Social media marketing forms a key part of any business’s long-term strategy, and understanding its user demographics is vital to entrepreneurial success. This means that apart from knowing why people use social media, it’s also useful to have a clear picture of social media usage by gender and age.

Here’s a breakdown of social media usage by gender and age.

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Social media and gender: breakdown of time spent by age groups

A recent study has put the question of which gender uses social media more to rest. Results from the analysis of social media usage by gender show that while there are more male social media users (53.6% of the global population) than female social media users (46.4%), in terms of time spent, female users spend more time surfing social media every day—irrespective of age. 

For instance, female users between 16 and 24 years of age spend an average of three hours and 10 minutes on social media every day. In comparison, their male counterparts spend two hours and 35 minutes—35 minutes less. The difference in daily time spent on social media between the two genders is also the largest in this age group. For context, the average daily time spent on social media among all users is two hours and 26 minutes.

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In the 25 to 34 age group, women spend two hours and 49 minutes a day on social media, compared to men, who spend 17 minutes less, at just over two and a half hours every day. The difference in social media use by gender in the next age group is even smaller—females are active on social media for an average of two hours and 29 minutes a day, compared to two hours and 17 minutes for males. This equates to a difference of 12 minutes.

Women between 45 and 54 years of age spend two hours and seven minutes on social media every day, while their male peers spend one hour and 53 minutes. The oldest age group is where the time difference in social media use by gender is the smallest. Women aged 55 to 64 are on social media for one hour and 44 minutes a day. Men, on the other hand, spend one hour and 35 minutes, just nine minutes shy of their female counterparts.

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