Aggies on social media
Which social network is the most popular at Utah State University? Do you think no one uses Facebook anymore? Is Twitter losing users? What’s going on with Snapchat anyway?
In a survey about daily social network usage, 82.4 percent of USU students said they used Instagram and Snapchat on a daily basis, and 100 percent of users who use Snapchat on a daily basis also use Instagram.
Unsurprisingly, the survey showed the most-used app among USU students was Facebook, with 86.3 percent usage among students.
“I use Facebook the most because that’s how I keep in contact with family and friends,” said Kimberly Fallis, a master student at USU.
On a national scale, Facebook usership hasn’t slowed down. With 2.07 billion monthly active users as of September 2017 and 1.37 billion daily active users on average, it seems as if there’s no stopping the blue giant.
Statista “We’re getting to a size where it’s worth really taking a careful look at what are all the things that we can do to make social media the most positive force for good possible,” Facebook Chief Product Officer Chris Cox told TechCrunch.
Twitter received 31.4 percent of USU student votes.
“Twitter seems less personal and there are a lot of fake accounts made to promote crappy fad items they want me to buy,” another student said.
Statista Twitter grew 14 percent this quarter to 330 million daily active users amid recent controversy due to its process of verifying users in its platform.
Twitter’s verification is meant to authenticate the user’s’ identity, but it is interpreted as an endorsement or an indicator of importance.
“We recognize that we have created this confusion and need to resolve it,” Twitter said via a tweet.
It has temporarily stopped verifying users until further notice.
When it comes to repeat usage during the day, Snapchat is king. 66.7 percent of students reported using Snapchat numerous times during the day.
“I use Snapchat the most because I can stay in contact with friends that are far away,” said Caitlin Hill, a student at USU.
After publishing its third quarter earnings after going public and hundreds of thousands of Spectacles (glasses that upload video content straight to the social network) remain unsold, Snapchat says a huge redesign is coming.
“One thing we have heard over the years is that Snapchat is difficult to understand or hard to use, and our team has been working on responding to this feedback,” said CEO Evan Spiegel in his earnings letter to Snap investors.
In terms of users, Snapchat numbers failed to impress investors. With 178 million daily active users, the company only saw a 4.5 million increase in users from last quarter’s number.
Snap, Snapchat’s parent company, deals with direct competition from Instagram. Instagram stories, which blossomed as a direct clone to Snapchat’s main feature, is used by 250 million active users.
Statista “I like Instagram for the photos. Snapchat for the stories. Facebook for the political posts,” an anonymous user wrote in their response to the survey.
Other social networks, like Google+ and LinkedIn, received hardly any votes in the USU student survey.
“I just never set up a profile. None of my friends use it,” Hill said
—farlin.pz@gmail.com
@Farblaze