60% of the world population is connected to the internet. This is how we use it The role of influencers

The internet is already an indispensable tool for most of us. Every day we surf the net to perform various tasks and rarely do we stop to consider the impact of it, that we share the task with millions of people in the world and that our daily habits have been transforming since we have access to the web in a simple way.

To understand how humanity uses the internet, Hootsuite and We Are Social published the results of their new Global Statshot Report according to which today more than 6 out of 10 people on Earth connect to the web.

In detail, Internet users have grown by more than 330 million during the last year, which is equivalent to 7.6% more, reaching a total of more than 4.7 billion at the beginning of April 2021, that is to say that More than 60% of the world's population has access to the internet. Also, today there are 5.27 billion unique mobile users, which means that more than two-thirds of all people on the planet have a mobile phone.

As a consequence of more access to the internet, more than 500 million new users were registered on social media platforms in the past 12 months, bringing the global total to 4.33 billion as of April 2021. From In fact, the number of social media users has grown considerably faster than Internet users.

Despite progress in connectivity, the report highlights that there are still regions that lag behind. For example, more than 9 out of 10 people in Northern and Western Europe and North America currently use the internet, but only 3 out of 4 people in East Africa remain offline. Internet adoption also remains relatively low in South Asia, which is home to the world's largest unconnected population.

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Users of social networks

One of the points the report makes is that the adoption of social media has accelerated. They estimate year-over-year growth of about 14%, meaning that the number of users has increased by an average of more than 1.4 million per day over the past 12 months.

This rapid growth has pushed the world total to 4.33 billion, which is equivalent to more than 55% of the world's total population. That total is also 3% higher than the figure they reported just three months ago, meaning the number of social media users grew twice as fast in the first quarter of 2021 than in the previous three months.

China added 85 million new social media users in the past 12 months, equivalent to roughly 1 in 6 of the world's new users over that period, while India, Indonesia and Brazil also added significant numbers. from new users to their local totals.

As for the most widely used platforms, worldwide (excluding China), nearly a quarter (24.1%) of internet users aged 16-64 say WhatsApp is their favorite social media platform . Facebook is second in the ranking, with almost 22% of respondents choosing this option, while Instagram is third, with 18.4%. Thus, the four main Facebook platforms represent more than two thirds (67.9%) of the world's favourites.

Twitter is ranked fourth worldwide, yet less than 5% of respondents chose this option.

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Regarding the uses that they give to social networks, most mentioned that to "keep in touch with friends and family". It is also interesting to note that news and entertainment are important drivers. Thirdly, the respondents indicated that they use them to find inspiration to do or buy something, on this point it stands out that people are more willing to follow brands than celebrities or influencers.

Beyond preferences, the study found that 4 in 5 internet users aged 16-64 visit social platforms to find fun or entertaining content, and more people visit social networks like Facebook and TikTok to find entertainment than to send messages to friends and family.

Regarding the platforms that attract the most users, the most recent data shows that Facebook registers almost 2.8 billion monthly active users, 57 million more than it attracted just three months ago. Available data indicates that YouTube has the second largest active user base in the world. WhatsApp remains in third place.

Overall, the typical social media user says they actively use more than 6 social media platforms each month.

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New ways to interact

The study also found that globally, nearly 47% of internet users used voice commands or voice search on their devices in the last month, with the youngest are driving this trend, with more than 50%.

It's also worth noting that most voice searches are done on smartphones, so don't restrict your voice-related activities to smart speaker devices like Amazon's Alexa.

On the other hand, more than a third of internet users said they have used image recognition tools like Pinterest Lens on their phone in the last month. The use of these tools is considerably higher in Latin America with approximately 6 in 10 respondents in Mexico and Brazil saying they have used these technologies.

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One of the exciting new charts in this quarter's report explores the types of accounts people follow on social media.

Friends and family come first, although surprisingly less than half of all respondents selected this option. Entertainment-related accounts occupy the next spots in the ranking, with more than a quarter of respondents saying they follow actors, TV shows, meme accounts, and musicians.

B2B marketers may be interested to know that roughly one-fifth of all Internet users ages 16-64 say they follow companies that are relevant to their work.

When it comes to influencers, their impact varies significantly by demographic. In general, women are more likely to follow influencers than men. Younger people are also more likely to follow influencers.