Why Instagram will be the next big social media platform
Oct 10th
A few weeks ago I professed my love for Instagram and predicted that this easy photo-sharing app would soar. Now, new data from The Social Habit seems to confirm that Instagram is poised for a breakout.
Of the Americans surveyed who currently use a social media platform, only 18 percent currently have a profile on Instagram. That’s paltry compared to Facebook (94%) or Twitter (47%). But here are five reasons why Instagram could explode in 2013.
- Of those who have a profile, 61% have used it in the past 24 hours, an adoption level only surpassed by Facebook (at 84%). By comparison, Twitter stands at 55%, Google Plus 44% and Pinterest 52%. So those currently using Instagram are pretty voracious users by comparison.
- Of ALL those social media users surveyed, 48% declared they are using Instagram more often. This blows the other major platforms out of the water. Facebook was the next-closest platform in terms of expressed growth.
- Of those who have an Instagram profile, 83% use it at work, again surpassing even Facebook and YouTube by a long shot. One reason could be that sharing on Instagram requires no typing. You just snap a photo and post in seconds. One of my friends ran a series on Instagram where he snapped pictures – and rated — the crazy coffee cups in his office kitchen. Hilarious! Inspiration is everywhere, including work.
- Today, 67% of Instagram’s users are under the age of 34. I project that there could be a huge upside across demographics because everybody loves sharing photos and it’s so easy to use even the non-tech savvy can master it in minutes. In fact, Instagram is the most user-friendly of all platforms.
- Since Instagram is a mobile-only application, its adoption will increase as the trend toward smartphones continues in 2013.
There is also an intangible quality in play here that I think will make Instagram a red-hot property. There is an almost voyeuristic quality to Instagram that is lacking anywhere else and I think this will appeal to the same human qualities that drive the popularity of gossip magazines and reality TV shows. Of course lots of people post photos on Facebook … along with videos, cat memes and celebrity photos. But there is just something different, something more intimate, about how people are sharing their visual lives on Instagram. People show up less guarded on Instagram. I can’t really explain it, but it rocks.
Most people scoffed when Facebook acquired the 11-employee, non-revenue-producing Instagram earlier this year for $1 billion. But maybe they were on to something. The platform certainly seems to be poised to take a leap forward, according to this latest data.
By the way, this is just one tiny glimpse into the amazing dataset compiled by Edison Research and the Social Habit report which is being released this week. This is a MUST HAVE and affordable resource for any agency, marketing department or social media professional. Be part of the buzz. Get this report.
Disclosure: I am an advisor to Edison Research on the Social Habit project.
8 Shocking New Social Media Facts
Jun 14th
I’m pleased to be a collaborator with Edison Research on the new Social Habit Project. Why? Because I’m a numbers geek so I’m overjoyed to finally get some social media data we can trust! Here are eight fantastic facts from the Social Habit’s latest study.
1) 7 percent of Americans have never heard of Facebook
So on this one, can I hear a big ol’ what the HELL? How can seven out of 100 people you see each day have no clue about Facebook? The social network has dominated ALL media, not just social media, for a couple of years now. TV. Magazines. The news. Even a movie. This is one mind-blowing fact. Who are these people? Even my mom knows about the “Facebox.”
2) 80 percent of Americans between the ages of 18-24 use this one product
Can you name any other branded product in the world that is used by 80 percent of the young people in the United States? I asked this question in a class once and somebody shouted out “toilet paper.” Ha ha. Very funny. That’s not a brand. But Facebook is, and the penetration of this single brand is beyond belief. It seems like that fact alone might be a reason some people would want to invest in Facebook. They are just so … THERE.
3) Facebook acquired one new user in the U.S. every second for three years
Check out this growth rate between 2009 and 2012. Over three years, Facebook acquired about 3,805 new users per hour. That equates to almost exactly one new user per second — and that’s just in the U.S. I wish I had the server installation and maintenance contract for this outfit.
4) 74 million Americans are passive aggressive
If these numbers are to believed — and they are — 74 million Americans are at least somewhat concerned about privacy issues on Facebook. That is one significant gaggle of people. Why is there no outcry? Why isn’t anybody DOING anything? How come there is no Occupy Facebook Movement? Seems a little passive-aggressive to me.
5) Look to your left. Look to your right. One of you is a social media stalker.
So how many social media users are active on the network but NEVER post? If you guessed about one-third it’s only because you looked at this graph first. Come on, you didn’t REALLY know that did you? I would have guessed about 5 percent. Shows how much I know. I guess I haven’t earned my guru merit badge yet.
6) Foursquare still sucks
Well maybe I took some liberty with that conclusion, but the data show that there has been a dramatic drop-off in both the use of location-based service and the amount of check-ins going on. Why? Boresquare is not delivering enough value to its users. We want free pastries and we want them NOW. Here’s the bright side. It has never been easier to become the fake mayor of your favorite donut shop.
