Young prefer Snapchat and Instagram to Facebook
Use of Snapchat and Instagram overtook Facebook among young Swiss people in 2017, according the latest survey into media consumption habits in Switzerland.
The Electronic Media Interest Group (IGEM) “digiMonitorExternal link” survey found that 67% of 15-24 year olds use the photo and video sharing applications Snapchat and Instagram, while 55% use Facebook.
Facebook usage has dropped sharply since last year, down from 69% in 2016. Snapchat is still gaining in popularity, while Instagram seems to have reached a peak, according to the results published on Monday. WhatsApp instant messaging is also very popular, with only 2% of the young people surveyed not using it in 2017.
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The number of young people in Switzerland using the social networking and photo application Pinterest has doubled to 24%, the survey also found. Pinterest draws notably more female than male users.
Pinterest and Facebook are more popular in French-speaking Switzerland than in German-speaking Switzerland, but YouTube is less used in the French-speaking part.
Smartphone is king
Some 98% of young people in Switzerland use a smartphone every day, making it their number one means of communication. The smartphone has overtaken computers and tablets, which are losing popularity.
Almost all 15-24 year olds (98%) go on Internet every day, and half of them watch television and listen to radio there. Smart-watches, however, have not caught on, with only 5% of the entire Swiss population wearing one.
Another trend is the rise in applications allowing users to block advertisements on the Internet (“adblockers”). A third of the young people surveyed had installed adblockers on their devices. These blockers are a growing problem for media that are funded by Internet advertising, says IGEM.
The IGEM digiMonitor has been published every year since 2014. This 2017 survey is based on a sample of 1,757 people (1,015 in German speaking Switzerland and 742 in French speaking Switzerland), who were questioned over the phone.
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