The Friday Five: 5B People on Social Media, Threads Beats X in Downloads, and a New Core Web Vital Is Coming

Welcome to The Friday Five, your weekly dose of insights from the worlds of marketing, technology, and social media!

We're thrilled to kick off this edition with a roundup of intriguing developments that have been making waves in the digital sphere.

From the latest statistics on social media usage to the emergence of new metrics shaping SEO strategies, we've got an exciting lineup in store for you.

So, sit back, relax, and let's dive into this week's edition of The Friday Five!

1. Five Billion People Now On Social Media Says New Report

The teams at We Are Social and Meltwater have unveiled their latest Digital 2024 report that shows there are now over 5 billion active social media users.

This huge number is equivalent to 62.3% of the world’s population and is enjoying a yearly growth rate of 5.6%.

The report reveals that the average social media user now spends 2 hours and 23 minutes daily across 6.7 platforms, with TikTok leading in average time spent per Android user at 34 hours per month.

Instagram has overtaken WhatsApp as the 'favourite' platform, capturing 16.5% of users aged 16 to 64.

Key highlights include increased internet usage, Facebook's notable ad reach growth, and substantial rises in digital ad spend and influencer investment.

Moreover, the report examines TikTok trends, highlighting the dominance of dog-related content over cats across Instagram and TikTok.

Visit Marketing Tech News for more.

2. Threads Outpaces X With Three Times the Downloads

Threads, the microblogging app by Meta, has surged ahead in the alt-Twitter competition, outpacing X (formerly Twitter) with triple the daily downloads on iOS.

Threads' ascent to dominance followed its 2023 launch, with a significant spike in installs. Initially, downloads fluctuated as Meta employed strategies to boost traffic, but Threads has now solidified its lead, consistently surpassing X's daily downloads on both iOS and Google Play.

Recent data from Appfigures illustrates Threads' momentum, with over half a million daily installs on both platforms.

On February 25, Threads recorded 486,803 Google Play and 342,228 iOS installs, compared to X's 225,408 and 112,625, respectively.

Despite X's claim of 500 million monthly active users, its rebranding from Twitter may have impacted new installs.

Threads' revenue saw a slight increase in January, while X's downloads remained below pre-rebranding levels.

Decentralized alternatives like Mastodon and Bluesky have struggled to gain traction, with limited impact on the competition between Threads and X.

The team at TechCrunch has more.

3. Say Hi, to INP! Google Introducing New Core Web Vital

INP (Interaction to Next Paint) is set to replace FID (First Input Delay) in Google's Core Web Vitals metrics starting March 12, 2024.

This transition signifies a shift towards a more comprehensive evaluation of user experience. Unlike FID, which solely focuses on the first interaction, INP analyses all interactions on a web page, offering a more accurate depiction of interactivity and responsiveness.

Why does INP matter for SEO? Well, because Google prioritises high-quality web pages with seamless user experiences. Therefore, improving INP can enhance search rankings, driving organic traffic and boosting visibility.

As part of Google's Core Web Vitals, INP joins LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) and CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) in evaluating user experience. Google recommends an INP score of less than 200 milliseconds for optimal performance, with scores above 500 milliseconds indicating poor responsiveness.

Improving INP and Core Web Vitals involves various strategies, including lazy loading of images, resource file optimisation and asynchronous loading.

By prioritising user-centric design and implementing effective optimisation strategies, websites can exceed user expectations, leading to improved INP scores and overall business success.

For more on this new Core Web Vitals metric visit Lumar (formerly Deepcrawl) .

4. Enthusiasm For AI Among Marketers, Though Skills Lack

A recent report by Braze, a customer engagement specialist, highlights the UK's enthusiastic adoption of AI among marketers, with 92% eagerly embracing this transformative technology.

However, despite this enthusiasm, the report exposes a significant challenge: 52% of marketers identify a lack of data skills among their teams as a key hindrance to effectively leveraging AI for customer engagement, characterising it as an AI skills "crisis".

The study reveals that UK marketers are actively integrating AI into various essential tasks, such as real-time strategy optimisation (53%), creative idea generation (50%), task automation (49%), data analysis enhancement (49%), personalised campaign messaging (46%), and predictive analytics (43%).

Yet, 57% of respondents cite difficulties in collaborating with internal data scientists or business intelligence teams who lack an understanding of marketing priorities.

As 70% of marketers aim to tap into the power of generative AI in 2024, ensuring a robust understanding of AI's capabilities and limitations becomes paramount to navigating the evolving landscape effectively.

Marketing Beat goes deeper on this story here.

5. Misalignment Between Marketing Goals and Business Objectives Says New Report

Walker Sands' report on Outcome-based Marketing reveals a significant shift in focus towards business objectives among marketing leaders.

While nearly 90% of leaders prioritise business objectives more today than five years ago, the report uncovers a critical disconnect: only about a quarter initiate the planning process by identifying desired business outcomes.

This misalignment poses challenges for B2B marketers striving to achieve results that contribute to business success, especially amidst ongoing transitions like remote work, the Great Resignation, and economic uncertainties.

The report highlights the intensified pressure on marketing teams to demonstrate their contributions to key business outcomes, with 98% of senior business decision-makers emphasising this compared to 2019.

Key findings from the report include the struggle of marketing teams to understand and demonstrate the impact of their activities on business success, as reported by 74% and 86% of C-suite executives, respectively.

Moreover, while 87% of marketers prioritise overarching business objectives, the majority (73%) still adopt a channel-first approach, focusing on specific marketing channels and KPIs before connecting them to desired outcomes.

This story can be found over at Marketing Tech News.

And there you have it, folks! Another week, another edition of The Friday Five comes to a close.

We hope you found the insights shared today both informative and interesting. Stay tuned next week for more updates on the latest trends and developments shaping the world of marketing and technology.

Have a great weekend, we'll see you next Friday!