Study Shows New Demographics of Social Networks [INFOGRAPHIC]

Social networks are certainly the mainstream now, as 67% of all Internet users active using social media. But what are the characteristics of those social media users?

Companies that are currently developing a social media strategy are going to want to make sure and match up their own demographics with those of the users on different social media networks if they want to engage with their target demo.

According to new information from the Pew Research Center, Facebook easily has the largest share of overall usage among web-goers (67%) and the most users in every demographic category, including all genders, age groups, ethnicities, and more.

The other social networking sites included in the survey were Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr, and there were some definite dividing lines among these other social platforms:

• Internet users under 50 are particularly likely to use a social networking site
• Users 18-29 are the most likely of any demographic to do so (83%).
• Women are more likely than men to be on social sites in general.
• Those living in urban settings are also significantly more likely than rural Internet users to use social networking tools.

• Users on Twitter have doubled since November 2010, currently standing at 16%.
• City dwellers are significantly more likely (8%) than rural residents to be on Twitter.
• Those under 50, and especially those 18-29, are the most likely to use Twitter.
• Pinterest has lured 15% of Internet users into visual scrapbooking.
• Women are five times as likely as men to use Pinterest, the largest difference in gender of any site featured in the report.
• Whites, young people, well-educated users, and those with higher income are particularly likely to use Pinterest.
• 13% of Internet users are taking pictures and sharing them using Instagram.
• Blacks and hispanics are more likely than whites to use Instagram.
• Women are more likely than men to use Instagram.
• Urban dwellers and those under 50 are also more likely to use Instagram.
• Tumblr is significantly less popular than the others, attracting only 6% of users.
• Among the youngest users, Tumblr is much more popular, however. 13% of those 18-29 are blogging on Tumblr.

Carlos Monteiro from AdWeek made a handy social media inforgraphic that contains these observations and more in an easy-to-digest format.

Which demographic are you targeting? Has your social media content been tailor-made for your audience from the beginning or do you have to make some adjustments based on this data?

Tagged as: 2013, demographics, facebook, infographic, instagram, pew research, pinterest, social media infographic, Social Networks, survey, Tumblr, twitter