After a spirited discussion about
privacy and social media last week, curiosity led to some research on the demographics of social media users in 2012.
Understanding the demographics of chosen social networks is essential for solid social media strategy, especially when considering the amount of time that different cohorts spend on these networks.
For example, the average American spends over 3 hours per day on social networks, with usage trending higher among females, under-35s, business owners, and executives:
But beyond these averages, what are the specifics across social networks? Marketers must prioritize time and dollar spend, and so these specificities are vital to inform any social media strategy.
Uptime and performance monitoring company Pingdom had the most comprehensive user data of almost any other site. The study brought in various aspects of the social networking landscape, and concisely compiled them into a series of easy-to-digest charts.
The stats of the surveyed networks are incredibly revealing. These accumulated statistics are based on US data, but are still nonetheless informative as far as the tone, type and substance of content and interaction for businesses engaging on social media.
Here are our highlights, followed by the republished graphs.
- Even though the under-35s spend more time on social networks (see above graph), social media is not just the domain of the young. The over-35s make up the following percentages of social networks: 55% of Twitter users, 63% of Pinterest users, 65% of Facebook users, 79% of LinkedIn users.
- On the flipside, the networks where the majority of users are under 35 years old are: Reddit, Github, Hi5, Hacker News, deviantART, and Orkut.
- Facebook's user base is getting older, growing 2 years from the previous study to 40.5 years old, while Twitter is getting younger, dropping to an average age of 37.3 years old.
- 17 out of 24 sites have more female users than male
Average age distribution across 24 surveyed networks:
Average age across the surveyed communities:
Age range distribution across the surveyed communities:
Gender distribution across the surveyed communities: