At WebFuel, we are extremely proud to be Canadian. We also love Social Media. Search & Social are, of course intertwined. So… it’s only natural for us to blog about Social Media in Canada. We have blogged on this topic in the past (with a great response).
The challenge for Canadian businesses or companies that target Canada is that there tends to be little Canada specific data available. We really had to do lots of digging for “Canadian” information. Here goes!
Social Media Use in Canada
Canadians are early adopters of the Internet. Currently, Canada ranks in the top three countries from around the world in terms of online engagement. Canadians are also global leaders in social networking usage. According to Socialnomics, 40% off our nation’s population had embraced either Facebook or Twitter by 2010. By 2012, almost half of the population had joined social media sites. What are the stats for 2013? According to a recent report from Media Technology Monitor, two out of three Canadians now use Social Media in one form or another.
Who is the Canadian Social Media King?
According to comScore’s 2013 Canada Digital Future in Focus Report, the top three Canadian social networking sites are Facebook, Twitter and then LinkedIn. Of the three, LinkedIn had the most significant growth during the past year (Q4 2011 to Q4 2012) based on total unique visitors. It’s important to note that LinkedIn recently acquired SlideShare.
Facebook in Canada
Facebook is the most popular social networking site in several English-speaking countries; including Canada. According to Facebook, there are currently more than 19 million Canadian Facebook users. That is over half the Canadian population. These new statistics were just released by the social network (and published by the Canadian Press). Canadian Facebookers include both Anglophone and Francophone audiences. Breaking down popularity by province, Ontario leads the way, followed by Quebec and then B.C. According to research from Quebec Digital Research Organization CEFRIO, Facebook is used by 66% of Quebecers who spend an average of six hours a week on the site.
Facebook Canada has offices in Toronto (November 2009), Vancouver (May 2013) and Montreal (July 2013). The Montreal office was opened “to better tap into business opportunities in Quebec”, according to the Globe & Mail. Facebook was founded in 2004.
Twitter in Canada
Twitter is another global social media site. There are over half a billion users. According to eMarketer, Twitter ranked 4th in terms of active users in Q1 2013 worldwide.
In Canada, Twitter ranks second in popularity. Tweets can be shared in English or French (more popular however with Anglophones). Twitter Canada recently opened an office in Toronto. Twitter was founded in 2006.
LinkedIn in Canada
LinkedIn hit a milestone early this year boasting more than 200 million members worldwide. Over seven million users of this professionally oriented social networking site are Canadian. The site’s interface is available in English et en français. According to ComScore, Canada is the fifth largest market in the world. The majority of Canadian visitors earn more than $75,000 per year. The most popular industry among users Finance followed by Manufacturing, and then High Tech. Which major Canadian cities has the most LinkedIn users? According to FixedSocial, Toronto is the top city followed by Vancouver, and then Montreal. Ottawa ranks 6th – with Government as the top industry (no surprise here). Their Canadian headquarters is located in Toronto, Ontario (opened in June, 2010). LinkedIn was founded in 2003.
Did You Know: LinkedIn is the best Social Networking site for lead generation.
In addition to the three most popular Social Media sites in Canada, there are also strong visitor growth rates for Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram. In terms of Google+ in Canada (which was only a few weeks old back when we blogged about it in July 2011), we are still trying to dig up country-specific stats. So… stay tuned!
Are you using the top three Social Media sites?