The report provides insight into the social media world from the latest social media engagement data, key trends in social media, and the most popular social entertainment platforms.
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “Tencent Media Research Institute” (ID :TencentMRI), author of GlobalWebIndex.
Recently, GlobalWebIndex (GWI) released the first quarter of 2019, “GWI Social Global Web Index’s flagship report on the latest trends in social media.” The report provides insight into the social media world from the latest social media engagement data, key trends in social media, and the most popular social entertainment platforms. The report answers the following questions in detail:
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How much does digital consumer spend on social media each day?
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How has the behavior of social media users changed?
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Which social platforms (total number of people online and key audiences) are the most popular?
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How do consumers interact with brands on social media?
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How is social media as a content platform and business platform developed?
Keywords: Social Media, Digital Consumption, E-commerce, Entertainment
This report was produced by GWI and compiled by Tencent Media Research Institute.
Social Media Engagement
1. Social Media and Digital Health
The proportion of users who use screen time tracking. Red is a heavy network user who uses social media services for more than an hour a day
In the past two to three years, the social media industry has been facing liquidation and challenges. Specifically, it includes the following aspects: how much time people spend on social media, its impact on young people, scandals about excessive content processing, and the definition of responsibility for false content dissemination by the platform.
The digital health tools promoted by the industry in 2019 are one of the fruits of the sport.
Last year, Google pioneered the concept of “Digital Wellbeing” to provide users with screen usage analysis. In addition to Android users, Apple users can also find “Screen Time” on the updated iOS 12. Facebook and Instagram have also introduced similar features.
Google’s research shows that 78% of users have been more satisfied with mobile phone usage since using the digital health app.
2. Time spent on social media
Globally, digital consumers spend an average of 2 hours and 23 minutes on social media and messaging software. In the third quarter of 2018, social media online time in a few countries remained the same or decreased. By 2019, this trend has continued, and 20 of the 45 countries and regions surveyed have shown such a trend.
Globally, groups of 16 to 24 spend the longest time on social media every day: nearly three hours a day. This is because smartphones and instant messaging software occupy the focus of young people’s lives. It’s worth noting that social media consumption is synchronic rather than monopolistic, and people use social media while watching TV.
3. User usage time by region
Younger groups are most interested in social media, and Internet users in emerging market countries tend to be younger than developed market countries, which explains why there are significant differences between regions.
But only looking at the 16-24 age group, the average daily time value of developed market countries is also high. In Europe, the country with the highest social media interaction participation rate is Russia, and its unique social platform ecosystem may be a key factor in more than 4 hours.
Even in the 16-24 age group, data for Asia and Latin America is far ahead. Of particular note are Argentina (4 hours and 17 minutes), the Philippines (4 hours and 16 minutes) and Colombia (4 hours and 12 minutes).
Latin Americans occupy half of the top ten of social media daily usage time
4. Social media is saturated
The average number of social media accounts owned by Internet users of all ages and regions
Social media users are accustomed to using multiple platforms at the same time; in 2013, regular users had about 4 social media accounts, and now that number has risen to 8.1. This is due to the growing number of social media platforms and the emergence of specialized platforms such as Twitch or Pinterest.
As people spend their time on social media start to change or even decrease, the number of people using social media platforms seems to be saturated. Beginning in 2017, there has been no significant increase in the average number of user social media accounts. This trend continues into 2019, possibly due to an increase in older consumers (the group uses social media is more singular) and stagnant user growth on certain key platforms. . The most important thing is the rise of pure mobile Internet users, who only use a specific mature social platform.
Although the use of social media in developed regions has become saturated, users in emerging countries are still heavily using social media. Indonesia, India and Egypt are diverse social mediarepresentative.
5. Diversified Social Media: Market Watch
Number of social network accounts per capita in the first quarter of 2019
6. Dark social booming
Proportion of users sharing information or content through different channels
“Dark social” refers to network traffic that is shared by Internet users directly through the private chain and is almost impossible to track, as opposed to publicly publishing or sharing content. “Dark social” is usually difficult to reach with private messaging apps and emails.
America’s Internet users are now more willing to share information or content with friends and relatives in private messaging applications than post-of-mouth offline/in person.
Since its inception in 2012, dark social has become an important social way, and it is a major marketing channel that major brands cannot ignore.
Photo sharing light apps like Snapchat and Instagram allow users to pick and share their favorite content, giving people the opportunity to rebuild their own social networks. Guided by a culture of influence, these platforms also lead people to “show” themselves on social media.
To deal with the challenges of dark social interaction, interacting directly with young users in a private space is a solution. Another way is to create more content that can be shared and encourage people to use the “share button” to share content with friends and family in the private space. Either way, the most important and fundamental is to respect user privacy.
7. Motivation for social media use
As you can see from the previous article, the role of social media is changing. Digital consumers are now more inclined to use social media to focus on news (40%) rather than as a platform to stay in touch with friends (39%). Although entertainment (38%) ranks third, its growth rate ranks first, playing a key role in motivating digital consumers to use social media.
Social interactions have prompted social media platforms to evolve into entertainment centers. Social interaction is no longer a purely “social” activity, but a more purposeful activity, especially based on content consumption. From this we can explain why the use of news, entertainment content, search product information and watching sports events has increased in the past few years.
The 16-24 year old group listed “funny or interesting content” (47%) as the main reason for using social media, followed by “time to spend leisure time” (46%). “Keeping in touch with friends” has a 43% vote in the 16-24 age group, which is lower among all groups. As the Z-generation and millennials become less interested in the dynamics of others – and increasingly eager to get out of social – the most likely form of widespread use of open social media platforms will be as an entertainment center.
