Social media has become our environment. In the era where social media websites have the power to directly influence our opinions, attitudes and behaviours, it is important to be knowledgeable about the social media phenomenon. This knowledge provides a deeper understanding of the ways in which social media influences our everyday lives.

The number of people who use social media has exceeded 1 billion and the trend of growing social media usage is expected to continue to grow over the coming years. While most users of social media know a lot of information about their favourite platforms, there are still a number of facts about social media that are bound to come as a surprise to many. Click on the image for the full Infographic.

Gender and Social Media

People of all ages, genders and background use social media. It is interesting to see the female to male ratio which varies slightly based on which social media platform we are discussing. On the most popular social media network in the world Facebook, women make up 57% of the user base. Female users are also the most active on Twitter with female users making up 53% and males 47%. Instagram has the highest female to male ratio with 65% female users.

Male users of social media are slightly more active than female users on the video sharing service YouTube and they also lead by a small majority on the professional social media network LinkedIn. On YouTube, there are 57% of male users and on LinkedIn, 56% of user base identifies as male.

Social Media by the Minute

The world of social media is changing at lightning speed which means that keeping up with these changes is no small feat. While the astoundingly large numbers of new likes and posts on the world’s most popular social media websites are certainly hard to wrap one’s mind around, they are not inaccurate.

On Facebook, 4,166,667 new likes, 136,000 photos, 293,000 statuses and 510 new posts appear every single minute. The popular photo and video sharing platform Instagram registers 2,430,555 new likes, 43,470 photos and 28,194 new posts per minute. There are 435,120 new tweets are sent every minute on the microblogging platform Twitter.

Politics & Social Media

It is a long-known fact that social media has changed politics in more ways than one. Everything from the way we learn about political candidates to the way we get involved in social issues has been influenced by social media websites like Facebook and Twitter. This is especially true for young adults, 68% of whom consume their news through Facebook.

Social media has played an unprecedentedly strong role in recent presidential elections in the United States. It is suffice to say that the elected Republican candidate Donald Trump amassed over 10 million followers on both Facebook and Twitter, and over 2 million on Instagram. Hillary Clinton on the other hand, is followed by 8.1 million people on Twitter, 5.4 million supporters on Facebook, and 1.8 million Instagram users.

 

Social Media Facts For Business

So, when it comes down to marketing and creating a social media strategy for your business where should you be concentrating your efforts? Well, Facebook for a start.  It is not only the biggest platform with the most active users on a daily basis but it is also the leader when it comes to influencing purchase decisions.

Facebook is the winner from a pure sales perspective with 37% of people reporting that this platform influenced their decision to purchase. Twitter came in second at 32%, and Pinterest was third at 19%.

However, Twitter is the winner when it comes to purchase reminders, product recommendations, and product discovery.

In a survey that we used while putting together this infographic, we found that YouTube came in just behind Facebook when it came to influencing purchase decisions. 27% of people reported that YouTube had influenced their purchase, compared to 31% who cited Facebook.

Social Media in 115 Facts

To learn more little-known facts about social media platforms consult the infographic. Based on highly relevant data obtained from credible sources, this infographic contains 115 facts about social media platform that even its heaviest users never knew about.

Guest Blogger

Josh Wardini
Community Manager @ skilled.co