The Joy of Social…

Today we all describe the world as getting smaller and more connected. I would describe myself as socially savvy, so I decided I had better start a blog.  I plan to Share, Connect, Create and Inspire… the bits that I believe will spread joy.

I am on the “Big 3” of 2017. Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn.

Facebook.

For me, the place for friends and family, my leisure time space 

The Big Daddy of the social world. Around 32 million user accounts in the UK. That’s been pretty steady for around three years now. Meaning that 78% of over 18s in the UK use Facebook at 78%.

Stats: the largest demographic is the 20-29 year olds, clearly showing that it’s not just everyone’s Mum using Facebook these days.

With organic post reach now sitting at around a measly 10%, the major area of interest for businesses using Facebook now is the development of new types of advertising, and the fluctuation in cost. This year we’ve seen enhancements or new introductions in ever more sophisticated ad targeting – Lookalike Audiences, Dynamic Ads and a whole suite of options around remarketing to website visitors. For smaller businesses, anecdotally it seems as though the cost of reaching the standard 1,000 eyeballs, or achieving a good volume of link clicks, is on the increase. This may be partly due to the more targeted types of advertising being more costly, which is not unreasonable if the results match up to their promise.

Twitter.

For me, a blend of pleasure, friends and business, news and fun

Twitter provided a stats update mid-2016 which gave a global MAU figure of 313 million, and 79% of those accounts being outside the US. That would be sufficient to keep them ahead of Instagram in the global rankings, just.

Research says 45% of UK Online Adults using Twitter, with 37% of those account holders logging in daily. The same research reports a surprisingly young demographic, too: 64% of users are 18-29, 57% 30-49, and 33% 50-61.  The more affluent citizens are also over-represented on Twitter, with 62% in the 48K+ household income bracket – bearing in mind that the median UK household income this year was just over £26k.

If you’re interested in how people are actually using Twitter, there’s a really good, and up to date, report here from the BBC.  There seems to a relatively small number of highly active users dominate in terms of posting content – 1% of accounts are responsible for 20% of all tweets, and 85% of all tweets are accounted for by just 15% of total accounts.

The number of actual tweets sent each day has remained almost constant since 2013, despite increases in monthly active users. So, if you’re planning a campaign on Twitter, be aware that there are a *lot* of users out there who read but never post!

LinkedIn.

For me, my professional social scene for colleagues and business 

Like all the mature sites, LinkedIn’s growth is also slowing, but there is still some growth. In 2016 the figure stood at of around 19 million UK users; 2017 is at 21 million. You can see LinkedIn’s own global figures here.

Like my account, the average user uses LinkedIn very different to the way Facebook’s average user uses Facebook. And that’s why you won’t see too much emphasis on metrics such as “monthly active users” or time spent on the site in an average month. Unless they are actively job hunting, or actively using LinkedIn as part of their job role (think Enterprise software sales execs), we believe that most people who are registered with LinkedIn, don’t necessarily touch that account for weeks at a time.

Instagram.

For me, my least used, remember to take a photo! A photo says 1,000 words… 

Instagram stats 14 million Monthly Active Users in the UK, from a global MAU figure of 300 million. The global figure was updated in December 2016 to an impressive 600 million, but it would basically be a total guess as to whether the UK’s growth has kept pace with the global growth.

It’s hard to tell at this point whether Instagram is continuing to cannibalise Twitter’s market, particularly among the younger demographic – that seemed to be the case in previous years. For me it lacks the native “retweet” function and inability to include links etc

29% of UK adults use Instagram, which would give us a figure around the 19 million mark. 64% of users as being under 30 similar to Twitter. Even more interestingly, Instagram has something of a peak in the higher income brackets (though not as much as Twitter does); 46% of users reported a household income of over £48k per annum.

From a general strategy point of view, Instagram has joined Facebook and Twitter this year in filtering which of your followed accounts’ posts you actually see. That seems a clear pointer that in the not too distant future, you can expect to be paying Instagram for any kind of guaranteed reach at all, in the same way we now have to pay for reach on Facebook.

Credit: http://www.rosemcgrory.co.uk/2017/01/03/uk-social-media-statistics-for-2017/