New data from Hootsuite and We Are Social reveals as of June 2020 more than half of the world’s population (51%) is now using social media, up 10% since the same time last year. Facebook, YouTube, Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger and Tik Tok are the most popular social platforms among users.
The data also shows social media use in New Zealand has grown by 6% year-on-year from 3.3 million to 3.5 million users in 2020.
Key additional relevant stats from Hootsuite & We Are Social’s Digital 2020 July Global Statshot Report:
- When it came to paying for any form of digital content, 58% of New Zealanders said they did compared to the rest of the globe (67%).
- 90% of internet users watch online videos, followed by listening to music streaming services (72%) and watching vlogs (52%)
- 83% of respondents said the internet helped them cope with the COVID-19 lockdowns, while 67% said it helped them do their job 45% said it helped with shopping, and 44% said getting groceries from food stores.
- When asked if they planned to keep working from home after the pandemic, 22% of Kiwis said they would.
- 21% of New Zealanders said they would continue using video conferencing platforms after the pandemic, compared to the global average of 35%.
- Zoom was the most used video conferencing platform in June with 300 million meeting participants per day, followed by Google Meet (100 million per day) and Microsoft Teams (75 million per day).
- 72% of Kiwis said they bought something online in the last month, but only 30% said they were likely to keep shopping online after the pandemic.
- 33% of respondents said they discovered new brands and products through search engines, followed by TV ads (31%), word-of-mouth (27%), and social media ads (26%).
- When asked if brands should continue to advertise as normal during the COVID-19 crisis, 54% of Kiwis agreed.
“Since the onset of COVID-19, Australians’ digital behaviours have evolved substantially, with 33% of Australians spending more time on social media in recent weeks. Australia’s digital and social behaviours are evolving rapidly, whether it’s shopping and transacting online with 74% of Australians buying something online in the past month, finding news on social, or parents staying up to date on their kids’ health and education through app usage which is up 190%,” said Heather Cook, General Manager, Hootsuite Australia & New Zealand. “By leveraging and leading with real-time data and insights, companies can achieve better cut-through and audience engagement, and consumers can make better purchasing decisions.”
For more interesting findings about changing global social media & digital platform use, please see the downloadable report available here.
