Mark Walsh talks about the growth of social media in different regions of the world. It is a common belief that the U.S. is a world leader in social media penetration - perhaps because both MySpace and Facebook were launched by Americans, but surprisingly enough, according to this article, countries like Brazil, Russia, Taiwan and Mexico experience a growth in online social network membership of more than 70% compared to less than 49% in the U.S. China, for one, has long since surpassed the U.S. at 43 million vs. 26.4 million in the number of people that have their own blog. The article also comments on the levels of active engagement in social media, the age and gender gaps, and notes that the fastest growing social media categories are watching online video, downloading podcasts, and subscribing to RSS feeds. Read the full article