Global Social Media Statistics.. Comparing Major Job Boards vs Networks
Many individuals have requested the insight both Careerify and comScore gathered when writing Social HR. Today, I will share some of the data to you.
The common misperception about social media websites is that only people under age 25 use them. In February 2010, 1.2 billion people used the Internet at least once, according to data from market research company comScore from our book Social HR. Usage statistics show Facebook is most popular among Internet users aged 15 to 24, with about 42 per cent of this age group accessing the personal social networking site. But Facebook is popular with all age groups, with about 38 per cent of Internet users aged 25 to 34 using the site, 36 per cent of Internet users aged 35 to 44, 38 per cent of Internet users aged 45 to 54 and 36 per cent of Internet users aged 55 and older. There are similarly high usage rates for YouTube across all age groups. The figure below shows a breakdown on age and sex group.
Twitter usage is lower but consistent across age groups and genders, ranging from 5.2 per cent to 6.4 per cent, which is impressive since Twitter only launched in 2006 (compared to Facebook which launched in 2004 and LinkedIn in 2003). There is talk Twitter is looking to monetize its search function, similar to Google, linking key word searches to advertisements and thus ensuring its continued survival in the social media landscape.
Facebook was originally created for English-speaking college students in the United States and, while North American Internet users still make up about 27 per cent of Facebook visitors, European Internet users now make up 35.7 per cent of the site’s visitors, according to the February 2010 comScore data. The adoption rate of Facebook for users outside of North America has been astoundingly high and the site is now available in more than 70 languages.
Twitter is still more popular in North America, which makes up about 31.4 per cent of the site’s visitors compared to 26.7 per cent for Europe. However, Internet users in Asia Pacific account for 22.1 per cent of Twitter visitors compared to just 9.6 per cent of LinkedIn visitors, 15.2 per cent of Facebook visitors and 18.9 per cent of YouTube visitors. Organizations wanting to reach out to users in this region would be well-advised to develop a strategy that includes Twitter.
It isn’t surprising that North America represents nearly 55 per cent of LinkedIn’s total traffic. Europe follows at 30.6 per cent. This might worry organizations that want to create Social HR initiatives in Asia, Latin America or the Middle East and Africa (which make up the remaining 14.4 per cent of visitors) but I believe LinkedIn will only grow in popularity in these regions. The site already hit 100 million users by March 2011. LinkedIn is already available in 35 languages and plans to add more.
Nearly 36 million people visited Monster.com, the largest of all the online job boards, in February, compared to 454 million YouTube visitors, 462 million Facebook visitors, nearly 70 million Twitter visitors and 46 million LinkedIn visitors. While LinkedIn isn’t very popular with younger users, its popularity increases as users age, with the highest usage among 45 to 54 year olds (6.13 per cent). By comparison, the highest usage of Monster Worldwide is 3.79 per cent among the same age group. This data clearly shows an organization relying solely on online job boards to build its employment brand and attract candidates is only accessing a very small proportion of Internet users.
Next blog, I will reveal more data and statistics, including how 2,300 organizations are actually viewing social media internally.
GLOBAL INTERNET STATISTICS
Many individuals have requested the insight both Careerify and comScore gathered when writing Social HR. Today, I will share some of the data to you.
The common misperception about social media websites is that only people under age 25 use them. In February 2010, 1.2 billion people used the Internet at least once, according to data from market research company comScore from our book Social HR. Usage statistics show Facebook is most popular among Internet users aged 15 to 24, with about 42 per cent of this age group accessing the personal social networking site. But Facebook is popular with all age groups, with about 38 per cent of Internet users aged 25 to 34 using the site, 36 per cent of Internet users aged 35 to 44, 38 per cent of Internet users aged 45 to 54 and 36 per cent of Internet users aged 55 and older. There are similarly high usage rates for YouTube across all age groups. The figure below shows a breakdown on age and sex group.
