SYDNEY: Australian women of all ages spend more time on social media than their similarly aged male peers, with the greatest differences apparent in the youngest age groups, according to new research.
Data from Roy Morgan’s Single Source survey, which includes interviews with 7,001 Australians aged over 14 years, showed that the average Australian spends almost six hours (340 minutes) a week on social media.
This was skewed towards women, who typically devote 391 minutes a week to this activity, compared to 287 minutes for men.
And the contrast was even more marked at the younger end of the age scale: women aged 14 to 24 spent almost 14 hours a week, or two hours a day, on social media; at 822 minutes that was nearly five hours, or 294 minutes, more than men aged 14- to 24-years-old.
The differences remained significant among the next oldest group, where women aged 25 to 34 spent just over nine hours (550 minutes) a week on social, or 183 minutes more than similarly aged men.
The 35 to 49 age group comes in around the average, with women of this age spending 335 minutes a week on social and men 298 minutes.
Thereafter, as one might expect, the figures drop off, but 50- to 64-year-old women were still devoting four hours (239 minutes) a week to social and those over 65 two hours (125 minutes).
Older men showed rather less interest, with 50- to 64-year-olds clocking up three hours a week (181 minutes) and over 65s almost an hour and a half (83 minutes) .
“The increasing centrality of social networks to our way of life shows no sign of receding anytime soon,” noted Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan.
“Different Australians engage with social media in their own way and for their own reasons,” she said, adding that marketers need to combine data such as time spent with social media with psychographic segmentation tools in order to better reach their target audience.
Data from Roy Morgan’s Single Source survey, which includes interviews with 7,001 Australians aged over 14 years, showed that the average Australian spends almost six hours (340 minutes) a week on social media.
This was skewed towards women, who typically devote 391 minutes a week to this activity, compared to 287 minutes for men.
And the contrast was even more marked at the younger end of the age scale: women aged 14 to 24 spent almost 14 hours a week, or two hours a day, on social media; at 822 minutes that was nearly five hours, or 294 minutes, more than men aged 14- to 24-years-old.
The differences remained significant among the next oldest group, where women aged 25 to 34 spent just over nine hours (550 minutes) a week on social, or 183 minutes more than similarly aged men.
The 35 to 49 age group comes in around the average, with women of this age spending 335 minutes a week on social and men 298 minutes.
Thereafter, as one might expect, the figures drop off, but 50- to 64-year-old women were still devoting four hours (239 minutes) a week to social and those over 65 two hours (125 minutes).
Older men showed rather less interest, with 50- to 64-year-olds clocking up three hours a week (181 minutes) and over 65s almost an hour and a half (83 minutes) .
“The increasing centrality of social networks to our way of life shows no sign of receding anytime soon,” noted Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan.
“Different Australians engage with social media in their own way and for their own reasons,” she said, adding that marketers need to combine data such as time spent with social media with psychographic segmentation tools in order to better reach their target audience.
Sourced from Roy Morgan; additional content by WARC staff
