For the eighth consecutive year, the marketing consultancy family has submitted his Study on users in Spain. This free report is responsible for analyzing the trends and the state of the panorama of social networks in Spain, establishing a contrast between the general behavior and that of the 50 most populated cities in the country. Like every year, its methodology is based on the data retrieved from the same social networks, together with those offered by users; these being collected during December 2021.
The main conclusions of the study:
- Instagram grows 20% and surpasses Facebook.
- Facebook falls 2%.
- Twitter gains 100,000 users, although assets continue to decline.
- LinkedIn increases its community by 1 million.
- and Whatsapp, news of this edition.
Meta dominates the Spanish landscape, but Facebook returns to 2015 values
The family of Goal (Facebook, Instagram Y WhatsApp) They maintain a broad dominance in the panorama of social networks, both globally -with almost 7,000 million users between the 3 platforms-, and locally -in Spain they reach an estimated 81.5 million users-.
In this way, although Facebook remains at the forefront on the world scene, its evolution in the Spanish ecosystem has decreased since 2018, when it had 24 million users. Currently, its user count has dropped to 21.7 million, falling below the values presented in the 2015 study.
On the other hand, Facebook loses relevance among the younger population, with a year-on-year drop of 4% in users between 18 and 39 years old. On the contrary, 58% of users are between 40 and 65 years old, showing that it has become a platform appreciated by the generation “boomer”.
Within the Spanish cities with the highest concentration of Facebook users we can find Granada (78.96%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (77.19%) and Valencia (69.47%). While at the other extreme, the cities of Móstoles (36.11%), Hospitalet de Llobregat (34.50%) and Getafe (33.53%) are the ones with the lowest concentration.
In another order of ideas, the passion for football present in Spanish culture is noted in this social network. Since, 7 out of 10 pages followed by the Spanish, refers to the beautiful sport. Being the pages of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, the most followed within the platform.
Twitter grows in users, but decreases in activity
Twitter, together with Facebook, is one of the social networks with the longest history in the digital world. However, it has not managed to achieve the success of this one, always staying on the edge with just 436 million global users.
In Spain, Twitter managed to go from 4.1 million users in 2020 to 4.2 million today, breaking its trend of stagnation and decline of the last four years. However, its active population has suffered a drop of more than 68,000 users since last year.
According to the study, in the 50 most populated cities in the country we can find 52.91% of the users of the social network, with Granada, Seville and Valencia as the cities with the highest penetration. And leaving Terrasa, Hospitalet de Llobregat and San Cristóbal de la Laguna, as those with less Twitter presence in Spain. As on Facebook, the passion for football is noticeable among the profiles with the most followers. Well, again, 7 out of 10 pages are related to this sport.
Instagram surpasses Facebook and continues to lead among millennials
Instagram has positioned itself as the social network with the highest growth rate in this year’s study, with a 20% more users compared to last year. A growth trend that has been maintained steadily in the 8 editions of the study. With this growth, it has managed to reach the 24 million of users, surpassing Facebook for the first time.
Likewise, unlike Facebook, the bulk of users of this platform (65%) is found among the population aged 18 to 39. This positions it as a predominantly young social network, encompassing the entire millennial population. Similarly, it is also proposed as an urban platform, with a 46.32% of its population located in the 50 most populous cities, with Granada, Barcelona and Valencia as the cities with the highest penetration. It has also denoted significant growth in the cities of the Community of Madrid: Torrejón de Ardoz, Móstoles, Getafe and Fuenlabrada.
Finally, another factor of difference with the previous networks is the relevance of the profiles on their platform. In this case, although some related to the beautiful game stand out, different personalities stand out among the profiles with the most followers. And even within the profiles of Spanish figures not related to football, we can find actors, singers and streamers. The latter, demonstrating the great influence that current trends and platforms have, such as the rise of the , and Netflix As for the actors.
LinkedIn and its paradoxical profile: Professionals from 25 to 34 years old, with 11 years of experience
LinkedIn has always been a social network that differs from other platforms in the digital ecosystem due to its focus on the professional field. For this reason, their profiles are often dominated by professionals; even the robot portrait generated for the study shows the Spanish-type user as a man between 25 and 34 years old, with 11 years of experience in his field and a job in a large company.
