'Word of mouth' has become all but synonymous with 'social media' because of the global spread of the web. It's a blinkered view - our offline conversations have a different but equal impact and value - but understandable when brands are looking for conversations to cross continents in seconds like never before.

As eMarketer announces that internet users have hit the 1 billion mark, it reminds us that China is in the lead (with only 20% of residents online); that Japan is still almost twice as active as the UK; and that the massive population of India will surely overtake the small fry of Europe soon. And a new OgilvyOne Asia Pacific study shows that 456 million Asian users have embraced social media -that's just under a third of the world's online population (for full story and a great regional breakdown of behaviours see AsiaOne Digital here).

So why, still, are so few brands building word of mouth strategies in a truly international way? Regional marketing budgets lead them to focus on single countries when the scope for connecting brand advocates across the globe is huge.We found our N96 Ninjas project for Nokia was incredibly enhanced by engaging voices from 10 countries across the world; it created a real sense of pushing boundaries and connecting diverse on and offline communities.

Each culture prefers different scapes, behaves in different ways, and needs a different approach; but in the increasingly sophisticated and inevitably international space of social media, why not capitalise on the one big thing the web brings to word of mouth: international comparison, collaboration and reach?