Despite reports that Facebook lost 600,000 users in the UK last month, Nielsen has released figures confirming that the social media giant hit 27 million monthly active users in the past week. Meanwhile, their new affiliate Instagram has lost almost half its daily active users worldwide in the wake of changes to its terms and conditions.
According to Nielsen, a global market research company, two thirds of
the UK population use Facebook – that’s 27 million – 19 million of whom
access the site on mobile devices. 26% of Facebook users access the site
via a tablet device and are most active in the evening, while
smartphone users are active at midday.
There is an almost 50/50 gender split, with women
claiming the extra 1% from their male peers, while users are relatively
evenly split across all ages, with 25% under 25 and 30% over 50.
Perhaps the most interesting statistic from a business perspective is
that a whopping 62% of people access Facebook while they are watching
TV. This suggests that during the advertising breaks, when television
broadcasters earn most of their advertising revenue, people are turning
their attention away from the box and onto Facebook.
If
66% of the UK’s population is on Facebook and 62% of those users access
Facebook while they watch TV, then television advertising could be
losing up to 40% of its audience to Facebook, where social media
advertisers are benefiting from the influx of traffic during commercial
breaks.
Nielsen’s data also reveals the power of friend recommendations for
businesses on Facebook: of the 37% of users who ask for product advice
on Facebook, 16% act on that advice, while 23% have tried a new
restaurant or bar after it was recommended by a friend on Facebook.
Facebook has also released a brand new tool for UK Businesses on Facebook: the
Retail Centre
has video tutorials, information about how other European retailers use
Facebook, success stories and a “cheat sheet” guide to retail success.
Any company can register immediately by entering a name, a phone number
and an estimated monthly marketing budget. Businesses new to Facebook
can even request a
free consultation on how best to use the service.
Facebook is not having such success in all its endeavours, however:
AppStats, the Facebook applications metrics site, has
released figures illustrating that Instagram has lost about half its daily active users since changing its
terms and conditions, from 16 million to 7.6 million.
Instagram changed its
Privacy Policy
last year after being purchased by Facebook. Instagram made the changes
not only to further its integration with Facebook, but also in an
attempt to monetise the service.
"Instagram does not claim ownership of any content that you post on or
through the service”, reads one new paragraph in the terms and
conditions. “Instead, you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive,
fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide
license to use the content that you post on or through the service."
The policy changes allow Instagram to use images posted by its uses in
advertising on the site without prior consent, as well as on their new
parent site, Facebook. There was public outcry, with many Instagramers
decrying the change as an invasion of their privacy and a theft of their
personal and intellectual property.
In an attempt to appease its users, Instagram posted further information on their
blog:
"Our updated privacy policy helps Instagram function more easily as part
of Facebook by being able to share info between the two groups. This
means we can do things like fight spam more effectively, detect system
and reliability problems more quickly, and build better features for
everyone by understanding how Instagram is used."
However, the damage was already done and, despite Instagram’s assurance
that the policy updates were for the best, it didn’t change the fact
that the picture sharing service wis still featuring its user’s photos
in adverts without their consent.
"To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or
promotions,” reads another paragraph in Instagram’s Terms of Use, “you
agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your
username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or
actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or
promotions, without any compensation to you."
It is no surprise then that many of Instagram’s users are using the service less.
An Instagram spokesperson, however, has disputed AppStats’ figures:
“This data is inaccurate,” they said. “We continue to see strong and
steady growth in both registered and active users of Instagram.”
The difference between these two opinions is that Instagram are
measuring the increase in monthly active users rather than daily active
users, so although people are using the service less, more people appear
to be using it.
Instagram's Privacy Policy changes will come into effect this Saturday.
Do you use Facebook during the commercial break? What about Instagram? What do you think of its new Privacy Policy?
