Social media and education

Shopping on social media may not be big right now, but by 2015, it's expected to explode...

A new infographic by has found that “social commerce sales are expected to bring in $30 billion each year by 2015, with half of web sales to occur through social media,” writes Samantha Murphy of Mashable. Currently, one in three small businesses use Facebook, while there are over 42 million fan pages on Facebook. Seventeen percent of those sell products on the pages.

Facebook fans are 79 percent more likely than a non-fan to purchase a product, and 74 percent of fans are more likely to recommend a company or product. The social media site also drives 26 percent of referral traffic to company websites. Right now ”20 percent of shoppers prefer to purchase products via Facebook than the brand’s website”— and that number is expected to climb.

In our upcoming October design issue, one of the many fascinating feature stories we’ve lined up is a lengthy profile of Pinterest and its elusive CEO, Ben Silbermann.

That story goes live later this week, but until then, here's an infographic about Pinterest, created by Fast Company's staff and designed by our own Ted Keller.

In this profusion of figures, you find out a few, key things about the image-sharing service. For one, it’s dominated by women. Second, something about its layout and culture stokes an enormous buying impulse. And third, major brands are getting in on the act. It’s not a stretch to say that soon, at least on retail sites, a Pinterest button might become as ubiquitous as a Facebook Like. Check out the infographic, or tour the major findings in the accompanying slide show...