Social Media 2012: A Look Back

By Pam Greenberg

For many of us, the end of the year is a time for reflecting. Here are some social media statistics from the past year that may interest legislative junkies.

Social Media Overall ¹
• 60% of all Americans use social networking sites (such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+ or Twitter)
• 69% of U.S. Internet users use social networking sites (such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+ or Twitter)

Top U.S. Social Networks ²
1. Facebook
2. Blogger
3. Twitter
4. Wordpress
5. LinkedIn
6. Pinterest
7. Google+
8. Tumblr
9. MySpace
10. Wikia

Political Demographics of U.S. Social Media Users ¹
• Republicans: 65% use social networking sites / 12% use Twitter
• Independents: 71% use social networking sites / 18% use Twitter
• Democrats: 71% use social networking sites / 18% use Twitter

Election 2012 Discussion
• Facebook tracked 71.7 million election-related mentions made by users within the U.S., more mentions than the 2012 Super Bowl or the San Francisco Giants’ win in the World Series. ³
• Twitter saw more than 20 million tweets about Election Day in 2012, making the election the most tweeted-about event in U.S. political history (the first tweet was sent in March 2006) ⁴

Election 2012 Online Viewing ⁵
• 46% of registered voters who use the Internet watched previously-recorded videos of candidate speeches.
• 39% watch informational videos online that explain a political issue.
• 36% of registered voters who use the Internet watched political ads.
• 20% of registered voters used social media to let others know that they voted.

Number of Legislative Caucuses or Offices Using Social Media ⁶
Facebook (Caucus): 110
Facebook (Nonpartisan legislature, chamber, or office/agency): 17
Twitter (Caucus):109
Twitter ((Nonpartisan legislature, chamber, or office/agency): 51

Sources:
¹ Social Media and Political Engagement, Pew Internet & American Life Project
² Social Media Report 2012, Nielsen
³ 2012 Election Activity on Facebook, Facebook
⁴ Twitter Government, Twitter
⁵ Online Political Videos and Campaign 2012, Pew Internet & American Life Project
⁶ Legislative Social Media Sites, December 2012, NCSL

 

Comments

[Jorma Saari]

Facebook is still the top on in social media.Now a days there are many internet marketer are really into Facebook,in fact in Finland many internet marketing service also hug Facebook.