Internet Users Have Average of 5.54 Social Media Accounts

For our final post this week, we highlight more data from our brand new Social report to look at account membership and active usage behaviors.

GWI’s survey monitors engagement with close to 50 named social platforms – some with truly global footprints, others which are localized to particular markets or regions.

This data allows us to calculate the average number of social media accounts per internet user – with the global figure being 5.54. As might be expected, active engagement lags some way behind; on average, people are actively using 2.82 social platforms – giving clear evidence that multi-networking behaviors are flourishing.

Naturally, demographics have a strong impact on this – with the average number of accounts falling as age increases. Predictably, 16-24s are at the very forefront of this trend and have an average of 6.55 accounts each; in contrast, 55-64s are maintaining accounts on just 2.85 services.

If we then switch our attention to active usage, an important difference emerges: 25-34s are now ahead of 16-24s, with the former being active on some 4.21 networks. That this age group remains the most loyal to Facebook, and is also the most likely to be using professional networks such as LinkedIn, is a major driver of this. It also means that 16-24s might be the most visible social networkers but 25-34s are the most engaged.