For well over a decade now, social media has changed the way we connect, interact, communicate, and even the way we see ourselves and others around us. According to Emran Mian, the Director of Social Market Foundation,  social media brings to light the “actual diversity and plurality of opinions.” Prior to 2006, only about 10 percent of internet-using adults used a social media networking site. By 2012, this number had grown to nearly 75 percent.

Social Media as a News Source

Not only does social media connect us to others, it connects us to what is going on in the world around us, locally, nationally, and globally. Today, about 10 percent of people report that their main source of news consumption is some type of social media platform. They are getting more and more of their news from social media and much less from traditional media like newspapers and television newscasting.

Social Media as Your Voice

Whether you update your status on Facebook or write a new tweet on Twitter, social media has given anyone who wants it a voice. Social media has given you the ability to tell your story or opinion in a real and public way. You can share your opinion on political issues, share a birth announcement, or even simply share what you ate for dinner.

Social Media History: Facebook

You can’t discuss the history of social media without discussing Facebook. This social media platform started out in the fall of 2003. It was then that Harvard sophomore Mark Zuckerberg started Facemash, what would become the predecessor to the Facebook that we know today. What was meant to be a popularity contest of sorts via a campus-specific website, was soon to become one of the world’s first social media websites.

By June of the following year, this platform had become so popular that Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard and moved the headquarters to Palo Alto, CA. The company also received a cash investment of $500,000. Facebook had reached almost one million active users by December of 2004. In July of 2010, this number had grown to over 500 million.  

Social Media by the Numbers

According to a 2018 Pew Research Center Survey, a typical American reports using at least three out of eight of the major social media platforms; Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, and YouTube.  In the last quarter of 2017, Twitter estimated that it averaged 330 million active users each month from all over the world. This was up 4 percent from 2016.

Instagram remains strong in the social media arena. It receives the most engagement per post compared to all other social media networks. Engagements on Instagram are 84 times more than Twitter, 54 times more than Pinterest, and even 10 times more than Facebook. YouTube, although not traditional social media, is utilized by 75 percent of American adults and 94 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds.

I remember when people called Facebook a fad. Tyler Winklevoss, sued Mark Zuckerberg for $65 million, claiming he {Zuckerberg} stole his ConnectU idea to create Facebook.

As of 2018, Facebook remains the leading platform for social media with 2.2 billion monthly active users. As many as 68 percent of adults in the United States report that they have a Facebook account with about 75 percent of those using Facebook on a daily basis.  Of those, 51 percent say they log into their Facebook account several times a day, 23 percent log on about once per day, and 26 percent report visiting the site less often.

Social Media as a Marketing Tool

Nothing has changed the world of marketing like social media over the last decade. In fact, it is so successful that whether big or small, most companies use social media as a marketing channel. With carefully planned campaigns, businesses can drive audience engagement and turn that into increased profits. The 2016 State of Influencer Marketing survey revealed that Facebook and Instagram were considered to be the two most influential social media platforms with Instagram being used for influencer marketing by 87 percent of the survey respondents.

One reason Instagram campaigns are so successful is that globally, this social media platform garners the most new sign-ups and reaches 700 million users worldwide. It also has a more diverse user-base and provides a way for ads to reach audiences with more spending power. Statistical modeling revealed that for each $1 a business invests in influencer marketing on Instagram, their return in earned media value will be over $7.

Did you know that more than 50 million businesses are using a Facebook Business Page to date. And by 2019, Facebook ad revenue will outpace the total print ad spending in the United States.