Facebook’s long shadow
Why is Facebook important to UK brands? Because it dominates the social networks, standing like Goliath and leaving a long shadow across the landscape.
Hard to ignore
Facebook holds a massive 74% of market share for social networks in the UK, a shark to the other minnows. Hard to ignore if you’re a business with UK consumers, many of whom use the platform.
The age group with the largest presence on Facebook in the UK is 20 to 29 year olds — approximately 5.3 million women and 5.4 million men are signed up and use the channel.
The total number of UK Facebook users is forecast to continue its growth to over 40 million users by 2021, a statistic that almost beggars belief.
Other social media exists
But just because it’s big doesn't mean it’s the only social media channel to consider.
With 12% market share Twitter comes in at second place in terms are size. But that is still millions of active users, and some consumers swear by Twitter and detest Facebook. It is horses for courses.
Some consumers like to hang on Facebook, some on Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram. Many use a combination of platforms. Indeed taking a global view it’s reported that while 28% of social media users are on just the one network, 24% use two, 16% on three, 8% on four, with 4% making use of five social networks regularly.