|
Male Age |
15-24 |
25-34 |
35-44 |
45-54 |
55+ |
|
LINKEDIN.COM |
1.75% |
3.55% |
4.83% |
6.53% |
5.48% |
|
FACEBOOK.COM |
40.21% |
35.79% |
32.87% |
34.66% |
30.79% |
|
Monster Worldwide |
2.39% |
3.04% |
2.96% |
3.69% |
2.91% |
|
TWITTER.COM |
5.99% |
5.21% |
5.31% |
5.94% |
6.34% |
|
YOUTUBE.COM |
44.24% |
36.11% |
34.67% |
37.63% |
34.74% |
|
MYSPACE.COM |
10.49% |
5.98% |
4.79% |
4.85% |
4.24% |
|
Female Age |
15-24 |
25-34 |
35-44 |
45-54 |
55+ |
|
LINKEDIN.COM |
1.71% |
3.51% |
4.25% |
5.73% |
5.19% |
|
FACEBOOK.COM |
43.79% |
41.06% |
39.22% |
42.41% |
42.17% |
|
Monster Worldwide |
2.38% |
3.21% |
3.08% |
3.90% |
2.92% |
|
TWITTER.COM |
6.78% |
5.28% |
5.35% |
5.70% |
6.52% |
|
YOUTUBE.COM |
41.73% |
34.05% |
35.44% |
36.90% |
38.03% |
|
MYSPACE.COM |
10.94% |
6.84% |
6.01% |
5.63% |
5.97% |
Twitter usage is lower but consistent across age groups and genders, ranging from 5.2 per cent to 6.4 per cent, which is impressive since Twitter only launched in 2006 (compared to Facebook which launched in 2004 and LinkedIn in 2003). There is talk Twitter is looking to monetize its search function, similar to Google, linking key word searches to advertisements and thus ensuring its continued survival in the social media landscape.
Facebook was originally created for English-speaking college students in the United States and, while North American Internet users still make up about 27 per cent of Facebook visitors, European Internet users now make up 35.7 per cent of the site’s visitors, according to the February 2010 comScore data. The adoption rate of Facebook for users outside of North America has been astoundingly high and the site is now available in more than 70 languages.
Twitter is still more popular in North America, which makes up about 31.4 per cent of the site’s visitors compared to 26.7 per cent for Europe. However, Internet users in Asia Pacific account for 22.1 per cent of Twitter visitors compared to just 9.6 per cent of LinkedIn visitors, 15.2 per cent of Facebook visitors and 18.9 per cent of YouTube visitors. Organizations wanting to reach out to users in this region would be well-advised to develop a strategy that includes Twitter.
It isn’t surprising that North America represents nearly 55 per cent of LinkedIn’s total traffic. Europe follows at 30.6 per cent. This might worry organizations that want to create Social HR initiatives in Asia, Latin America or the Middle East and Africa (which make up the remaining 14.4 per cent of visitors) but I believe LinkedIn will only grow in popularity in these regions. The site already hit 100 million users by March 2011. LinkedIn is already available in 35 languages and plans to add more.
Nearly 36 million people visited Monster.com, the largest of all the online job boards, in February, compared to 454 million YouTube visitors, 462 million Facebook visitors, nearly 70 million Twitter visitors and 46 million LinkedIn visitors. While LinkedIn isn’t very popular with younger users, its popularity increases as users age, with the highest usage among 45 to 54 year olds (6.13 per cent). By comparison, the highest usage of Monster Worldwide is 3.79 per cent among the same age group. This data clearly shows an organization relying solely on online job boards to build its employment brand and attract candidates is only accessing a very small proportion of Internet users.
Careerify, Facebook, LinkedIn, Monster, Social HR, Social Recruitment, Statistics, Twitter, YouTube, recruiting in Social HR, Statistics 
Reader Comments (4)
I hope social media will generate jobs too because of their popularity, they can help publish some job posting and maybe a forum for all job seekers.
It shows how powerful social media is.
Its a very informative graphical representation of social media usage. Its also shows how social media is popular globally. I am surprised to see that most of most from every age group go for the facebook. Thanks for sharing with us this wonderful article.
social media statistics
I think social media websites are becoming source of the marketing & to get the targeted audience. That is why most of the people also for move to social media sites. Even most of the people choosing social media sites as a marketing campaign also.
internet marketing small business