The first half of 2024 has been an eventful time for social media, with each platform vying for user attention and engagement. In this blog post, we’ll delve into the demographics and usage of Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.
Number of members: 2.96 billion
Largest age group: 25-34 years old (44% of users)
Gender distribution: 51% female, 49% male
In terms of demographics, it is still more popular among the older generation compared to other social platforms’ rivals. The most dominate age group is the one that has more people with 35 years and above as the monthly active users. It is worth noting that the gender distribution has not shifted radically from the previous year, with males making up 49% and females 51%.
Facebook remains the largest social media platform, with a vast user base across various age groups. However, its growth has slowed down in recent years, and it faces intense competition from other platforms.
YouTube
Number of members: 2.2 billion
Largest age group: 18-24 years old (70% of users)
Gender distribution: 55% male, 45% female
YouTube continues to dominate the video-sharing landscape, with a vast majority of its users belonging to the Gen Z and millennial age groups.
Furthermore, YouTube has achieved a higher overall gender split ratio compared to competitors with a slight preference of 18 – 49 male users only at 52%. It also showed that among adolescents aged 13-17 years, more females 53% than males 47% are now found among teenagers.
Snapchat
Number of members: 543 million
Largest age group: 18-24 years’ old
Gender distribution: 58% female, 42% male
Snapchat’s user base is predominantly young, with a strong focus on ephemeral content and privacy. Snapchat enjoys a tremendous popularity among teenagers in the U.S., especially those belonging to the age group of 13-17 years of age, with 71% of the respondents using the app daily. Both features that Snapchat offers actively, namely, Stories and Group Chat, they use a lot
Number of members: 875 million
Largest age group: 25-34 years old (38% of users)
Gender distribution: 57% male, 43% female
LinkedIn remains the go-to platform for professionals, with a strong focus on networking, job searching, and industry insights. LinkedIn is populated mostly by college educated professionals, and as such it is likely that its member pool will reflect a higher level of education than the general population. Aging members dominate a large percentage of associations, with 65% of members falling between 30-60+. Amidst the major social sites, gender distribution is skewed worse with 63% male and only 37% of the female users. With regards to diversity, LinkedIn is keen especially on achieving greater gender diversity, and has users from the Gen Z earlier in their careers to help develop their personal brand.
X (formerly Twitter)
Number of members: 440 million
Largest age group: 25-34 years old (37% of users)
Gender distribution: 54% male, 46% female
X, formerly Twitter, has undergone significant changes in recent months, aiming to revamp its platform and attract new users. X bases primarily on loudest opinions in media, politics, business and culture shaping spheres. But its community of “power tweeters’ is still very active and consists of only 0. 7 percent of the entire population of social media platforms which is a very small minority.
Number of members: 1.2 billion
Largest age group: 18-24 years old (71% of users)
Gender distribution: 51% female, 49% male
Instagram continues to be a visual-centric platform, with a strong focus on influencer marketing, e-commerce, and community building. Nevertheless, to penetrate and remain popular among the young generations, Instagram has adopted the TikTok vertical video feed and the recommended videos’ list. But so far it has seen minimal success in relation to capturing Gen Z users from the real video app of Generation Z.
Climbing Up to 2025 and Beyond
The rate of change of social remains fast as it is over the year progresses through 2024 and early 2025. When new platforms like BeReal becomes popular and established players try for massive repositioning, what you see today may appear very different after another 12-18 months. These seven social apps are the best in the current market, as they are the forerunners fighting for the development of how people will connect in the future.
References:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of- users
https://khoros.com/resources/social-media-demographics-guide
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/most-used-social-media-platforms-us-2024-2im-agency- uvlre
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/
https://www.hootsuite.com/research/social-trends
Note: The numbers and statistics mentioned in this blog post are subject to change and may not reflect the current numbers.
