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Young social users want to consume content more than they want to create it.
Conventional wisdom says that Gen Z and millennials love to create and share their own content more than other age groups. While this may be true, it is also true that young people tend to consume content more than create it. According to a just-released study by Vidmob, young social users consume much more than they create.
However, if you take a closer look, you will see that the creation vs. consumption question is more nuanced than it might seem at first glance. On some social channels, young social users are very likely to create content — whereas on other channels, SMC (social media content) creation is pretty rare.
Here’s a closer look:
Gen Z
Snapchat: For Gen Z, Snapchat is the most-popular platform for creating and for consuming content. In VidMob’s survey, 58 percent of Gen Z said they create content for Snapchat. A full 73 percent of respondents said they consume content on Snapchat. No other social channel has such a high percentage of creators or consumers.
Instagram: Among Gen Z users, Instagram is the second-most popular platform for creating and for consuming. But as is true with Snapchat, Gen Z users consume more than they create—with 70 percent consuming and 39 percent creating.
Facebook: Facebook is a distant third among Gen Z users for creating and consuming content. About 1 in 3 (34 percent) of Gen Z social users claim to consume Facebook content and only 13 percent actually create content on Facebook.
Millennials
Snapchat: Millennials are using Snapchat, but not nearly as much as their Gen Z counterparts. Among millennials, 53 percent consume Snapchat content and 34 percent create.
Instagram: Not surprisingly, more millennials (58 percent) consume content on Instagram than on any other platform. However, in somewhat of a surprise, only 31 percent of millennials create content for Instagram, which is a smaller percent than Snapchat boasts.
Facebook: Millennials are much more likely to consume content on Facebook (48 percent) than Gen Z, but they are not incredibly likely to create Facebook content. In fact, only 1 in 5 (20 percent) of millennial respondents said they create content for Facebook.
What this means for you.
Simply put, if you hope to have Gen Z or millennials consume your content, your best bet is to find a way to engage them on Snapchat or Instagram. Likewise, if you are looking for Gen Z or millennial social users to participate in a user-generated content campaign, Snapchat and Instagram will be your best options. Perhaps what is most clear from this study is that Facebook simply isn’t going to be an effective social channel for reaching or engaging with young social users — now or in the future.
In an interview with Daily Edition, author Claire Madden shared one more valuable insight for understanding the psyche of young social media users if you hope to engage them in creating content applicable to your brand.
“Screens can act as a social risk reducer. They feel more comfortable meeting people, or connecting, or sharing what is really going on often behind a screen,” Madden said.
Madden also shared that the young social users are cognizant of the personal brand they are building with their social media usage. “It used to be that [personal brand management was just for celebrities. Now, these kids are personal brand managers from the youngest age.”
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