When it comes to social media, the teenagers of the world are the tastemakers. The way social media has fundamentally affected commerce, business and culture is intrinsically tied to their popularity with the youth of today. As social media continues to boost economy and drive the structure of people’s daily lives, the battle between the social media giants continues to rage on, each trying to win the hearts and minds of teenagers.
The popularity of these platforms can be used as a tool to measure the viability of their future success. This demographic is not only indicative of how popular an app will become, it’s also representative of when their star is falling. What trends these teens are into show where public interest is generally heading, especially as these teens then become an economic power unto themselves as they start to earn money.
Despite recent troubles, according to a new report from Piper Jaffray, Snapchat is still the most consistently popular social platform with younger audiences. However, they are facing stiff and increasing competition from rival, Instagram who actually outperformed Snapchat in the last quarter by 1%. So, while Snapchat is still king, the crown is getting heavier as Instagram pulls ahead in monthly use.
Source: Piper Jaffray, ‘Taking Stock with Teens’, pg. 38
Whilst there is competition between these two platforms, it’s clear that they’re both performing well with teens, the same cannot be said for Twitter and Facebook, with the latter dropping from 60% in Spring 2016 to 36% in Autumn 2018, a drop of 24%.
So, what can marketers and brands take from this? Declines in Snapchat’s user growth and daily active users is enough to put a lot of people off, but the app is still undeniably very popular with teenagers. The table below shows that Snapchat is, very comfortably, the favourite social platform for teens, so while it may not be leading the way in growth, if you’re marketing towards a teenage audience, Snapchat is still a very real and viable option.
Source: Piper Jaffray, ‘Taking Stock with Teens’, pg. 38
While Instagram is rapidly growing with marketers and younger audiences, it’s second place in teen popularity may come as a surprise to some. As Facebook’s popularity continues to decline, is its association with Instagram may be bringing the photo-app down, allowing Snapchat to reign as the “edgier”, underdog app that could be seen as an “adult-free” zone.
Companies may want to seriously consider planning long-term investment into Instagram as its popularity continues to grow, but for shorter campaigns aimed at teenagers, Snapchat is still a safe way to ensure some ROI TLC. To win back today’s youth, Facebook may want to consider looking to Snapchat or their little brother, Instagram, to learn how to tap into current trends and reconnect with teens.
This Week’s Top Social Stories
In its bid to create greater “transparency”, Facebook has published the first of its regular ‘ad archive’ report which has revealed the top spending political advertisers. Read More
Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook has warned against the “weaponisation” of personal data and has demanded the US adopts GDPR-like laws. Read More
Facebook has overhauled its Messenger app adopting for a more minimalist look in an effort to “be simple again”. Read More
Twitter has reported fewer daily and monthly users in their Q3 results but are improving revenue with an increase of 29%. Read More
The ICO has fined Facebook £500,000 for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which is the maximum amount allowed under laws that applied before GDPR. Read More
Winner
Police in Blackpool were stumped this week when they came across a supermarket thief that looked just like ‘Friends’ actor, David Schwimmer. The actor took to social media to “prove” his innocence, posting a video of him re-enacting the robbery in New York. His response went viral, garnering over 6 million views in under 24 hours and helped identify the actual culprit.
Loser
Rapper Nicki Minaj is being sued by ‘Fast Car’ singer, Tracy Chapman for claims she sampled her song without permission after requests were denied several times. It’s being claimed that Minaj purposely leaked the song to radio and the internet when it didn’t make the release date for her latest album.
Creative
Chinese millennials are falling over sideways for the latest viral craze which shows wealthy social media users, “falling over” and spilling their luxury possessions onto the floor. The meme was popularised in Russia during the Summer but has taken on a life of its own in China.
