The most popular social media sites are…
A new survey takes a deep dive into consumer social media habits and expectations.
The top three social media platforms are Facebook (87%), Instagram (75%) and YouTube (72%), according to a survey of U.S. and U.K. consumers who use social media from social media management tool provider Sprout Social.
Women (90%) use Facebook more than men (83%), who are much more likely than women to have a YouTube profile (82% vs. 62%) and slightly less likely to use Instagram (74% vs. 75%).
TikTok comes in fourth overall (55%) with similar rates of male and female usage. However, men also have X profiles at a much higher rate than women (61% vs. 35%).
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Across all respondents, 51% plan to use social media the same amount to find holiday gifts, while 42% plan to use it more. More men (48%) expect to use social media more this year than women (37%). The survey also found that younger generations (Gen Z, 57%) expect to use social media more this year than older generations (baby boomers, 25%.)
Impact of social brand content during the holidays
Brands’ social media content has an impact on purchasing decisions for 89% of respondents, including:
- Promo codes - 47%
- Content from regular social media users (not influencers) - 37%
- Organic posts (not ads) from a company showing their product or service in action - 35%
- Targeted social media ads from the company - 34%
- Sponsored influencer content promoting a specific company - 20%
- Influencer posts - 19%
Gen Z and millennial respondents indicated content from regular social media users has nearly equally as big an impact on their holiday purchase decisions as promo codes do.
Other findings from the survey are below.
- Six-in-10 respondents agree that they’d be willing to pay more for a product that has positive buzz on social media—of which 22% strongly agree.
- Across all respondents, 34% will go to the company’s website to do more research before buying a product and 30% will go directly to the company’s website to buy the product. Only 13% will buy directly from the social network.
- Across all respondents, 56% expect to make the same amount of purchases on social media in 2025. One-in-three (32%) expect to make more purchases and only 12% expect to make fewer purchases.
- Across all respondents, 63% say that they somewhat trust social media networks to protect their personal data. 22% completely trust social media networks and 16% don’t trust social media networks at all. Complete trust is higher among male respondents than among female respondents (27% vs. 17%) and higher among Gen Z and millennials (28% & 29%) than among Gen X and baby boomers (19% & 10%).
- Almost one-in-four (23%) surveyed baby boomers say they do not trust social networks at all with personal data, compared to 15% of Gen X, 14% of millennials and 10% of Gen Z.
A consumer survey was conducted online Sept. 27 – Oct. 1, 2024 by global market research firm Glimpse on behalf of Sprout Social. Participants included 2,068 consumers across the U.S. and U.K. who have at least one social media account and follow at least five brands on social media.
