--- title: "Wednesday Buzz: How Smartphones Are Driving Internet Growth Globally" id: "41461" type: "post" slug: "wednesday-buzz-how-smartphones-are-driving-internet-growth-globally" published_at: "2018-02-07T23:05:53+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-16T21:20:01+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2018/02/07/wednesday-buzz-how-smartphones-are-driving-internet-growth-globally/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2018/02/07/wednesday-buzz-how-smartphones-are-driving-internet-growth-globally.md" excerpt: "More than a quarter of a billion people first got online last year in part thanks to their mobile devices, according to a new study. Also: Discover what it takes to make a nonprofit digital team highly effective." taxonomy_category: - "Marketing / Communications" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "Marketing" - "Online Growth" - "Social Media" - "Technology" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "C-Level" - "Director" - "Executive Team" - "VP" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Wednesday Buzz: How Smartphones Are Driving Internet Growth Globally The affordability of smartphones and mobile data plans is allowing more people to get online than at any other time. A new [report called 2018 Global Digital (opens in a new tab)](https://wearesocial.com/blog/2018/01/global-digital-report-2018) from marketing agency We Are Social and Hootsuite reveals that the number of internet users worldwide topped 4 billion last year. “Smartphones are the world’s preferred choice for going online too, accounting for a greater share of web traffic than all other devices combined,” writes report author Simon Kemp. All organizations are better poised than ever to reach people online all around the planet via mobile devices. “Social media use continues to grow rapidly too, and the number of people using the top platform in each country has increased by almost 1 million new users every day during the past 12 months,” says Kemp. While it may be tempting to pull your focus away from Facebook, considering its News Feed change that [de-prioritizes brand pages](https://associationsnow.com/2018/01/how-associations-can-respond-to-facebooks-changes/) , it’s important to keep in mind that Facebook users grew by 15 percent last year to nearly 2.17 billion at the start of this year. The study notes that organic reach on Facebook has dropped by more than 10 percent year over year. Engagement also took a dip. But despite these decreases, “these numbers will be valuable benchmarks for marketers everywhere—especially because they offer insights into the number of brands using paid media.” ### Improve Your Digital Team > Our digital teams research is in Stanford Social Innovation Review today: What Makes Nonprofit Digital Teams Successful Today? (SSIR) [https://t.co/yMWcOUdxNg (opens in a new tab)](https://t.co/yMWcOUdxNg) > > — Jason Mogus (@mogusmoves) [February 6, 2018 (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/mogusmoves/status/960936734761525248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) **Digital is a vital component of a nonprofit growth strategy,** but many nonprofits are struggling with structuring their digital teams. “Our report found that three-quarters of digital teams have been restructured within the last three years—and almost a third more than once,” researchers who conducted a survey about the [state of digital teams in the advocacy nonprofit world (opens in a new tab)](https://ssir.org/articles/entry/what_makes_nonprofit_digital_teams_successful_today) write in *Stanford Social Innovation Review*. “Yet only 11 percent said the way their organization manages digital is highly effective.” The study finds that organizations with highly effective teams have a few things in common: senior management-level digital expertise, digital leaders generating new campaign and initiative ideas, and empowered hybrid or independent digital teams. “Unfortunately, the practice of empowering digital teams is far from standard,” write Jason Mogus and Austen Levihn-Coon. “Almost half of the organizations we surveyed either merely consult their digital teams on new initiatives or inform them of decisions after others have made a plan.” ### Other Links of Note **We’ve all made dumb mistakes at work.** Colleen Dilenschneider, writer of the *Know Your Own Bone* blog, shares the valuable [lessons she learned from her errors (opens in a new tab)](https://www.colleendilen.com/2018/02/07/three-leadership-lessons-learned-stupid-work-mistakes/) . **Do you know your donors as well as you think you do?** *The Agitator* offers up a bunch of ways to [brainstorm donor identities (opens in a new tab)](http://www.theagitator.net/uncategorized/brainstorming-donor-identities/) . **Make sure your team is always on the same page.** Daily stand-up meetings can save you hours of wasted work, [according to Inc. (opens in a new tab)](https://www.inc.com/dom-price/a-simple-trick-for-insanely-productive-weeks.html) (LDProd/iStock/Getty Images Plus) [Raegan Johnson](https://associationsnow.com/author/raegan-johnson/) Raegan Johnson is a contributor to Associations Now. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/raegan-johnson/) Tags: [#Marketing](https://associationsnow.com/tag/marketing/) [#Online Growth](https://associationsnow.com/tag/online-growth/) [#Social Media](https://associationsnow.com/tag/social-media/) [#Technology](https://associationsnow.com/tag/technology/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## You Might Like - [VideoDaily Recap: Day 1 from the 2025 ASAE MMC+Tech ConferenceMay 13, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/05/13/daily-recap-day-1-from-the-2025-asae-mmctech-conference/) - [VideoThe Future is Yours to Create. Attend MMC+T 2025!April 2, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/04/02/the-future-is-yours-to-create-attend-mmct-2025/) - [PodcastAssociations Now Presents: Beyond the Tech Stack: How AI Is Changing the Association PlaybookOctober 29, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/10/29/associations-now-presents-beyond-the-tech-stack-how-ai-is-changing-the-association-playbook/) - [VideoRecap from the 2025 ASAE MMC+Tech ConferenceMay 19, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/05/19/recap-from-the-2025-asae-mmctech-conference/) ## Comments **Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/) [Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2018%2F02%2F07%2Fwednesday-buzz-how-smartphones-are-driving-internet-growth-globally%2F%23comments) to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/) !