Moneyball: The Most Important Social Media Platforms
• NuVoodoo National Media & Marketing Study 25 represents the opinions of nearly 3000 respondents aged 14 and older. We have the entire Baby Boom and as much of the Silent Generation as we can get in a study conducted online, but three quarters of the sample is comprised of members of generations younger than Baby Boomers. We’re only a couple of years away from Generation Alpha beginning its rise into our sample.
Daily usage of a dozen apps puts Alphabet’s Google and YouTube solidly on top, with Meta’s Facebook and Instagram next in rank — Insta maintaining a slim edge over TikTok based on slightly greater usage among those older than Gen Z as shown in the table below.
Facebook makes a decent showing among Gen Z, despite ranking sixth among that app-savvy generation. The same six apps all get 40%+ daily usage among Millennials, while only three apps achieve 40%+ daily usage among Gen X.
Breaking the sample into the groups with the heaviest music radio and heaviest talk radio usage reflects the greater app usage among these media active groups, with five apps getting daily traffic from at least half the music radio heavy users. Seven apps get daily traffic from at least half the info-hungry talk radio heavy users.
Three in five among the talk radio heavy users say Social Media platforms are their main source of news. In fact, that heavy reliance on Social Media for news extends through Millennials (now up to age 44). Social-Media-as-news-source spreads to less than half the Gen Xers and less than a fifth of the Boomers and Silent Generation.
We fielded NuVoodoo National Media & Marketing Study 25 in early January and most said Social Media made them feel “connected.” Large numbers also said Social Media made them feel “well informed” and “happy,” while less than 20% cited any of the potentially negative prompts we offered, “anxious,” “sad,” “outraged,” etc.
Savvy station Social Media teams will make sure that the content they publish supports these positive aspects of the online experience for their listeners. Stations that need to connect with younger listeners will want to keep their presence on TikTok while remaining agile and able to pivot to other platforms as needed.
Next week we’ll look at how well listeners are likely to accept AI-hosted programming. Meanwhile, NuVoodoo marketing guru Mike O’Connor is publishing important marketing insights drawn from these new data twice every week at nuvoodoo.com/articles. We’d love to help your stations stay ahead of the competition with our effectively priced offerings for both marketing and research. An email to tellmemore@nuvoodoo.com will get you quick attention from the right member of our team.
