How often do you check your Snapchat? According to data from Toronto-based Solutions Research Group (SRG), most Canadian users are opening the app nearly 10 times a day.
The research firm released its Q3 results for its ongoing syndicated Digital Life Canada study, which looks at the social media habits of Canadians.
The data was based on 1,005 online interview with Canadians, conducted by SRG in August and September. SRG interviewed people age 12 and up for the study.
On a net basis, 84% of Canadians now use at least one social media channel — and Snapchat was determined to be the “stickiest” of all platforms. Users reported an average daily check-in count of 9.1 times per day — compared with 8.2 times for Twitter, 7.8 times for Instagram and 7.5 times for Facebook.
This could possibly be due to the temporary nature of Snapchat’s posts — photos and videos disappear after 24 hours, giving users more incentive to check updates often.
Snapchat has also proven to live up to its reputation as a young person’s platform, with an average user age of 28 and nearly two-thirds (59%) of its users sitting between the ages of 12 and 29. This contrasts with Facebook, with 29% of its users over the age of 50 and the average age of users sitting at 41 years old.
Nevertheless, with more than 80% of Canadians using Facebook every month, Facebook remains the “king” of social.
Another win for Snapchat is video. While Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have all made moves in the past few years to up their video offerings, including longer Instagram videos, live-streaming on Facebook and branded long-form news and sports programming on Twitter, Snapchat has snatched up the most actual video views, with users watching an average of 8.4 short videos every time they log in. That compares with 7.1 for Twitter, 6.7 for Instagram and 6.1 for Facebook.
But Facebook’s more long-form friendliness has led it to lea the pack in terms of estimated daily time spent (more than 50 minutes per day). Individual sessions were also found to be longer on Facebook — most respondents reported Facebook sessions lasting between five and 10 minutes, while all other platforms were reported at two to five minutes.
SRG also observed the difference between monthly and daily users. Survey participants were asked if they used a social network both “last month” and “yesterday” to determine the conversion rate between monthly and daily users. This line of questioning found:
- Facebook had the highest conversion rate (0.82), with 80% checking the month before and 68% checking the day before;
- Snapchat and Instagram both boasted a conversion rate of 0.72 — 33% checked Instagram the month before and 24% checked the day before, while 25% checked Snapchat the month before and 18% checked the day before; and
- Twitter had the lowest conversion rate at 0.68, with 34% checking the month before and 23% checked the day before.
Twitter was also found to be the only male-skewing platform (if only slightly). While Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram all boasted audiences of about 46% male and 54% female, Twitter users were found to be 52% male and 48% female.
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