Do you know how old the average Twitter or Facebook user is? Do you know what share of Reddit’s users are women? If you had this kind of information, how would it change your content strategy, specifically if you’re a 1:1 marketer for a B2B?
Pingdom’s 2012 Social network demographics wanted to know the answers to these questions and more, so they examined age and gender data from 24 of the top social media sites.
Talking to B2B social media marketers every day about how to craft their social media marketing strategy and content, most of what they know about their social audiences is anecdotal. So, whether or not you’ve begun to close the loop with your social media marketing by tying your marketing efforts to real ROI, these demographics are a great place to start with creating your marketing strategy that makes the best use of your time and energy to truly engage your audience!
Before we get to the data, the sites included in this survey are: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, Reddit, Hacker News, Slashdot, Github, Stack Overflow, Orkut, Quora, WordPress.com, Blogger, Flickr, Myspace, Tagged, Hi5, LiveJournal, Yelp, deviantART, StumbleUpon, Goodreads and Last.fm.
You may note one glaring omission: Google+. Unfortunately for us there is no data on Google+ in DoubleClick Ad Planner, the Google-owned tool they used for the demographics data. Also note that the demographics data used in this survey is for the United States.
OK! Onto the social media analytics!
1. Average Age Distribution in Social Media:
More than half of these social media users are between 25 and 44 years old.
While only 2% of social media users are 65+ years old, obviously this age group will continue to grow as social media users and consumers continue to age.
I think it’s important if you’re B2B trying to sell via social, to note who the users of social media are versus the people within companies with the purchasing power, and make sure to tailor your content to both crowds.
2. Age Distribution per Site:
This chart should make something very clear; social media is most definitely not just for the young. Some examples:
- 55% of Twitter users are 35 or older.
- 63% of Pinterest users are 35 or older.
- 65% of Facebook users are 35 or older.
- 79% of LinkedIn users are 35 or older.
However, as you can see on the flip side, 58% of Reddit users are under 35. So, if you’re posting to Reddit keep it young, fresh and witty!
3. Average User Age per Site:
Based on the sites in this survey, the estimated age of the average social media user is just under 37 years old. Here are some other observations:
- The oldest users. LinkedIn has the oldest user base, with the average user being 44.2 years old.
- The average Facebook user is 40.5 years old.
- The average Twitter user is 37.3 years old.
- The age trend for Facebook and Twitter. Compared to a previous survey we did 2.5 years ago, the age of the average Facebook user has gone up two years, while the age of the average Twitter user has gone down two years. In other words, Twitter’s user base is getting younger, while Facebook’s is getting older.
4. Gender Balance on Social Media Sites:
- 17 out of 24 sites (71%) have more female than male users, that’s 2/3 of the social networks!
- The average gender distribution is 48.75% male, 51.25% female.
- Most male-dominated site? Slashdot (87% males) is the standout, followed by Hacker News (77% males) and Stack Overflow (76% males). In general, the more tech-focused sites in this survey have more male users than female.
- Most female-dominated site? Pinterest (79% females) is in a league of its own, followed by Goodreads (70% females) and Blogger (66% females).
- Facebook and Twitter have the same gender distribution: 40% male, 60% female.
Thank you to the in depth content and analysis and images from Royal Pingdom.
