Social Media Growth in Canada
Oh, how I love a good infographic. This one (from the awesome Techvibes) illustrates just how much social media use is growing and changing in Canada.
Three things really stand out for me. The first is the huge jump in the number of LinkedIn users. This might be due to its recent IPO, but I also believe more and more professionals are seeing the real value of social media for business purposes, whether it is for networking or prospective clients. If I come across a new business or a new businessperson, I look at their Linkedin profile because it gives me a quick snap shot of their social media acumen. Is their profile up-to-date? Do they share insights? Do I want to potentially do business with them?
The second thing I noticed was the increase in Twitter users. We have seen recently how Twitter is becoming an important source of information for breaking news. These days I’m also seeing more companies use Twitter for customer service. Twitter allows you to easily and quickly respond to your customers, unlike Facebook where customers can drone on and on about their woes and make you seem like your don’t care about your customers. With Twitter, you can act quickly and resolve the issue. But beware with Twitter – you need to make sure that someone is watching and replying to your Twitter account on a daily/hourly basis. If you don’t offer a prompt response, it looks like you don’t care.
The third, and possibly most interesting, is the increase in social media users over the age of 55. In the past year, I’ve seen my parents, aunts, uncles and grandmother jumping onboard with Facebook and Twitter. 43% of Canadians over the age of 55 have now joined them. As younger generations are relying more on technology to communicate, the older generations are learning to adapt and use it in many of the same ways. You can’t forget about the older demographic. Sure, maybe they aren’t your primary target audience but they want to be taken seriously just like the 18 – 34 demographic. Is your site optimized for a specific demographic? Should you make adjustments for the older demographic?
Think about the people in your social circle and how they use social media. Do these numbers reflect what you’re seeing amongst the people you know? Leave a comment and let us know what you think.
