52% of Online Adults Use Two or More Social Media Platforms

IPG Media Lab and 140 Proof recently teamed together to conduct a study on how many social media platforms consumers actually use. The study focused on the types of behavior users exhibited for each social platform, as well as the different types of content they engaged with or shared. The survey was comprised of 500 mobile and traditional web users (aged 18-59) who are also active on two or more social media platforms.

One outstanding statistic comes from the comScore report: out of all US adults online, 52 percent use more than one social media network. In other words, 107 million people are multi-platform users. Of these 107 million, 73 percent used three or more platforms, 56 percent used four or more, 40 percent used five or more, 30 percent used six or more, and 23 percent used 7 social media platforms or more.

The study found that 72 percent of consumers use differing platforms for different purposes. Sixty percent said those differing platforms are used to connect with a wide variety of brands, people, and media.

The study broke down which types of platforms were primarily used for certain topic areas:

• Food/dining: Facebook (45%), Pinterest (40%), Twitter (30%)
• Celebrities/Gossip: Twitter (43%), Facebook (40%), Instagram (20%)
• Business/Industry: LinkedIn (40%), Facebook (28%), Twitter (26%)
• Brands/Companies: Facebook (47%), Twitter (42%), Pinterest (39%)
• Technology: Facebook (32%), Twitter (32%), LinkedIn (19%)

The study also broke down whom users were connecting with on different social media platforms:

• Family: Facebook (80%), Instagram (46%), Twitter (39%)
• Friends: Facebook (78%), Instagram (57%), Twitter (40%)
• Business Contacts: LinkedIn (59%), Facebook (39%), Twitter (24%)
• Media: Facebook (49%), Twitter (49%), Instagram (20%)
• Brands: Facebook (50%), Twitter (48%), Pinterest (44%)

The study also accumulated the percentages of users who “spring clean” their social media accounts. Sixty-one percent said they’ve unliked or unfollowed a brand; 29 percent said they’ve liked a brand only; and 10 percent said they have never liked a brand on their social media accounts.

Finally, the study asked respondents their preference for seeing ads on social media. Fifty-eight percent said they prefer ads based on their specific interests; 22 percent said they preferred ads based on their past browsing history; and 20 percent said they preferred ads based on their age and gender.

Source:

“A Network for Every Interest.” 2014. IPGLab.com

“10 interesting digital marketing stats we've seen this week.” 2014. Econsultancy.com

“STUDY: Active Users On Multiple Social Networks.” 2014. AllFacebook.com