Whether an active poster of daily selfies or a silent news feed scanner, more than a billion people log onto Facebook every day. Although different social platforms are ideal for businesses in different verticals, Facebook is still the king of social media. This kind of daily traffic is a huge potential audience for marketing content. To gain a better understanding of which types of content are primed for sharing, we surveyed 2,000 Facebook users about what they share on Facebook.
Average Facebook User
The data we collected helped us to paint a picture of the average Facebook user. It will come as no surprise that the average Facebook user logs onto Facebook every day, (and most admit to more than once a day use). The average Facebook user also shares content at least once a week with their network. Most Facebook users favor funny videos and articles and shy away from heavier political content. Interestingly, while most Facebook users check in at least once a day, 62% of Facebookers have taken at least one break from the platform.
Men and Women
Men and women both have a silly and a serious side. The two groups are equally likely to share news content as well as funny videos and articles. However, men are 8 percent more likely to share political content and satirical news, and women are 5 percent more likely to share content of inspiring stories and pictures of food.
Sharers of All Ages
People of all ages love funny content. Thirty-eight percent of people who use Facebook once a month or less shared a funny article or video in the past 30 days. Aside from our universal love of humor, there are key differences in the content that people of different ages prefer to share. To better understand the habits of each generation, we segmented the sample by gender and then by generation: Millennials (born between 1977 and 1998), Generation Xers (born between 1967 and 1976), and Baby Boomers (born before 1967).
With their love of sharing food snapshots and their propensity to share cute videos of baby or animals, female Baby Boomers may have taken over for Millennials since Facebook became “uncool.”
Regardless of what you’re trying to market to the average Facebook user, there is one thing that remains the same between the generational and gender differences: everyone loves to laugh.
Did this study pique your interest? Check out our research about how people are using Facebook Reactions and our study on Content by Generation.
Methodology
In April 2016, Fractl, a leading content marketing agency specializing in highly shareable, audience building, and link generating content, surveyed 2,000 people about sharing content on Facebook. Everyone who participated in the survey was a Facebook user, and 91 percent shared content on Facebook regularly.
