From the scary stats department – In 2015, time spent on mobile apps exceeded time spent watching TV for U.S. consumers according to TechCrunch. And now influencer marketing agency MediaKix has calculated more scary social media statistics. Social media users will now spend years online during their lifetime.
Growth on many of the top social media platforms continues to rise as each network rolls out new features and functionalities to better compete for users’ daily time. It must be working, not only is the number of people using social media increasing, and the time people are spending each day on social media is increasing. MediaKix says that just Facebook (FB) users are spending an average of 50 minutes each day on the site.
Time on popular social media platforms
In order to see how much the average person will spend on social media throughout their life, MediaKix calculated the time spent across today’s most popular social media platforms. Across today’s most popular social media platforms, people are spending the following daily averages:
- YouTube: 40 minutes
- Facebook: 35 minutes
- Snapchat: 25 minutes
- Instagram: 15 minutes
- Twitter (TWTR): 1 minute
The advertising firm says these social media consumption rates, across a lifetime will total up to:
YouTube: 1 year, 10 months- Facebook: 1 year, 7 months
- Snapchat: 1 year, 2 months
- Instagram: 8 months
- Twitter: 18 days
5 years 4 months on social media
Cumulatively, this adds up for a total of 5 years and 4 months spent on social media across a lifetime. Compare the time spent on social media against more mundane life activities.
- Social Media: 5 years, 4 months
- Eating & Drinking: 3 years, 5 months
- Grooming: 1 year, 10 months
- Socializing: 1 year, 3 months
- Laundry: 6 months
The Santa Monica, CA firm projected the social media figures across an entire lifetime and put the numbers into the infographic below.
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I have argued for a while that the social media fake news issue is a result of the American educational system. They are obsessed with teaching the common core. They don’t teach any analytical skills. Schools need to reinstate current events and media literacy classes.
Quartz cited a survey that found that teens prefer Facebook as a news source (41%). Tweens break between YouTube (41%) and Facebook (37%). By huge margins, girls prefer Facebook for news, and boys, YouTube.
The converging trends of more time spent online, preferring social media as a news source and no education is putting democracy at risk.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Search Engine Journal offers some good suggestions on how to evaluate if a story is real or fake.
What is the Site? most major recognized sources for news journalism are not going to be producing clickbait fake news. Most of the fake news sites go for “shock” value and produce fake stories that are not as recognized. Look into the source itself and see whether it is a website that can be trusted.
Check the Domain – Many fake news stories use similar URLs and domain names to mimic reputable news sources, but rather than using a .com they use .com.co endings
What are the Authors’ Sources? – Good news stories contain links to other reputable reporting by respected organizations. Be wary of sources that cannot substantiate their claims.
Fact Check! – When in doubt, fact-check the information that you read! You can start with a simple search to look into the keywords or the event that is being reported on. You can also use sites like PolitiFact, FactCheck, and Snopes.
Examine the Website Closely – Look at the full spectrum of details on the site. Is there other fake-looking or shocking headlines? What does the overall website look like? How is the user experience? Sometimes doing just a little further digging will make it clear if a news story is fake.
Act! – Once you identify if a story is real or fake, you can make a big difference. Do not share stories on social media that are fake and make them more visible. If you notice a friend or family member share a fake story on a social media outlet, do them a favor and comment or message them showing how you found out it was fake so they don’t repeat the same mistake.
If you come across a fake news article, comment on it stating how you arrived at the conclusion it was fake. If everyone does their part to distinguish fake news stories and make them known, then they won’t be shared as easily.