social media demographicsEver wonder which social media sites you should focus on for your target market?

A new extensive social demographics study from Pew Research Center and Docstoc illustrates social media behavior and platform usage. There are a few findings in line with previous studies as well as some new insights into social activity.

  • Women use social media 9% more than men do, which is not a huge surprise based on past surveys (Thanks Pinterest!)
  • The youngest age group (18-29) continues to dominate social media usage at 83% with Gen X and company in second place at 77%.
  • 72% of adults with annual household incomes below $30,000 use social networks, more than any other income level.
  • People living in the city are the highest users of social media at 70%, perhaps because of digital connectivity in fast paced city life.
  • Hispanics lead the way for social usage by race at 72% followed by African-Americans and Caucasians.
  • Facebook reigns supreme as the most popular social network with 67% of adults using the platform. It was surprising that YouTube and Google+ were not included in this study.

There also appears to be an upward trend in middle-aged social media users showing 4% growth while the other groups have dropped.

For more social media demographics, including which social media sites attract specific demographics, see the infographic from Pew Research Center and Docstoc:

social infographic

 

Image courtesy of Vlado / FreeDigitalPhotos.net