This profile can appear somewhat paradoxical, beginning with the extensive experience presented in a mostly young worker profile. On the other hand, the 52.96% of users say they work in an SME, which contrasts with the factor of being an employee of a large company.
The most populated cities monopolize 70% of the users of this social network, demonstrating a greater penetration of the platform in those localities with greater business strength. Madrid, Barcelona and Seville account for nearly 52% of the profiles, while the cities of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Torrejón de Ardoz and Dos Hermanas hardly appear.
Finally, among the most represented activities we can find Travel/leisure, Corporate services and Consumer goods (8.40%, 7.86% and 7.59% respectively).
WhatsApp, the social network with the largest number of users in Spain
We have reached the third member of the Meta family, the WhatsApp instant messaging platform that in Spain alone has 35.8 million users. Despite this great acceptance, there is a debate about whether or not it should be considered a social network. For some it is simply a messaging application, and for others with its different functions of groups and statuses, it has become one of the most important social networks in the world.
In any case, it is the first edition in which WhatsApp is taken into account for this study and it has entered through the front door, showing that approximately 75% of the Spanish population uses its service. The WhatsApp user profile is that of a Spanish woman between the ages of 18 and 39, who could be located in the most populated cities, taking into account that about 45% are concentrated in these.
TikTok could reach 20 million users in 2022
One of the biggest surprises in the social media ecosystem in recent years has been the rise of TikTok. This short video platform has shown rapid growth, reaching 1,000 million users in its first 5 years of life. Currently, Spain has an estimated 15.5 million users between 18 and +55 years old.
As in the case of WhatsApp, this is the first edition of TikTok in the study, debuting as one of the platforms most used by the young population. So much so, that if we were to count the users of the social network who are minors, it could reach 19 million, thus stepping on the heels of Facebook.
The categories of News & Entertainment, Apparel & Accessories, and Beauty & Health they are the ones with the greatest penetration in the Spanish population, accumulating 80% as a whole. Likewise, the acceptance of the social network has been especially in Madrid, where we can place 11% of users. They are closely followed by Barcelona (7.69%) and Seville (2.71%).
what happened last year
Facebook stagnated at 22 million users
One of the most relevant data from 2021 was that, although the number of Facebook users fell during the 2020 edition to 2015 levels, last year it managed to stay around 22 million. However, user age was on the rise: user profiles aged 40-65 increased by 6% and users aged 18-39 decreased by 7%.
Facebook for seniors and Instagram for millennials
And among all those analyzed in the study, Instagram was the one that presented the highest growth, with 25% more users in the last year, and went from having only 7.4 million accounts in 2015 to 20 million in 2020.
56% of these profiles were located in the 50 most populated cities in Spain, and most of its users were between 18 and 39 years old. Madrid, Granada, Barcelona, Valencia and Santa Cruz de Tenerife were the cities with the highest number of Instagram users.
Twitter accentuated its fall
On the other hand, Twitter also continued to lose weight in Spain, with 4.1 million users, 300,000 less than in 2019. However, profiles on this social network grew by 1.2% in the 50 most populated cities in Spain, especially in Granada, Madrid, Seville, Valencia and Barcelona, where the social network has more penetration.
Instagram kept growing
Instagram grew in the country, although the majority of its users (56%) were in the 50 most populated Spanish cities, marking its growth in 4 locations in the Community of Madrid: Torrejón de Ardoz, Móstoles, Getafe and Fuenlabrada. Along with Madrid, Granada, Barcelona, Valencia and Santa Cruz de Tenerife also dominate in terms of user numbers and total population.
Spanish women showed more representation than men, 55% vs. 36%(11 and 7.2 million users respectively) in the image social network.
LinkedIn accumulated 14 million users
In the last edition, the study gave LinkedIn results for the first time: the social network accumulated 14 million registered users in the country (against 663 million worldwide).
Regarding the business presence, more than half of the companies registered on the Microsoft social platform (54%) had more than 200 workers, while the “Services” sector dominated the activity in the social network (89%), with “Industry” (95%) and “Agriculture” (1%) in second and third place.
The 50 most populated cities grouped 69.38% of the total profiles on this platform, that is, 9.77 million, of which 7 out of 10 are located in Madrid (2.7 million) followed by Barcelona (1.9 million) and Seville (470,000).
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