Most Interesting Facts About Social Media That You Never Knew

“Like” it or not, social media is here to stay, even though most businesses aren’t using new media to its fullest potential.  As with any other type of communications, you can either use social media to streamline internal networking or to market to your consumers (or both).  But before you create any sort of strategy, you first need to understand how people behave on each platform. To help, we’ve highlighted a few fast facts to get you started.

Overall:

• The top trend from 2014 was the growth of image-focused social networks, such as Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat.

• The most popular channels skew female. Women in the U.S. are more likely to use Facebook than men by about 11 percentage points, Pinterest by 29 percentage points, and Instagram by 7 percentage points.

• The most youthful user base is Snapchat (45% usage for those between 18 and 24), closely followed by Vine and Tumblr.

The Superlatives:

Snapchat: Most Youthful

• 57% of Internet users between ages 12-24 are on Snapchat.

Tumblr: Most Immersive

• The average visit to Tumblr is 14 minutes longer than Twitter or Facebook.

Instagram: Most Popular

• 32% of millennials say Instagram is their most important social network (compared to only 14% for Facebook).

Twitter: Most Active

• Monthly active users for Twitter doubled from 2014 to 2015.

Google+: Least Relevant

• This platform is most popular with 65+ year olds.
• Google has deemphasized its development as a social network. Google+ profiles are mainly used to identify users as they experience other Google services.

Facebook: Most Mature

• Less than two-fifths of Facebook's adult user base in the United States is aged 18 to 34.

Pinterest: Most Feminine

• 42% of American women who use the Internet are active on Pinterest.

LinkedIn: Most Professional

• LinkedIn is used by 44% of Americans with incomes of $75,000 or higher.

Do you have experience using social media as a part of your communications strategy? What type of insights prompted you to explore social? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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*Stats from Business Insider, 2015