In less than a decade, social media has grown from fairly humble beginnings to an integral and increasingly important part of the everyday lives of hundreds of millions of users around the world, as well as playing a vital role in the marketing and branding aspirations of businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Facebook alone is closing in on fast on the mind-blowing one billion users tally, and collectively the major social networks, which also includes Twitter and Google+, command the attention of a huge percentage of the global internet population.

A new infographic from the Graphic Design Blog takes a look at the key statistics of the top social media sites, which in this case includes Facebook, Twitter and Google+, plus Reddit and Stumbleupon.

Which, you’ll agree, is an interesting selection. Reddit is certainly a community, but it’s highly debatable that Stumbleupon is a social media site. Social bookmarking, perhaps, so I guess it kinda qualifies. Only a passing mention is given to LinkedIn, and rising star Pinterest could certainly warrant an appearance, perhaps at the expense of the flagging Google+. Still, however you feel about the networks included, this infographic is jam-packed full of data.

(Source: Graphic Design Blog. Social media image via Shutterstock.)