Last Thursday, We Are Social unveiled the latest digital report in collaboration with Meltwater. This report compiles various data on the evolution of the digital landscape from partners such as GWI, Statista, Data.ai, etc. to provide an overview of the digital landscape as of July 2023. Let’s take a look at the current digital trends!
Key Digital Figures
Major Trends in the Digital Landscape
According to the latest data from the report in the digital realm, an intriguing trend is emerging: users appear to be dedicating less time to their online presence. This is reflected in an average decrease in the use of various media over the past year. Specifically, time spent on the Internet has decreased by 2.2%, while time dedicated to social media has decreased by 2%.
However, despite this decrease in average usage time, the number of users on the Internet and social media continues to grow, showing respective growth of 2.1% and 3.7%. This data can be interpreted as a result of the constant expansion of the user base, despite a more balanced distribution of online time.
An interesting observation concerns device usage. Smartphones show a slight increase in usage by 0.8%, highlighting their growing importance in our daily digital usage. In contrast, personal computer usage has decreased by 3.4%, while tablets have seen an even more pronounced decrease of 7.8%. This evolution highlights a shift in user device preferences, with a clear preference for smartphones as the primary means of accessing online services.
These data provide a captivating glimpse into current digital habits and underscore the importance of understanding changing user behaviors in order to best tailor digital strategies and offerings. This emphasizes an increasingly evolving digital world.
Time Spent on Digital Media
The Internet: A World Where Two-Thirds of the Population Is Connected
The latest data from the report reveals fascinating statistics regarding global internet usage. Here are the essential numbers to remember:
As of July 2023, there are 5.19 billion internet users worldwide, accounting for 64.5% of the global population. This underscores the growing importance of digital connectivity on a global scale.
The average time spent on the internet per day is estimated at 6 hours and 40 minutes. This data demonstrates the omnipresence of digital platforms in the daily lives of many people across the globe.
Access to the internet via smartphones is predominant, with 95.3% of global users using it as their primary means of connection. Conversely, access via personal computers has declined, with only 63.4% of users opting for this option. This trend highlights the growing preference for smartphones as the primary gateway to the online world.
A major reason for 59.2% of users to connect to the internet is information seeking. This quest for knowledge remains the primary usage motive for the web, underscoring its crucial role in finding answers and resources.
Google Chrome dominates the browser market with a market share of 62.58%. This success illustrates the popularity and user preference for Chrome as a web browsing tool.
As a search engine, Google continues to reign supreme with an impressive market share of 92.64%. This overwhelming dominance underscores the trust users place in Google for their online searches.
The most visited website in the world is google.com, with an impressive traffic of 88.1 billion visits per month. It surpasses other web giants such as youtube.com and facebook.com, showcasing Google’s considerable influence in the global digital landscape.
On the Rise: Social Media Stronger Than Ever
Since the pandemic, it’s interesting to note a significant increase in global social media users, with a notable rise of 3.7% in just one year, bringing the total to 4.88 billion users. Among them, 46.4% are women, while 53.6% are men. These figures reflect the continuous growth of social media adoption, playing an increasingly central role in people’s daily lives.
Regarding time spent on social media, the global average is estimated at 2 hours and 26 minutes per day. This highlights the significant appeal and influence these platforms exert on users, prompting them to dedicate a substantial portion of their daily time.
The top five reasons for using social media are indicative of users’ needs and interests:
Staying in touch with friends and family is the main reason for 48.6% of respondents. This underscores social media’s crucial role in maintaining meaningful social and emotional connections, especially in an increasingly connected world. For 37.3% of users, passing the time is a major reason for usage. Social media offers a range of entertainment and content that captivates users, encouraging them to spend their leisure time there. Reading news stories is also a significant activity for 34.6% of users. Social media has transformed into important sources of information and narratives, where people can discover and share stories that interest them. For 29.8% of respondents, finding content is an essential reason for usage. Social media has become platforms for content discovery, allowing users to access a variety of media, publications, and creations. Staying informed about trends attracts 28.4% of users. Social media plays a key role in the rapid dissemination of trends, news, and popular topics, making it a preferred source to stay updated.
A Comprehensive Overview of Social Media Usage
The Power of Social Media for Discovering New Brands
According to We Are Social, social media has become an increasingly attractive playing field for brands. They have now positioned themselves as the third source of brand discovery, just behind search engines and TV ads. Around 27.7% of internet users aged 16 to 64 state that they discover brands through advertising placements on social platforms.
Among these platforms, Instagram stands out as the most effective leader: over 62% of its users claim to look for future purchases or browse brand content on the platform. This predominance makes Instagram an essential platform for brands aiming to reach their target audience and pique the interest of potential consumers.
The Generation Z Prefers TikTok for Information
TikTok Emerges as the Social Platform Where Users Spend the Most Time, with an average of 31 hours and 14 minutes per month per user. YouTube (27 hours and 21 minutes) and Facebook (18 hours and 22 minutes) complete the top three.
Furthermore, the report highlights the growing use of TikTok for informational purposes: 11% of respondents in the Digital News Report (RISJ) survey state that they use the platform to follow news, which is slightly below the proportion for Twitter (12%). For the age group of 18-24 years old, this figure even reaches 20%. The number of people using TikTok as a source of information has seen a remarkable increase of 60% in just one year. This trend underscores the increasing role of TikTok as a news and informative content channel.
Usage of TikTok Among Generation Z
Threads: The New Star of Platforms
The significant revolution in social media in recent months is the arrival of Threads, the new Meta application aimed at competing with Twitter. The report indicates that Threads has experienced phenomenal success, with 150 million downloads and 100 million active users worldwide in just one week.
According to We Are Social, this remarkable breakthrough is attributed to Threads’ integration with Instagram. However, the major challenge for Meta will be to retain users on a different platform. GWI data highlights that Instagram users are more inclined to seek fun and entertaining content rather than following news. In comparison, Twitter’s primary usage is to stay informed about current events. It will be interesting to observe how usage motivations evolve for the new Threads service and whether Meta will succeed in retaining users by offering a unique and engaging experience.
