TRENDS REPORT: JUNE 2016

Social Thinking
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Continuing our ever-evolving exploration of Digital, Social & Mobile stats and trends from around the world, we’ve rounded up results for Australia as of June 2016. However, numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. With that in mind, we enlisted Simon Kemp, our insights resource and data-driven storytelling mastermind, to help make sense of it all.




Here are a few of Kemp’s key takeaways:



  • The use of text-based chat apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, WeChat and LINE is lower in Australia than   in APAC markets and Western European countries. This may be partly due to the fact that Australian telcos have historically offered more free SMS messages in consumers’ contract bundles, so there’s less incentive for users to move to these ‘free’ OTT (over-the-top) text messaging (i.e. chat app) services.

  • Many younger Australian audiences have jumped straight into Snapchat, bypassing other text-based platforms. Again, this may be partly due to increased access to faster mobile data networks (as compared to Australia’s Asian neighbours), but it’s also partly cultural – Snapchat is well suited for young Australians’ behaviours when it comes to self-expression, humour, and interactions with peers, so its quick dominance feels natural.

  • Facebook is still a major force in Australia, which perhaps contradicts some national media reports highlighting the platform’s demise. In fact, Facebook’s month-to-month usage increased in the past quarter. However, the demographic ‘split’ of Facebook is a slightly more interesting story, with younger people (especially teenagers) checking in less frequently than they would have done even 3 or 4 years ago. Millennials still make up the largest single age range on Facebook in Australia, with people in their 20s outnumbering all ages to represent 28% of the total user base. Usage amongst older users is increasing, however, and these latest numbers suggest that men in their 40s have become the fastest-growing group of (new) Facebook users in Australia. Gender demographics remain relatively balanced, with men accounting for 47% of all Facebook users.


For more from the numbers, consult this report, and feel free share your own insights in the comments.




Digital in Australia June 2016 from We Are Social Singapore


If you’re looking for data for other countries, try our latest global reports.