The Middle East and Africa experienced a 33.9 percent increase in social network users in 2011, according to eMartketer.com, and both regions will continue to see double-digit percentage gains through 2014. Beyond Facebook, localised social networks like China’s Sina Weibo microblogging platform are growing fast, but the truly explosive growth is happening in niche social networks like Instagram, Vimeo, and new kid on the block Vine, a six-second stop-motion animation video maker attracting huge interest.

Pinterest has an estimated 150 000 South Africans on the platform, while Mxit competitor 2Go has attracted 11 million African users, one million of them in SA. These spinoffs offer more indepth, focussed functionalities than their bigger counterparts. But what does this all mean for brands and businesses?