Did you know that people online have an average of 8.5 social media accounts?

I definitely have more in terms of registered accounts but I am active on about 10.  

Last week, I was in a webinar that Paul Sutton invited me to participate in after doing a podcast together on Inbound PR and during our conversation he pointed us to some very good resources from GlobalWebIndex. 

One of them was the 2019 Social Media Trends Report which I want to review with you today. 

I was super impressed with the depth of the report and how it looks at different countries around the world. 

I also love how the report has its own sections on China which is excluded from most of the global charts of the report because of the unique nature of the Chinese social media industry since it maintains its own diverse ecosystem of homegrown social platforms and has official restrictions on many global social services. 

Let's dig into the findings. 

8 Key Insights About Global Social Media Usage 

• 98% of digital consumers are social media users.
• Adoption is high even among 55-64s (94%).
• People online have an average of 8.5 social media accounts and tend to use each platform for different purposes.
• An average of 2 hours 22 minutes per day is spent on social networks and messaging, although this figure has started to decrease in specific markets.
• As social networks have evolved into multi-media platforms, digital consumers are now as likely to use them for keeping up with the news as to stay in touch with friends.
• 16-24-year-olds show slightly different preferences; their most cited motivations for using social media are to fill up spare time and find funny or entertaining content.
• More than 4 in 10 use social networks to research new brands or products, making it the second-most important channel of all. Among 16-24-year-olds, social media comes top, having overtaken search engines towards the end of 2017.
• 28% of users of four major social platforms outside of China engage with live streams each month on any one of these services.

Top 16 Motivations for Using Social Media

• 40% To stay in touch with what my friends are doing 
• 40% To stay up-to-date with news and current events 
• 37% To fill up spare time
• 36% To find funny or entertaining content
• 33% To share photos or videos with others
• 33% General networking with other people
• 31% Because a lot of my friends are on them 
• 29% To research/find products to buy 
• 26% To share my opinion 29% To meet new people 
• 23% To network for work
• 22% To make sure I don't miss out on anything
• 20% To watch/follow sports events
• 20% To share details of what I'm doing in my daily life 
• 19% To follow celebrities/celebrity news
• 13% To promote/support charitable causes 

Top 15 Social Media Accounts People Follow

• 36% Brands you like 
• 32% Actors
• 31% Signers, musicians or bands
• 29% News / media organizations
• 27% Contacts relevant to your work
• 25% Brands you're thinking of buying something from
• 24% Comedians
• 22% Sports stars
• 22% Bloggers
• 18% Entrepreneurs / business people
• 17% Vloggers
• 16% Charities / good causes
• 15% TV presenters
• 14% Politicians
• 12% Journalists

Social Media Commerce is Gaining Ground

There's a very good breakdown per country on purchase behaviour on social media I recommend checking out. 

Top Social Media Usage Statistics Per Network 

China is a different story: 

Globally too we can see some differences: 

If you want to narrow down on a specific country, do take a closer look at the report. It's a very good read. 

Have you seen this report before?