Social Media Statistics

A web analytics company, comScore, just released a report called “It’s a Social World: Top 10 Need-to-Knows About Social Networking and Where It’s Headed.”  Here are some of the highlights, which you can use to help plan where you should spend time promoting your business.

  • Social networking sites have a combined 1.2 billion users, which is 82% of the world’s population.
  • Nearly 80% of adults over the age of 55 are now connected on social media sites (the fastest rising group).
  • Women between the ages of 15 and 24 spend the most time on social media sites (approximately 8.6 hours per week; 1.1 hours more than their male counterparts).
  • Nearly 1/3 of the U.S. with mobile phones (aged 13 and over) are accessing social media sites on their phone (that number goes up to 64% for those with smart phones with almost 40% doing so every single day).
  • Facebook alone reaches more than half of the world (55%).
  • Facebook accounts for approximately 3 in every 4 minutes of time spent on social networking sites (and 1 in every 7 minutes spent online).
  • Twitter reaches 1 in 10 Internet users worldwide (and has grown 59% in the last year).
  • Google+ is up to 65 million users worldwide, although many still continue to doubt its staying power.

Although this report generalizes the world’s social media use, you may better know where your customers are “hanging out” on the Internet.  Perhaps simply asking them which site is their favorite will help you determine which social media sites are worth your time. 

Which sites are you currently using for your business? Let us know in the comments.

alison

Alison has worked with clients of all sizes, from sole proprietors to television networks and financial institutions, including HBO, CBS, Showtime, Charles Schwab, and The Body Shop. In her career at DoubleClick, Google, and Infogroup, she learned social media, email marketing, SEO, and web design from the people inventing the standards. She makes a mean flourless chocolate cake.