What about age groups? How does each generation use Facebook? The stats are unsurprising, but for the first time ever, more than half of online adults over the age of 65 are using Facebook. Here’s the breakdown:
- 87 percent of all online 18-29 year olds use Facebook.
- 73 percent of all online 30-49 year olds use Facebook.
- 63 percent of all online 50-64 year olds use Facebook.
- 56 percent of all online 65+ year olds use Facebook.
It’s fair to say that your church needs to have a presence on Facebook. The vast majority of online adults are there, so you should be. But Facebook isn’t the only social network people are using.
Pew Research reports, as of 2014, “52 percent of online adults now use two or more social media sites, a significant increase from 2013, when it stood at 42 percent of Internet users.”
Let’s take a look at Twitter.
Twitter users tend to be racially diverse, but amidst their racial diversity, it does seem that many Twitter users are young, college-educated, wealthy and living in urban areas.
Here are some key Twitter stats:
- 37 percent of online 18-29 year olds use Twitter, as opposed to 25 percent of 30-49 year olds and 12 percent of 50-64 year olds.
- 30 percent of online college or graduate-level graduates use Twitter, as opposed to 16 percent of online high school (or less) graduates.
- 27 percent of online adults who make $50,000 a year or more use Twitter, as opposed to 20 percent who make less than $30,000 per year.
- 25 percent of online adults in urban settings use Twitter, compared to 23 percent in suburban settings and 17 percent in rural areas.
Suffice to say, Twitter is a good place for your church to be no matter what, but especially if you’re in an upper-middle class city or university setting. Set up and account and connect with your community.
Finally, check out Instagram:
Instagram is almost as racially diverse as Twitter, but it is actually more popular among African Americans and Latinos than it is among White people. According to Pew’s statistics, the most common Instagram user is likely an African American woman between ages 18 and 29 who’s had some college education and lives in an urban area.
Some Instagram stats to consider:
- 29 percent of online women use Instagram, compared with 22 percent of online men.
- 38 percent of online African Americans use Instagram, along with 34 percent of online Latinos and 21 percent of online Whites.
- 53 percent of online 18-29 year olds are on Instagram, as opposed to 29 percent 30-49 year olds,and 11 percent of 50-64 year olds.
Instagram is a crucial social media platform for your youth or young adult ministries. This social media platform is growing rapidly, and Instagram is great for sharing pictures and videos of what’s going on in your ministries.
A Few Applications
Because people are there, here a few things church leadership should consider.
First, every church should have an active Facebook presence—and that presence must be public and not simply a semi-private group page. A group page is acceptable for internal communication, but every church needs to have a public page as well.
A Facebook page’s full potential is seen with two-way conversations and not just one-way announcements.
