that after three surveys showing impressive growth for all forms of social media such as photo sharing to blogs, global growth is now starting to focus on social networks. Consumers continue to upload images and videos but now they tend to do so on Facebook, MySpace or the many other platforms offering similar services around the world.

The survey, which now covers 38 markets and 22.729 active internet users - consumers who go online once a day or every other day - reveals growth for all elements of social network activity. Social network users are now more likely to upload video and photos, blog or upload widgets than they were in previous waves. More than 64% of active internet users now spend time managing their profile, up from 57% last time around, for example.

"Social media is a very fast evolving landscape and one that's taking an increasingly important role in consumers' digital lives. Brands that want to engage with consumers in these spaces need to understand how and where and why they are using the many different platforms that enable content creation and sharing. Although the explosive growth of social media has attracted a lot of media coverage and hype only 'Power to the People' - which began in 2006 and now has four waves of detailed and comparable data - has been able to track actual usage," says Glen Parker, Research D