Social media networks were a novelty 5 years ago and today they are no longer debated around the dinner party table. The conversation has moved on.
Facebook is now part of most people’s web lives, Twitter is where a lot of people are reading the breaking news and if you want to be entertained then just dial into YouTube.
Despite it’s minimal mindshare, media profile and awareness Google+ has woven its way into our consciousness and is now the second largest social network.
As if these social networks aren’t enough to distract us. We also now have Pinterest and Instagram to add to the online temptations.
The social web is the modern version of Alice in Wonderland, where we are following not one but many rabbits down innumerable rabbit holes.
What are 2 key factors driving the social web in 2013?
According to a GlobalWebIndex study it is:
- Mobile – with the number of people accessing the internet via a mobile phone increased by 60.3% to 818.4 million in the last 2 years.
- Older users adoption – On Twitter the 55-64 year age bracket is the fastest growing demographic with 79% growth rate since 2012. The fastest growing demographic on Facebook’s and Google+’s networks are the 45 to 54 year age bracket at 46% and 56% respectively.
These 2 key factors are keeping the social web bubbling along. So maybe the reason your grandparents aren’t turning up to that dinner party is that they have now discovered Facebook and Twitter!
So let’s look at some of the facts, figures and statistics for the major social networks.
Facebook continues to grow and work out how to make money from its ads and mobile users.
Here are the latest facts and figures from its earnings call for the first quarter of 2013
- Daily active users have reached 665 million
- Monthly active users have passed 1.1 billion for the first time
- 751 million mobile users access Facebook every month
- Mobile-only active users total 189 million
- Mobile now generates 30% of its ad revenue up from 23% at the end of 2012
Twitter is the fastest growing social network in the world by active users according to a GlobalWebIndex Study.
So how does that translate into hard numbers?
- 44% growth from  June 2012 to March 2013
- 288 million monthly active users
- That means that 21% of the world’s internet population are using Twitter every month
- Over 500 million registered accounts
- Twitter’s fastest growing age demographic is 55 to 64 year olds, registering an increase in active users of 79%
YouTube
When you wanted to watch a video it used to be VCR, then it became a  DVD player, then we moved onto cable networks and now it is YouTube.
These numbers from YouTube’s own blog put some perspective on it penetration into our culture and time.
- 1 billion unique monthly visitors
- 6 billion hours of videos are watched every month
- This means that 50% more hours of video are watched in March 2013 compared to last August when it was 4 billion hours a month and last May when it was 3 billion.
- YouTube reaches more U.S. adults ages 18-34 than any cable network
The largest professional business network on the planet continues to grow but not at the pace of Twitter or Google+
Here are some numbers from Visual.ly.
- Over 200 million users
- 2 new users join it every second
- 64% of users are outside the USA
