There's no doubt about it: social media played an imperative role in shaping 2012, and its dominance is here to stay. We've witnessed its role in the 2012 election and the rise of Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ in the wake of decreased interest in Facebook. We've read statistics about its use during the election and growing importance in the political arena.
But did you know that Google+ is now the second largest social network in the world? Or that 10% of all young professionals get rejected from a prospective job because of their online profiles?
Here are 12 social media stats of 2013 everyone should know as we head into the second half of the year:
1. The Internet is the second most popular place people go to for news, with 21% of Gallup respondents using the Internet to get news about current events - beating out print media and trailing only to television.
2. According to a Pew Internet survey, 61 percent of current Facebook users have taken a voluntary break at one time or another. "
3. While users may be leaving Facebook more often now than when the network was first introduced, those staying are using it more when it comes to Liking pages. Socialbakers reports, Facebook users have gone from "liking" an average of 4.5 pages in 2009, to "liking" an average of 40 pages in 2013.
4. Men are twice as likely to be Reddit users as women, Pew Internet reports.
5. Pinterest is now home to 70 million users, an increase of 20 million since February of this year.
6. In the last 2 years, the number of people accessing the Internet via mobile phone is 818.4 million - an increase of 60.3 percent.
7. 45 million photos are uploaded to Instagram every day. The company, which just introduced a 15 second video function, is not yet 3 years old.
8. 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.
9. The Google+ user base grew 33% from June 2012 to March 2013, making it the second largest social network in the world.
10. With all this talk of "Facebook Fatigue," teens are increasingly turning to Twitter, with 24% of online teens now using Twitter, up from 16% in 2011.
11. 1 in 10 young people were rejected for a job because of content associated with their social profiles.
12. And the award for the fastest growing social network in the world goes to…Twitter, with the fastest growing age demographic of 55 to 64 year olds, registering an increase in active users of 79 percent.
Want more numbers? Check out this infographic from Grow Social Media for more social stats from the first half of 2013:
