Social Media Demographics 2017 – Who’s Using What?
Social Media is now a huge part of the internet. In the last 5 years we have witnessed a huge surge in the popularity and use of social media. Not just as a form of social engagement, but also as a potent business and marketing tool. Millions of people use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram on a daily (sometimes even hourly) basis. We use social media to chat with our friends, to show how fantastic our lives are, and even more commonly nowadays, to promote our businesses.
Decisions, Decisions…
With so many different social media platforms available, it can often prove difficult to know which ones are worthwhile to us or our businesses. The interesting demographics and stats below will provide an insight into the current 10 most popular social media sites and why you should be using them!
Majority user age group – 35-54 (31.1%)
Main countries – USA, India, Brazil
Usage Trend – 18% increase in No. of users (1.94 billion)
Usage Analysis – In essence, Facebook is too big to ignore. Facebook remains the most popular social media site, and this doesn’t look to change in the near future.
Why do we love it? Facebook has become a daily routine for many people. This social media platform allows us to be nosey and to see what our friends and families are up to. Furthermore, Facebook has released a series of new features that improve its functionality such as making reservations, customer reviews, and business recommendations.
Youtube
Majority user age group – 35-44 (26%)
Main countries – USA, India, Japan
Usage Trend – Holding steady
Usage Analysis – YouTube remains the number one video platform on the web – this doesn’t look likely to change in the near future. This website has become synonymous with video hosting and most people use YouTube as their premier source of video without even considering anything else.
Why do we love it? Who wouldn’t love watching a cat playing a keyboard or Madonna falling off stage at the Brits? If you want to watch something, there is a high chance that you can find it on YouTube! This social media site has a huge following, a great interface and brilliant options for monetizing your video channel.
Majority user age group – 18-29 (37%)
Main countries – USA, Russia, UK
Usage Trend – Increase in usage
Usage Analysis – Instagram remains popular due to its simple interface and format.
Why do we love it? Instagram is seeing a surge in popularity, especially among the younger generations. Unlike other social media sites, you can make an Instagram post with relative ease and do not have to be glued to your screen for hours on end.
Majority user age group – 18-29 (35%)
Main countries – USA, Japan, UK
Usage Trend – Steady increase
Usage Analysis – Twitter remains a social media behemoth and doesn’t look likely to falter.
Why do we love it? Twitter allows us to make short and snappy posts about our daily lives. Furthermore, we can use it to see what our favourite sports personalities and celebrities are up too. Who wouldn’t want to follow Donald Trump and see what unbelievable plans he’s making next?
Majority user age group – 30-49 (27%)
Main countries – USA, India, UK
Usage Trend – Steady increase in registered users
Usage Analysis – LinkedIn remains a powerful business tool for those wishing to network.
Why do we love it? At first LinkedIn was somewhat of a mystery, but as more and more people join the network and recent acquisition from Microsoft, its purpose and use become apparent. This social media platform is a great way to promote your business and build a network of contacts within your industry.
Majority user age group – 18-29 (27%)
Main countries – USA, India, UK
Usage Trend – Increase in registered users and active accounts
Usage Analysis – As more content is uploaded to Pinterest, the greater its use should become.
Why do we love it? Pinterest is a fantastic repository for a whole host of different subjects. People use Pinterest to share their hobbies and find out useful information on anything from cooking and DIY to artwork and blogging.
Snapchat
Majority user age group – 18-24 (37%)
Main countries – Ireland, USA, UK
Usage Trend – Increase in users but slower increase in growth
Usage Analysis – Is the Snapchat phenomenon wearing a little thin?
Why do we love it? Snapchat is quick, fun, easy to use and simple. We can send snippets of our lives to our friends and family and see what everyone else is up to. Snapchat appeals to our fear of missing out, and the excitement of seeing something for one time only.
Majority user age group – 18-29 (20%)
Main countries – USA, UK, Canada
Usage Trend – Holding steady
Usage Analysis – Reddit has a diehard community and a core of dedicated users. This will ensure a consistent level of usage, but the site is likely to never receive a vast influx of new members.
Why do we love it? Reddit is one of the most prolific discussion boards on the web today. You can trawl through Reddit and find a discussion about practically anything! Popular subreddit topics include science, gaming, movies, food and music. Furthermore, Reddit is a great source for internet memes, humor and fun videos.
Flickr
Majority user age group – 35-44 (30%)
Main countries – USA, UK, Japan, Germany, France
Usage Trend – Slow decline since 2016
Usage Analysis – As other social media platforms develop their mage sharing capabilities, the relevance of Flickr will inevitably fade. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all have extensive image sharing options and many people simply don’t see the need to use Flickr.
Why do we love it? Flickr is undoubtedly a great platform for sharing photos and creating photo albums. Many people use Flickr to share holiday snaps or their work with friends, family and colleagues. Their image sharing and hosting allows users to easily embed images and incorporate them into blogs and other social media sites.
Google+
Majority user age group – 15-34 (28%)
Main countries – USA, India, Brazil, UK, Canada.
Usage Trend – Overall decline
Usage Analysis – Google+ simply hasn’t taken off in the way that the developers thought it would. Although the social media platform has a large amount of registered users, only a small percentage of those users are actually active.
Why do we love it? Whether people actually love Google+ is debatable, due to its low usage statistics. For those who do faithfully use this social media platform, it provides a great place to forge connections and create meaningful bonds with your friend circles.
Knowledge is Power
So now you know – following a detailed look at some of the most used social media platforms and a myriad of interesting demographics. From these statistics we can see the Facebook remains a key player in the social media scene and is dominating the advertising scene. Upcoming platforms such as Instagram (owned by Facebook) and Pinterest are definitely making headway.
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