Gen Z social media profile privacy and multiple accounts in the UK 2020

A survey conducted in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2020 among teenagers and young adults asked participants whether they had a public or private social media profile. Slightly over half reported having a public profile, while only 17.5 percent had made theirs private. 30 percent of respondents however claimed to have a mix of both public and private social media profiles. This relatively high level of trust when it came to social media can perhaps be explained by a 2019 survey, where 88 percent of respondents in the UK claimed they had never been a victim of social media or email account hacking before.

Facebook and WhatsApp lead in the UK

Among the leading social media platforms, Facebook emerged as the most frequently used among young adults aged 18 to 24 years old in the UK. Nearly 50 percent of all respondents cited the social media giant as the app they reached for most often. The second most used app within this age group in the UK was WhatsApp. In contrast, only two percent used Twitter the most.

Social media – the new marketing trend

As social media becomes more and more integrated into our daily lives, brands have been taking note. Social media marketing is a fast growing industry and spend on social media advertising by corporations has been on the rise each year. What began as a nationwide spend of merely 0.27 billion British pounds in 2011 had risen to 3.04 billion British pounds by 2018. According to an annual survey, roughly 70 percent of teenagers aged 12 to 15 already have at least one social media account.