B etween Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, the performance, strengths and weaknesses of the major social media services from Meta Platforms vary greatly: WhatsApp has the greatest reach, which is used by more than seven out of ten Germans with access to the Internet. The former top dog Facebook no longer reaches such heights, but for the first time in years it was able to slightly increase its share of users to 63 percent. Instagram is also bolstering its community and is now used by almost every second online user - but is increasingly losing popularity among the youngest people.

Meta: This is how Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram perform on the social web / Graphic: Social Media Atlas 2022, factskontor.de
Meta: This is how Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram perform on the social web / Graphic: Social Media Atlas 2022, factskontor.de

This is shown by the new Social Media Atlas 2022 from the Hamburg communications consultancy Aktuellkontor, for which market researcher Toluna conducted a representative survey of 3,500 Internet users aged 16 and over.

WhatsApp: The Champion

The champion not only among meta services but also among social media as a whole is WhatsApp. An unsurpassed 71 percent of all online users in Germany use the messenger with a mass group chat function. More than eight out of ten of those under 40 can be reached via WhatsApp. But even beyond the age of 40, WhatsApp enjoys a particularly high level of acceptance across all age groups. At 53 percent, the majority of silver surfers aged 60 and over are reached here.

Used equally across generations

Meta can score points here: WhatsApp is not only used by a majority in all age groups - it is also the only social media channel in which users across generations are equally active. No matter whether “Gen Z” (16-25 years old), Millennials (26-40 years old) or older people: 28 percent of online users regularly write WhatsApp messages. Reading other users' posts has become a habit for one in two older internet users; for Gen Z and Millennials the figure is only eight percentage points more. It's mostly about personal matters, which 58 percent of online users exchange information about via WhatsApp. Other topics, such as work (13 percent) and current affairs (11 percent), follow at a considerable distance.

Facebook: User decline stopped...

Facebook, the oldest meta platform, is increasing in favor with users for the first time since 2017: with a slight increase of three percentage points compared to the previous year's survey, the proportion of German online users who use Facebook is now 63 percent. Other social media services may be licking their fingers after such a high market share (apart from WhatsApp, only YouTube has more with 71 percent), but the former top dog can no longer build on its former glory days, in which it still had up to Reached 76 percent of online users.

…but obsolescence remains

Even if the decline in users seems to have stopped for now, the social media dinosaur continues to weaken among the youngest target groups: Only 39 percent of Internet users between the ages of 16 and 19 are on Facebook - fewer than in all other age groups. The network, on the other hand, has been particularly successful in appealing to “thirty-somethings”: eight out of ten online users between the ages of 30 and 39 use Facebook, which shortens the gap to WhatsApp and YouTube in this cohort to just four percentage points.

Commercial content: Lowest trust – but highest advertising impact

Also noticeable: Nowhere else on the social web are users more suspicious of companies. Of all the social media channels examined, Facebook is the only one on which more than half of the users (54 percent) say they have little trust in the information they receive there from commercial providers. Nevertheless, Facebook proves that social media has the highest advertising effectiveness: one in four online users has already bought products or used services because they were advertised on Facebook.

Instagram: Young beauty loses youth

Instagram was also able to expand its user base in Germany by three percentage points to 49 percent of online users aged 16 and over. However, a look at the development in different age groups shows that the aging of users, which was already apparent in the previous study, is also becoming more common on Instagram. Strong increases can be found here, especially among online users aged 60 and over, up six percentage points to now 21 percent, and between the ages of 30 and 39, up five percentage points to now 68 percent.

Instagram continues to penetrate younger target groups the most, but the trend is downwards: after a sharp drop from 91 to 80 percent in the previous year, only 78 percent of those surveyed between the ages of 16 and 19 currently say they use Instagram. Top Instagrammers remain twenty-somethings at 81 percent (previous year: 82 percent). In terms of content, personal matters also come first on Instagram; topics relating to fashion, beauty and lifestyle attract greater interest here than on the other meta platforms WhatsApp and Facebook.

Investment instead of innovation

“In-house development Facebook lives from substance, the acquisition of Instagram loses touch with the next generation, only the messenger WhatsApp, which was also purchased, finds largely universal support,” summarizes Dr. Roland Heintze, social media expert and managing partner of the Aktuellkontor. “Innovation and rapid growth are happening elsewhere on the social web. But its size and lead allow Meta Platforms to continue to defend its market position through further acquisitions in the future. How well this works depends on the quality of these investments.”

About the social media atlas

The Social Media Atlas has been recording the use of social media in Germany annually since 2011 based on a representative survey and serves as an indispensable basis for companies to strategically plan their social media activities. The study provides, among other things, reliable facts about which services on Web 2.0 are used by whom and how intensively, which topics are discussed on which channels and to what extent social media influence purchasing decisions. The social media atlas is published by the consulting company Aktuellkontor and the market researcher Toluna in cooperation with the IMWF Institute for Management and Economic Research.

Study basis: Representative panel survey

For the current Social Media Atlas (Hamburg, May 2022), 3,500 Internet users aged 16 and over, representative of their age, gender and federal state, were surveyed in the form of an online panel about their social media use. The survey was conducted in December 2021 and January 2022. The results are rounded to whole numbers. The complete study with all results can be ordered for a nominal fee ( HERE ). Articles with further figures and findings from the social media atlas can be found here .

Source: Press portal

Related: Germans open to “digital identity wallet”


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