By the end of 2023, the number of social media users is expected to be 4.89 billion, which is equivalent to around 60% of the entire population.

That said, it’s vital that you understand the characteristics of the various platforms you operate on, whether you’re a beginner or a professional with years of experience.

This article is your guide to the social networks where you’ll find them:

Main Social Networks

Instagram

Instagram is a social network that allows people to share photos and videos on their personal profiles with followers (who pre-approve) and non-followers (if their account is public).

You can interact with other users’ content through comments, likes, audio, and shares.

Instagram also allows users to send direct messages, including links, images, or videos.

Using Instagram requires you to be over 13 and have a valid email address.

Audience and age group

Despite having a diverse age range, this platform is most popular with young people.

Statista states, “In January 2023, almost 17% of Instagram’s global active users were men between the ages of 18 and 24”.

Another conclusion we can reach is that “more than half of global Instagram users worldwide are under the age of 34”.

Fun fact

The first ever photo on Instagram was of Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram, with a dog sitting on his feet.

Facebook

Facebook is a social network for sharing ideas and conversations with people of different or similar interests.

You can share status updates, text, photos, videos, external links and other formats (you can check them out in our publication formats table near the end of the article).

In addition, Facebook also allows users to react to posts with a “like”, “laugh”, “anger”, “cry”, “shock” and even “support”. This encourages interaction and allows for a better expression of each user’s opinions and feelings.

This social network also allows direct communication between users via the Messenger app.

As with Instagram, to have a Facebook account, the minimum age is 13 and you need a valid email address.

Audience and age group

Facebook has the widest audience of any social network, including different types of profiles such as individuals, businesses, and organizations.

Like Instagram, there is a wide age range, with the group that has the most expression on this social network being 25 to 34-year-olds, with around 30% of the entire audience.

Even so, according to various studies, despite being the group with the highest % of users, it is the 65+ demographic group that is growing the fastest.

Curious fact

Facebook’s logo and interface is predominantly blue and white because Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s founder and CEO, is color-blind and has difficulties with color.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a “professional” network. It allows you to communicate with your network of professional contacts and find the right job or internship for you.

You can strengthen your professional relationships with your network of connections through direct chat, and share or acquire knowledge and skills through text, image, video and PDF posts.

Your profile has a wide range of features so you can demonstrate your skills, experience and education to other professionals and companies.

LinkedIn can be used for free by anyone who wants to have a professional profile. You will also find a paid subscription that will give you access to other products and features on the platform.

Audience and age group

LinkedIn’s audience is most popular among active professionals aged 25 to 34. According to Statista, they account for around 60% of all users of the platform.

Fun fact

The most common skills listed on LinkedIn profiles are leadership, communication, project management and teamwork.

Youtube

Youtube is a social network and video-sharing platform and is the second most visited website in the world. According to the platform’s official data, more than 500 hours of content are uploaded every minute.

Users can search for the content they want to find or filter it by various categories, from music videos to news.

The platform also has Youtube Kids, which is a separate app, with a filtered version and much less content available than the main Youtube website.

The platform also offers video creators the option of monetizing their videos.

This can be done by placing ads in the videos, joining the channel with monthly recurring payments, donating live streams with text or stickers and selling products or merchandising through “youtube shopping”.

Audience and age group

As YouTube is the second most accessed website in the world, its audience is very broad.

According to Global Media Insight, 20.7% of YouTube users are aged between 25 and 34, making it the platform’s largest demographic group.

The country with the most users is India, with 467 million, followed by the United States with 246 million.

Curious fact

YouTube was designed to be a dating app. The initial idea was for users to post videos of themselves telling their tastes and preferences in order to find their match.

TikTok

TikTok is a social network that allows users to create, watch and share short videos. It is known for its highly engaged audience and the ease of watching dozens of videos in a few minutes.

The short video format makes the platform appealing for content based on humor and entertainment.

However, as TikTok has evolved, it has strived to encourage longer videos (from 2 to 5 minutes) which has attracted new formats of educational and news content.

Audience and age group

According to Investopedia, around 40% of TikTok users are between the ages of 18 and 24. This makes it a good alternative to Snapchat when it comes to reaching a younger audience.

Other interesting data is that 56% of the public are women and that, on average, users spend 46 minutes a day on the platform.

Curious fact

Before it was called TikTok, the app was known as Musical.ly. However, in 2018 the Chinese company ByteDance bought Musical.ly and merged it with its own app, calling it TikTok.

