With digital integration advancing at a rate faster than ever seen before, developing trends and ongoing technological discoveries has given rise to an age of global digitalisation. Yet beyond a pocket-sized social presence and a collection of digital platforms, a set of recent studies point to approximately 50% of the world now having access to the world wide web.

According to the collected findings of both Edelman Digital’s ‘2017 Trends Report’ and a collaboration between social media agency, We are Social, and social media management platform, Hootsuite, global social media usage has snowballed year on year. Yet as global audiences grow and expectations vary worldwide, the digital forecast holds up circular video, augmented reality and 1st person creative video content as beacons of progression whilst digital media basks in the creativity of its ‘adolescence’.

Yet as user demographics expand into new hemispheres, We are Social and Hootsuite’s Digital in 2017 points to various interlocking factors leading to the ballooning of internet usage. Taking into consideration frequency of use, speed, devices and content type, the report highlights a collection of analytics including mobile social media usage increasing by over 30%, surpassing 2.5bn users and translating to 91% of social media users accessing chosen platforms via mobile devices.

Correlating with this, an average of just under two hours a day spent using social media on any device indicates the imprint of digital within wider society. The example of the UK, home to 65m people with 60m internet users and 42m active social media users showcases the proliferation of the digital sphere. With the state of digital – by no means stagnant – continuing to build on user experience and a wealth of varying avenues of digital interaction, the benefits of digitalisation are, for Penny Wilson, CMO of Hootsuite, second to none.

“One of the greatest opportunities of a digitally connected world is the ability to have immediate conversations, wherever and whenever customers want. Social media not only enables organisations to amplify its brand, but also build trust, credibility and human relationships at scale. It is now as much the responsibility of the top executive as the social media manager.”