September 24, 2013;Business Insider
Business Insider released a report that breaks down some of the biggest social media giants’ audiences based on their demographics. This information could be very helpful for nonprofits in discovering where the majority of demographics your organization may be serving reside in the social media world.
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The full report, which costs an arm and a leg and which we have not seen the whole of, apparently analyzes each social network’s Internet users by age, gender and income statistics. Below are some of the summary’s findings:
- Facebook: The 45–54 age bracket using Facebook has significantly grown, increasing by 45 percent since the end of 2012. Out of all the social networks studied, Facebook dominated the older generation’s social media usage, as well as the wealthier population. Seventy-three percent of people earning over $75,000 annually have a Facebook account, which surpasses any other network by over fifty percent in the highest income bracket. Facebook is also clearly the most popular by far, and is expanding internationally—86 percent of users are now from outside the United States.
- Google+: The largest male population can be found on Google+, with 70 percent of its users being men. This network was not included in the income bracket study, but Forbes has forecasted that Google+ will be up and coming in 2014 and still has the second-highest number of monthly users. Granted, similar predictions were made in 2013, and chances are Google+ has such a high amount of active users because it’s so closely linked to Gmail and Google’s search engine, but as Google continues to integrate Google+ into all aspects of the web, it will become a necessity for organization to develop a presence on the network.
- Instagram: Sixty-eight percent of users on Instagram are female, making it the second-largest population of women using a social network.
- Linkedin: The business-oriented network has a large base of male users, and similar to Facebook, has gained traction internationally in 2013.
- Pinterest: Leads in having the most tablet users and the most female users. An impressive 84 percent of Pinterest users are women. Pinterest also seems to be very popular among the wealthy; the social network was the second-most popular for Internet users in the $50,000 to $74,999 income bracket, as well as second most-popular for those making over $75,000 annually.
- Twitter: Millennials are very active on the Twittersphere, with 27 percent of 18 to 29-year-old Internet users in the U.S. engaging, compared to just 16 percent of users in their thirties or forties on Twitter. Twitter is also the most balanced between income demographics, with 16 percent of Internet users making under $30,000 annually active, as well as 17 percent of those making over $75,000 annually.
- Tumblr: Teens are dominating this blogging social network, where its user population tends to be younger. Just 8 percent of U.S. Internet users with incomes above $75,000 are active on Tumblr.
The most active age group in social networking overall was found in young adults, who also are most active during the evenings online. These demographic trends should be useful for organizations to better gauge their audience makeup within these specific social networks. Were you surprised by any of Business Insider’s findings?—Aine Creedon
