What is JSB’s favourite social network?

I love social media. I know this statement is already self-evident but I thought you might like to know what JSB’s favourite social network is. Yes? No?

If you follow my social media musings, you might be forgiven for thinking that I over-share. I got thinking recently that if you are a hobbyist social media enthusiast as opposed to a professional social media practitioner, the content type and frequency will differ radically.

Social media is business to me as well as a hobby, however both are inter-linked. So one must expect that those you are connected to on social networks will be very active users if they are working in the world of the social web.

Looking at pure time spend figures, however, doesn’t take into account the size of a platform’s user base. To meaningfully compare social platforms’ engagement levels, one must compare how effective each social platform is at driving attention on a per-user basis. For example, while Snapchat’s monthly active user base is estimated to be slightly smaller than Twitter, the photo-sharing app is five times more effective at engaging users, according to BI Intelligence’s new social engagement index.  – Business Insider

What do social media user’s think of the social networks?

In a recent report by Business Insider Intelligence, they took a deeper look at user engagement at Facebook and Facebook-owned sites, including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, as well as Snapchat and struggling early heavyweights like Twitter and LinkedIn. We also take a look at the functions and content users are engaging with on each platform, and lay out the newest opportunities for brands and advertisers. Finally, we discuss what the future of social might look like with the emergence of new content formats like live streams and virtual reality.

Here are some key takeaways from the report: 

• When looked at on a per-user basis, Facebook is still the leader in engagement by a wide margin, but it’s followed behind by Snapchat, which has fewer users than Twitter or Instagram. Tumblr ranks just behind Snapchat on our engagement index, followed by Pinterest.
• Of the top social media platforms, LinkedIn is least effective in getting users to engage. In March, LinkedIn had the second-largest unique digital population out of our selected social platforms, but it also reported the lowest overall time spend. However, Microsoft’s recent acquisition of LinkedIn could result in a significant rise in engagement for the platform.
• As social platforms mature and new ones emerge, the user and brand use cases for each become more varied. Facebook has seen a decline in user posts but a big rise in news consumption and video viewing. Snapchat is still favored for messaging but its Live Stories and Discover channels are turning the app into a media distribution platform. Twitter is beginning to prioritize video with its Periscope acquisition and NFL streaming deal.

JSB’s social media musings

Now that we have that all cleared up let me tell you what my favourite social network is and why?

This has been a really difficult blog to write. It took me ages to decide on the answer to that question. And I also had to come up with a formula to decide on the winner!

I have been social networking since 2006 starting out on Facebook, then Twitter, then LinkedIn then YouTube then – well everything else after that!

I have to say I am having so much fun on Snapchat, often glued to Facebook, hounding for news on Twitter, connecting on LinkedIn and adding filters to my best pics on Instagram. I pin my blog posts and share JSB’s Take Two Tips on YouTube. Social media is a big part of my life – business and personal – if you hadn’t already guessed!

Scoring JSB’s favourite social networks

I decided to write down why I use social networks and scored each accordingly out of 10. So scores were assigned to each social network under the following headings:

1. Funability – does this social network have the Fun Factor?
2. Shareability – do I tend to share and curate content regularly on this social network?
3. Organic ROI – does this social network drive qualified leads and ultimately sales?
4. Paid ROI – does this social network give you value when you pay to play?
5. Daily Use – how much time are you spending daily JSB on this social network?
6. Community Engagement – is my community engaged on this social network?
7. Multi-media content – am I likely to share videos, photos and graphics on this social network?
8. Reach – how far do my social messages travel?
9. Web Traffic – how valuable is this social network for website traffic?
10. SEO – how valuable is this social network for my search engine visibility?

I gave each platform a score out of 10 and then added up the scores to reveal the winner.

So here are the (non-scientific) results.

Why Facebook is JSB’s favourite social network

Clearly I use Facebook most and am able to track its ROI to my business. The functionality that it gives me as a digital communicator is massive. From Facebook Live (on Pages, personal profile and in groups) to their amassed user data which translate into actionable insights through Facebook Ads, not to mention native video and quite simply the numbers using the platform. Having access to a 1.65 billion audience is quite remarkable. But as the Facebook highway gets more congested we as marketers need to get more savvy.

The runners up….

As a former journalist I’ve always been Twitter happy and using the tool to influence the influencers. It’s my go-to social network for news, trending content and keeping up with real-time current affairs, business and all things digital.

I love the fun-factor that Snapchat offers. I would love to have branded geo-filters for my business and events but that functionality hasn’t reached Ireland just quite yet.  Snapchat has been able to respond to our sense of ‘social fun’ and we show our personality much more on this ephemeral app.

What’s your favourite social network? Take the JSB “what’s my favourite social network test” and let me know. Tweet me @tweetsbyJSB or Snap me to jsbsnaps.