Social Shopping Behavior
1. Social Shopping Tour
For a long time, letting users shop in their own apps has been the goal of major social platforms. Social shopping is considered to be a major source of income in addition to advertising revenue. In Asia, platforms such as WeChat and Line have successfully connected to e-commerce, allowing consumers to call cars, pay at stores, and check out. The success of social e-commerce in the Asia-Pacific region is based on a social or embedded payment system and a strategy of full consumer participation.
but inIn most Western countries, social shopping is unsustainable. Consumption habits are difficult to change at one time, especially in financial transactions involving sensitive private information. Social media has played an important role in making purchase decisions, but the willingness to complete purchases within the platform is still low.
Therefore, in Europe and the United States, social video software is in a strategic position. Small and sophisticated social media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest are best suited to seamlessly bridge the different stages of the social shopping process, the research phase and the buying phase. These platforms allow users to share a variety of images, recommend or like each other, and let users enter the store through images to promote their core e-commerce business. Similarly, meticulous and sophisticated personalized recommendation tools and more advanced chat bots and machine learning can do the same.
Social Entertainment Preference Survey
1. What types of users people care about on social media
More than one-third of Internet users say they will follow their favorite brands on social media, while 27% will focus on growing brands.
The data also reflects the general changes we have found in the social media arena, where news, entertainment, shopping and content take on a bigger role. This trend is also reflected in the actions of major brands, that is, efforts to create high-click-through, share-sharing boutique video content. The 16-24 year old group has contributed a lot to “Net Red” (network influence account). Half of the users in this group will focus on “actors” (46%) on social media, ahead of the “brand” (44%).
Only 19% of the 16-24 year old group said they found new brands through celebrities or online red endorsements, suggesting that they can be influenced by other “traditional” approaches.
2. Social Network Personal Use
Based on the social media groupings defined in this report, the vast majority of social media users can be divided into individual users and celebrity users.
58% of social media users are brand fans. Many users are willing to see on the home page recommendationBrand content, and half (51%) of users like to interact with the brand. How to make the brand stand out on all major social platforms has become a crucial marketing strategy.
3. Social Media Behavior: Market Watch
Social Media Usage by Market
4.Social Video
In the past month, 60% of Internet users outside China watched videos on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram. People are accustomed to watching videos on social media, as well as the popularity of online TV, which gives Facebook and other platforms the opportunity to enter the television industry.
Video live streaming has also become an important feature of competing configurations for major social media platforms. It not only allows users to produce original content, but also meets the trend of today’s entertainment and marketing integration. Brand live streaming also enhances interaction with consumers.
Another form of video is also emerging: video calling. In 2018, video calls increased in all user groups, including students and office workers. But the Z generation (referred to as the post-95 and 00, also known as the Internet generation) is the most noteworthy because they decided on the social media development trend in 2019.
Houseparty and Squad point to a new frontier for social media: the connection between entertainment and communication will be closer in the virtual social space, such as social needs in the gaming arena.
5.Social Sports
The sports industry has turned to digital media and social media development, and there is still a lotBig room for growth.
In the first quarter of 2019, 22% of Internet users worldwide said that “watching or paying attention to sports events” was one of the main reasons why they used social networks, and the proportion of social live video users climbed to 39%. . This ratio is up 47% from the fourth quarter of 2016.
Sports fans are eager for more tailored, easy-to-access content. Live streaming is a way to make everyone excited. Facebook plans to leverage its VR (virtual reality) platform and devices to enhance and deliver a new user experience and build a fan community. When people are used to watching sports events online, they will help realize cash income.
The difference between men and women in the use of social media in sports is shrinking
Last year, the Major League Baseball (MLB) and Facebook signed an exclusive live broadcast agreement for 26 games worth $30 million. The program was a huge success with 123 million views and is still in effect this year. In addition, Facebook has signed an agreement with La Liga for three free seasons in India. YouTube is also an important platform in this area.
29% of social media sports users want to see exclusive content that loves brands and is 50% more likely to be advertised than regular users. Exclusive content is especially important for young consumers; sports fans aged 16-24 are more likely than regular sports fans to be driven by exclusive content or services.
6.Social music
So far, social music streaming has been extremely challenging. Although YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Music all offer some social features, they are still not satisfactory.
In China, Tencent owns a total of 650 million active users and 27 million paying users, including QQ music, cool dog and cool me, allowing users to listen to music, buy digital albums, and friends. KSongs can also interact with stars to make it a dynamic social media platform. By using WeChat, the social properties of Tencent Music have been greatly enhanced.
Future Trend Events
1.Facebook: The cryptocurrency “Libra” will be launched in 2020
7% of people who visited Facebook last month had cryptocurrencies. In an attempt to stabilize its digital currency, the company is seeking to link itself to existing “a basket” of currencies such as the US dollar, the euro and the yen.
2.WhatsApp: Will launch ads next year
Facebook has confirmed this news. 60% of Internet users outside China use the app every month, and now it is seeking to increase revenue. 42% of WhatsApp users are willing to buy advertising products, but 26% said they would use an ad blocker.
3.5G coming soon
37% of US and UK consumers said they would switch to 5G as soon as possible.
5G communication is one of the most anticipated technologies for consumers. It will improve the quality, speed and reliability of mobile entertainment and provide an ideal experience for new entertainment projects such as streaming online games. Social media companies want to get bigger cakes in the 5G market.
4.Spotify: compelling
Spotify will launch a feature called “Social Listening” that allows multiple people to add songs to a live queue by scanning a QR code or become a new viral marketing channel.