Q; What were the top three social media sites, in terms of traffic, in 22-23? Listed in order of popularity.
A: As of October 22, 2023, the top three social media sites, in terms of traffic, are;
1: Facebook (2.89 billion monthly users)
2: YouTube (2.3 billion monthly users)
3: WhatsApp (2 billion monthly users)
Q; Provide a brief summary of how each social media site works and why people use it.
A: Facebook works by allowing users to create a profile to connect with others. Users upload optional information about themselves so others can find them. When a user finds someone, they know they send them a friend request. After someone is friends, they can view each other’s profiles and posts. Most people use Facebook to show others what they are doing. To do this they can make a post, which includes pictures and text, and their friends will see what they up too.
YouTube works by allowing users to create and post videos. When someone posts on YouTube, they can choose to make their video public (viewable to everyone), private (viewable to just the poster), or unlisted (viewable to people with a link to the video). On YouTube there are many people who have a wide audience of viewers. YouTube allows users to follow anyone with videos that you like. There are many different categories of what someone can watch on the site. Some of these are gaming, entertainment, and educational.
WhatsApp allows users to make message others through their cellular or Wi-Fi connection. WhatsApp was made to replace the build-in messaging system in cell phones and replace them with something that does not have any limitations. Users join by confirming their mobile number. By searching for others by their phone numbers, users can contact one another.
Q; What are “demographics” and why is it important in social media?
A: Demographics are characteristics of the population that can be categorized. For example, race, gender, and income. These are important to social media because it gives an idea of what our viewers want to see. When looking at demographics you should decide things like what social media platform to use and what to market. When we use the demographics to promote what the viewers want to see, your market will take off.
Q; Explain any demographics that stand out among the three social media sites you listed above. (More popular with a specific age group, are majority of users male or female, married or single, employees or self-employed, etc.)
A: Facebooks demographics are mostly used by people that are male (56%) rather than female (44%). Along with being mostly used by men, Facebooks average age of its users are 25-34 (29.9%).
YouTube demographics is mostly used females (51.4%) rather than males (48.6%). Along with being mostly used by women, Facebooks average age of its users are 15-35 (29.9%). India has the most YouTube users around the globe.
WhatsApp is used mostly by people aged 26-35 (27%). Of the people that use WhatsApp the majority of them are male (53.9%), with females being (46.1%). India uses WhatsApp more than any other country.
Q; On average, how much time do users spend on each social media site during a day, week or month? Provide a resource that supports your answer.
A: Facebook users spend an average of 30 minutes per day on this site (Source).
WhatsApp users spend an average of 17 hours a month on the site (Source).
Facebook users spend an average of 45.6 minutes per day on this site (Source).
Q; Which of the three social media networks is growing the fastest? Why do you think that is?
A: YouTube is the fastest growing network out of the three listed social media sites. I believe that this is because it has a very high amount of time spent daily, which contributes to its growth. Along side the daily amount of usage, the new generations are starting to engage in social media sites. They are interested in the new YouTube shorts feature which helps YouTube further their time spent in the app.
Q; How are the majority of visitors accessing these three sites (computer, mobile device, tablet)?
A: The majority of Facebook users (98%) access the site through a mobile device, along with WhatsApp, and YouTube (40%).