7) Companies are rapidly figuring out social media
I think this chart is a real-eye-popper. Here’s my assumption. Since 2010, human nature has not necessarily changed so that we are more open to “following” brands and companies. I’m thinking that people aren’t waking up in the middle of the night with a cold sweat and a sudden realization that the simply MUST follow more brands on Facebook. The way I interpret this chart is that the brands are delivering more value so that people WANT to follow them. I think this is a pretty amazing validation that the money being spent on social media is at least having some impact on customer connections.
8. Content marketing is for real
Here’s another good news chart for marketers. A significant number of people are coming to our social media sites because they like the content, not just because they are getting a coupon. I would like to see more research about this as far as loyalty to coupons versus content, attitudes, conversions, etc. but this is pretty encouraging. Maybe there is an alternative to buying off fans and followers with daily discounts?
If you thought this information was interesting, wait until you see the whole report: The Social Habit. It is very well done and has lots of pictures of Beyonce and Justin Bieber. Well. No it doesn’t. But I’m suggesting it for the next report, along with free pastries. Somebody has to do it.
Many thanks to my partners Jay Baer, Jason Falls and Tom Webster of Edison Research for collaborating on this project.
Now, here’s how you can get involved. What question did we NOT ask that needs to be included next time? Give it your best shot in the comment section!
New research shows Facebook impacting behaviors in formative years
Apr 11th
Guest post by {grow} community member Tom Webster
My friend Mark Schaefer wrote a provocative piece in this very space yesterday about why Facebook will become the most dangerous company on earth. Perhaps he underestimated the problem.
One of Mark’s central observations — that a public company must find ways to grow, and Facebook’s only path to do that is through you and me — was particularly insightful and, for some, alarming. I’ve been studying Facebook for five years as a researcher, and after seeing our most recent data on social media behaviors I can tell you this: It’s scarier than you think.
In data that my company (Edison Research) just released yesterday, we found that 54% of all Americans age 12 and over have a personal profile on Facebook. This represents some modest growth over last year’s 51%, but not hockey-stick growth, so one might be tempted to see Facebook’s rise as slowing down, especially when that growth is trended over the past five years.
Not so fast. Numbers like “54%” don’t tell the full story.
First of all, it is important to know this: in the same report, we show the percentage of Americans 12+ who have a personal profile on any social network as 56%, and no other network is even remotely close to Facebook. When we talk about social media in this country we are talking about Facebook, plain and simple. The other thing to note about that 54% is it’s an average that masks some intriguing demographic disparities. Note the breakdown of social media usage by demographic below: (and remember, Facebook is used by 96+% of these Americans)
There are two important stories here.
The first speaks to the saturation that Mark wrote about, but in a different light. For the second year in a row, the growth for Facebook has really been people aged 45 and over. Indeed, the 12-34 demographic has largely been static since 2010. Certainly, it isn’t wrong to think that it’s pretty much all ashore that’s going ashore with younger demographics. And, as Mark correctly pointed out, as Facebook’s growth with older demos slows, the company will need to find ways to wring more data out of us in order to feed their shareholders’ insatiable hunger for growth.
The second story, however, is more subtle. As I noted earlier, usage by the 12-24′s haven’t really grown appreciably since 2010. But look where they are “stalled” — at an 80% adoption rate. Now, getting 80% of American youth to do anything is an unbelievably powerful construct to get your head around.
You can’t find any other media property remotely close to that. Heck, 80% of 12-24s don’t have smartphones, or landlines, or read the newspaper, let alone use any one brand or product. That 80% use of social media (i.e. Facebook) is remarkable, to say the least.
Eventually, those 24-year-olds turn 25, and those 34-year-olds turn 35, and so on. Gradually, as these younger demographics age into older demographics, they will take these learned behaviors with them. In that sense, it’s like smoking. Facebook has changed the behavior of Americans in their formative years, and they will take those learned behaviors with them.
With nearly 8 out of 10 young Americans making Facebook the hub of their online lives — and, thus, their lives – the ways in which they consume and share information have changed irrevocably.
Consider the number of Americans who have the “social habit” and check their profiles several times every day — while Facebook’s Edgerank algorithm prioritizes the information they receive based upon our personal interactions — and you can begin to see just how much sway Facebook holds over what we know as Americans. These 12-24s are literally growing up with the news and information they are exposed to being curated by their friends. And by Facebook.
As a parent I am keeping a wary eye on this. Garbage in, garbage out, as they say.
What do you think? Am I overreacting? What do you see in the data?
Tom Webster is Vice President of Strategy for Edison Research, a custom market research company best known as the sole providers of Exit Polling data during U.S. Elections for all the major news networks. Webster specializes in drawing insight from social media data, and writes about these topics at www.brandsavant.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Webby2001.
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