It is well and truly 2016 which means it’s time to revisit studies and data that might have changed. I always make sure the data I share is relevant to my audience and recent enough for it to be applied to a business at this time.
Whilst sat eating my breakfast in Tenerife just a few days ago, I came across a piece of research from PewResearchCentre that I knew had to be shared. Their research however was based on the US market, and not the UK. If you are a business that primarily sells to the USA, take a look at this research here.
After doing further research, I came across some great statistics from various websites based on the UK demographics of social media users.
GENERAL STATISTICS
The United Kingdom has a population of 64.1 million and 89% of this population is an active internet user. 38 million people actively use social media and a further 50% of total population actively use their mobiles to access their social media.
Since January 2014, there has been a 4% growth in active internet users, 6% growth in social media users and 7% increase in mobile users accessing social media.
Facebook is still the leading social network with over 1.44 billion monthly active users worldwide and over 31 million in the UK alone. Facebook’s demographic in the UK is fairly even with 49% male users, and 51% female. Did you know that 60% of the UK population has a Facebook account? Whilst Facebook’s younger demographic seem to be looking elsewhere, they still have a strong 2.5million of 13-17 year olds using Facebook, along with 26% of users still in the 25-34 age demographic.
My favourite social network; Twitter has over 15 million active users in the UK and over 65% of these users are under the age of 34. Over 80% of the 15 million active users access the social network from their mobile with a further 29% checking their Twitter feed multiple times during the day.
Just like Facebook, Twitter is relatively even with 49% males and 51% female in regards to user demographic. There are over 400 million tweets sent daily, and close to 75% of users are following less than 50 twitter accounts.
Pinterest launched in 2010 and in just two years, it had increased its traffic by 789% with 200,000 UK users. As you can expect, Pinterest’s demographics are less balanced than Twitter or Facebook with 62% of users female, and 38% of users male. There have been reports suggesting a stronger female usage up to 80% but no solid evidence to support this… yet. Did you know that 88% of all Pinterest users purchased a product they pinned and a further 49% have purchased 5 of more products they pinned?
Last year, Instagram overtook Twitter in terms of global users (300m on Instagram, and 280m on Twitter).
90% of UK Instagram users are under 35, with a high amount of these female that are likely living in urban areas.
According to eMarketer, advertising revenue generated by Instagram will reach just under £1 billion in 2016 and by 2018, it is estimated that there will be over 106 million Instagram users in just the USA.
Still the B2B social network leader, LinkedIn has over 60 million views every month in just the UK. There is a slight shift in regards to age and gender demographics with only 21% of users under the age of 35 and 79% of users are males.
Two new members join LinkedIn every second, there are 187 million monthly unique visitors and 40% of LinkedIn users check their account on a daily basis. LinkedIn is also used in over 200 countries and is available in 20 different languages.
GOOGLE+
Google+ has over 400 million users worldwide, with 63% of these users male, and 37% female. In the UK, 41% of users fall in the 18-24 age demographic and 29% of users fall in the 25-34 age demographic.
54% of Google+ users log into their account to stay in touch with friends whilst a further 42% use Google+ to interact with brand content. The average monthly time spent on Google+ is 7 minutes, with an average visit duration at just under 4 minutes.
It can be difficult to find statistics based on the UK market. I have shared just a few of the key information around each social network and the demographics of social media users.
Sources: PewResearchCentre, We Are Social, Social Media London, eMarketer, Rose McGrory, E-Consultancy, ECommerce Manager, Pingdom and The Last Hurdle.
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