Recently, I spoke at the Forrester Consumer Forum here in Chicago, titled “Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies.” I’d like to share with you some of the findings from my presentation, which focused on consumer trends in social networking.

I personally find the worldwide expansion of social networking sites fascinating. For example, it’s commonly thought that with the success of sites like MySpace and Facebook, the U.S. is the hub of social networking activity. However, Asia is not only the fastest-growing region for social networking, it is also the largest:

By contrast, fewer Latin Americans visit social networking sites, but are much more engaged:

Each region has a different leader as measured by total time spent. Friendster, for example, was once a pioneer in the U.S. but now attracts a relatively small U.S. audience (North Americans spent 4.4 million hours on Friendster in August 2007 - seventh overall in North America - versus MySpace’s leading 223.1 million hours). However, people in Asia spend more time on Friendster than any other social networking site.

If you are a global marketer, there’s a great opportunity to capitalize on the rapid adoption of social networking sites outside of the U.S. But you’re going to have to ‘get local’ and understand which sites will maximize your reach in a particular region.

Related: The receptivity to advertising on UGC Sites.

Next: How MySpace Monetizes More Than Facebook.