According to WordPress, the top three Social Media platforms in 2019 were (in order) Facebook, YouTube, and in third Instagram. Facebook has over 2.2 million active users every month—a staggering near-third of the Worlds population. YouTube is highly used by podcasters/broadcasters to share their videos, which in turn earn them money- due to Pay Per Click ads put on videos. Instagram, which can be used for personal or business, has the third-highest Monthly Active User count for 2019.
Top 10 Social Media Websites And Platforms In 2019 (wordpresswpthemes.com)
Facebook can be used by a wide range of individuals for an even wider range of reasons. People have their personal pages, which they can use to keep in touch with friends and family or if it’s what they choose to do, add thousands upon thousands of random people as friends. People can use the platform to share their business, garner support for charities and build volunteer lists by getting the word out. Individuals can share videos, either pre-made (videos they’ve made or share another person’s video) or can go ‘LIVE’ and share videos that way, they can share pictures, and information about events and invite people to those events on an Event Page. People can make an actual page for a business, share information and invite people to ‘like’ the page, thus building a customer base.
YouTube has been around for a while, but in the past ten years or so it’s really become a platform for business-minded individuals or creators to share their content. Musical Artists release their Music Videos for the songs, talented home musicians can share videos of them making a cover for a well-known song. You even have the podcasters and Vloggers who put together videos for entertainment purposes. Take for instance two Youtubers that have a huge fanbase—Markiplier and Ethan Page. Markiplier has been sharing since close to 2012, mostly doing ‘let’s plays’ where he plays video games and shares his screen for viewers to see. If you watch a video of his from when he first started and compare to a more recent video from this year you can see a huge difference because he’s evolved over the years, not only on a personal level but he’s gotten a better mindset for what programs to use and what equipment works best. He’s done several interactive videos where viewers can choose a path, which takes them to a different video, the most recent being ‘In Space with Markiplier’, as well as built a clothing brand named ‘CLOAK’ which he advertises stealthily on his clothing in videos. Markiplier also runs a podcast with two of his friends, fellow YouTubers Muyskerm and LordMinion, which he advertises for in every video he posts. Ethan Page, on the other hand, is a Professional Wrestler, who has primarily taken to doing weekly videos of him and some of his friends doing ‘Toy Hunts’, where in each city they visit, they find a comic store or toy store and look for collectibles. Those are only two Youtubers who use the platform to build their brand, and build their fanbase via the video platform- but there are millions more who use it for similar and also different purposes.
Instagram started as primarily a picture-sharing platform, which grew due to the use of Hashtags (that Twitter likes to use as well). Now, videos can also be shared, mostly short ones. Users can promote products of their business through images or videos, using the rapid growth of Instagram to really benefit their promotions. Individuals can make personal Insta profiles, or like Facebook, can make a business page—and you can follow other businesses in the hope for them to do the same, and help promote each other.
Top 10 Social Media Websites And Platforms In 2019 (wordpresswpthemes.com)
Demographics are important in social media because it shows the range of characteristics of customers. Businesses can better understand who is purchasing from them and can get a good idea of who will buy from them in the future, maybe even change their demographic to get more customers in. If businesses can understand their demographic customer base, they can figure out their target market and get the right customers for what they’re offering. It can affect factors outside of the customer base as well, such as pricing, services offered, and packaging of products. If a business has the right demographic understanding, sales have the potential to increase. Some demographics a lot of businesses look at are purchasing power, geographic area, age of (potential) customers and family status.
Demographics – Overview, Variables, How they Affect Decisions (corporatefinanceinstitute.com)
Facebook demographics show that more users are male, sitting at 56% over 44% being female and the majority age range for all Facebook users are between 25 and 35. While the majority of users are mid twenties to mid thirties, the smallest demographic falls to the senior 65+ population, at only a 4.8% of users. The largest population on Facebook isn’t actually in the United States- it’s India, with over 320 million, towering over the U.S’ 190 million.
Youtube has similar demographics, with 53.9% of global users being male, and only 46.1% being female. The highest percentage age-range for U.S users are the 18-29 year olds, holding a 95%, while only 49% of the 65+ population use Youtube. India, again, leads against the US as the country with the highest number of users at 467 million.
Instagram sticks to the demographic outlook, as females users are 48.4% compared to male users are at 51.6% and 31.2% of users are between 25-34 years of age. The U.S alone has 123 million Instagram users. The majority of Instagram users are outside of the U.S, a staggering 87% of users—and 17.6% of the Worlds population use Instagram. Out of the U.S teenage population, 25% of them say Instagram is their go-to preferred Social Media platform. A lot of Influencers and businesses use Instagram, as it provides a good interaction between them and their followers and customers. Fun fact: the most liked photo on Instagram- at over 55 million likes- is a photo of an Egg.
63 Facebook Statistics You Need to Know in 2022 – Omnicore (omnicoreagency.com)
Instagram by the Numbers (2022): Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts (omnicoreagency.com)
Roughly half of the global population, 51%, use social media each day and on average, those 3.96 billion people spend 144 minutes on the different platforms. However, let’s take kids under 13 out of the equation- since most Social Media limits anyone under that age from getting an account. That leaves 65% of the world’s population on social media, and that total number has surged over the past year by 10%. The average U.S citizen spends just over 2 hours on Social Media, while the average time for a person in the Philippines is almost double that at 3 hours and 53 minutes.
How Much Time Does The Average Person Spend On Social Media? (digitalmarketing.org)
Out of the three highest-used Social Media, from the information I went through, Instagram is definitely growing the fastest. I believe this is due to the interactive ability between poster and audience. Sure, Facebook has nearly the same capabilities: share a photo, comment below, and like. However, not a lot of people use the Hashtag system on Facebook, but on Instagram, it’s hashtag city and that makes it a lot easier for people to find posts and businesses that they’re looking for. Want some new art or cuisine ideas? Search # healthy quick foods or # modern art and you’ve instantly got hundreds of posts at your fingertips.
When I was looking at the demographics for the three sites, I noticed the higher percentage of users accessed the platforms via mobile. It’s quicker, it’s easier for a lot of people—especially if you’re out of the house running errands and need to waste some time.