X (Twitter)

X, formerly Twitter, allows users to publish text, images and videos, known as “Tweets”, or now (after the rebranding) as “Posts”. In addition, on this social network it is also possible to comment and send direct messages to other users.

To interact with posts and send messages, you need to be registered with X.

It is a social network known as a “microblog” and is widely used to follow world news instantly.

X can be used for free. However, there is the option to buy X Premium, which gives users

  • The iconic “Blue Checkmark”
  • The possibility of being paid
  • Writing posts of up to 4000 characters (vs. 280 in the “free plan”)
  • Fewer ads
  • Early access to certain features
  • Among others

It’s important to note that X is constantly changing, and information written today may not be true tomorrow (thanks for the headaches Elon Musk).

Audience and age group

Most X users don’t interact or post on the social network. This is proven by the statistic that tells us that 10% of X users are responsible for 90% of Tweets.

In terms of demographics, The Social Shepard points out that 38.5% of total X users are between 25 and 34 years old, with a surprising 17.1% of users over 50.

Curious fact

Twitter was initially designed to be a direct messaging application, called “Twttr”.

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business)

Google Business Profile (or formerly known as Google My Business) is a Google option that allows businesses to list themselves for free on Google’s search engine.

This allows companies to gain more visibility, as with a Google Business Profile they will appear in Google search results, Google Maps and Google Shopping.

The Google Business Profile contains information such as the website, mobile number, reviews, location, opening hours, menus (if you sell food) and even the option to place an order.

Something that most businesses don’t exploit is the functionality to publish the content they make for their social networks to the Google Business Profile.

With Swonkie, you can replicate the content you already make for social networks into your Google Business Profile, so you can exponentially increase not only your reach, but also your sales.

Audience and age group

Defining the Google My Business audience is an arduous task, as this “social network” is used every time a search is made on Google.

However, there are some interesting statistics to consider.

  • 56% of actions taken on Google Business Profile are “website visits”.
  • 94% of calls to local businesses on weekdays come from Google Business Profile

This last statistic reveals the opportunity you have to stand out from your competition if you replicate your social media content on Google Business Profile.

Fun fact

You don’t need to have a physical store to have a Google Business Profile.

Publication formats supported by social network

Each social network has its own portfolio of content formats.

In this table, you can see which content formats are supported on the main social networks in 2023:

Post dimensions per social network

The algorithm and your followers will thank you for having the right post dimensions in your publications.

But finding this information is not as easy as it sounds. Unless you have a complete and up-to-date guide to all sizes, on all social networks, to help you.

To do this, we’ve created a complete 2023 guide to post sizes. That way, you know exactly what sizes you need to publish on your social networks.

Best times to publish per social network

Many social media managers say: “There’s no such thing. The algorithm changes every 15 days”.

And they’re right. The algorithm changes constantly. But what doesn’t change every 15 days is human behavior.

And publishing at the right time is nothing more than realizing when your target audience has their eyes on the screen.

For example, if you have a café that sells breakfast menus, the best time to publish is probably in the evening. That way your customers will think “maybe tomorrow I’ll have breakfast there”. It’s intuitive, right?

But this can be countered by the argument that it’s better to publish in the morning, since that’s when your customer will want to have breakfast, and may be looking for a café to have it in.

It’s precisely because of this argument that it’s not so obvious what the best time to publish might be.

That’s why there’s a tool for figuring out the best times to publish, taking into account the activity of your audience

That tool is Swonkie’s advanced reports, which you can use for free for 14 days here.

To access the map of the best times for your account, follow these steps:

  • Open Swonkie.
  • Go to the “Reports” menu.
  • Click on “Advanced”.
  • Choose the desired social network.
  • Click on “Performance” in the left-hand menu.
  • Click on “Best times to publish”.

You will then see a comprehensive map, similar to the one in the image below, with the best times to post on your account:

If you want to see the best times in general, you can check out what are the Best Times to Post on Social Media.

Now start using statistics to your advantage

There’s no point in knowing the right statistics if you don’t use them to your advantage.

Start by analyzing the ones you already use and then implement the others that make sense for your business.

And don’t forget: these statistics change all the time!

So try to analyze the best course for your business and take advantage of them while they last.

To capitalize and take action on these statistics right now, get your 14-day free trial of Swonkie (no credit card required).