Facebook Retains Top Spot, But Younger Australians Prefer Vids

Overall, Facebook is still the most popular social network in Australia, used by 84% of the population, followed by YouTube, with 76%.

Facebook remains Australia’s most popular social network across most generations, with it being the most used platform among Pre-Boomers (pre-1946), Baby Boomers (1946-1960), Gen X (1961-1975) and Millenials (1976-1990) – though it only just won out in the Millenials age bracket, where 90% of respondents used Facebook and 88% used YouTube.
The video streaming website YouTube took out the top spot for Australia’s youngest generations, used by 91% of Gen Z (1991-2005) and 72% of Alpha (2006-), according to Roy Morgan.

Globally, YouTube Kids ranked first among the video streaming apps in terms of hours of usage in the first quarter of 2020.

The more visually focused Instagram and TikTok (which shows short videos), are significantly more popular with younger people. More than two-thirds of the 1.6 million Australians who use TikTok are under 25 years old, with some 21% of the Alpha generation and 14% of Gen Z using TikTok.

According to Business of Apps, TikTok was the 7th most-used social media platform in the world as of January 2020.

“The usage of TikTok is also noticeably skewed to young women and girls. Women and girls make up over two-thirds of those who use TikTok overall and over 40% of girls aged 10-13 years old now use TikTok compared to under 20% of boys the same age,” Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan, said.

Roy Morgan has noted that the varying popularity of platforms across age groups could point to more effective ways of communicating with different segments of society. Although most Australians use Facebook and YouTube, Levine notes that “there are other Australians who are more effectively reached through platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok.”

“And then there are the primary and early secondary school-aged children who use the short video service TikTok. It offers an opportunity to reach this young cohort with positive messaging about the important job they are doing to combat COVID-19, and to provide reassurance to those who may be anxious and concerned about circumstances they cannot control.”