One thing we learned from several agencies we met with, and what was confirmed by a recent study compiled by LIONBRIDGE, was that French companies are more reluctant to use social media tools to push out information. Companies in France mostly use social media to push out information without losing control of the conversation. In general, the French typically use social media to keep in touch with friends.

Paris, France

Another interesting thing we were told on our travels was that people in Belgium have not embraced social media very much, whereas people in the Netherlands, where the same language is typically spoken (Dutch), have embraced social media in a big way. In a Global Web Index Survey, stats showed that people in the Netherlands use social media most as a tool to stay up to date with current news and events.

Bruges, Belgium

Finally, as one would expect, many European countries don’t only use Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. They use their own social media platforms. For example, in France, Skyrock is also popular. In Italy, Netlog and Badoo are used, and in the UK Bebo is used. Learn more here.

Cambridge, England

And as always, this is Anna of Feedback, and those were my social media picks of the week. Keep a look out for next weeks picks, which will be filmed from Las Vegas, NV.

-Anna (@alucas9)