October 1, 2012
Findings from BT’s study earlier this year may have pointed towards females being the social media obsessives; but the latest data from Global Web Index into social platforms indicates it’s more of a man’s game. Almost every platform skews male, with the highest male ratio on LinkedIn (65%), followed by Google+ (64%), Twitter (62%) and Facebook (56%). The only platform bucking the trend is Pinterest, with a marginal female majority (54%).
More eye-opening, however, is the light Global Web Index’s dataset – gathered in Q2 this year – shines on platform engagement. Facebook may have the social media monopoly (currently standing at 1.14billion users), but only 3% of those surveyed actually posted anything in the past month. That number rose to 47% when considering those who had visited the site in the past month; and jumped to 61% when including those who were active. And Twitter? Slightly better; of the platform’s 517m users, just under a quarter have tweeted in the past month (24%).
So is there brand value in chasing numbers when 97% of the Facebook population is dormant? Facebook’s recent cull of ‘fake’ fans seems to imply even Facebook thinks not.
Perhaps hyper-local and micro engagement with core consumer networks that actually engage and drive Edgerank scores might be a better way forward.
Here’s the slideshare for a bitesize snapshot of the full report:
Social Platforms Global Report
