Yesterday, Internetstiftelsen i Sverige (The Internet Foundation of Sweden) released new statistics on how Swedes use social media, as part of their yearly report “The Swedes and the Internet”.
The report showed that Facebook is still the most used social media in the country, with 70 percent of the country’s internet population signed up, and about half of them logged in daily.
Twitter, Linkedin and Snapchat all have around a fifth of the Swedish internet population, while Instagram is the fastest growing medium of them all – today engaging 40 percent of the Swedes. The channel has seen a steady increase from 16 percent of the Swedes signed up in 2014, to 40 today. A great achievement to celebrate on the service’s 5th birthday (Happy birthday Instagram!)
According to the report, traditional e-mail as well as instant messages are still the most used form of communication on the internet in Sweden today.
It’s interesting to see how more private and direct platforms, such as Snapchat, as well as picture and video based services, such as both Instagram and Snapchat, are what is attracting younger users. Over 60 percent of Swede’s aged 16 – 25 are active users of both services.
It gives a sense of how the social media, as well as the entire communications landscape, will look tomorrow. Active Snapchatters above the age of 35 are rare in Sweden, but as the younger generation grows up, in a world of wacky lenses, dissepearing messages and interactive news, we’re bound to see a whole new take on “dark social” in all forms of communication. And the grown-ups have no idea what’s coming, as Jonas Leijonhufvud puts it nicely in DI Digital:
”Five years ago, the news reported that teenage girls sent 80 text messages a day. No adult understood why. Now, it is reported that 4 out of 5 teens use Snapchat. No adult understands why.”
I am sure we all will understand within the next year or two.
Amount of Swedes* on:
- Facebook – 70 %
- Instagram – 40 %
- Twitter – 22 %
- Linkedin – 22 %
- Snapchat – 21 %
*Of total internet population.
