©Mark Ollig
Periodically,
I take the pulse of popular online social media networks.
I
also like to stay informed on the number of wireless phones being used on the
planet.
OK,
I know what some of you are thinking.
Folks,
there’s no need to be envious; all of us are on a learning cycle when it comes
to phones without cords and virtual online associations.
But,
I digress.
For
the most up-to-date statistical data, I usually turn to the reliable
researchers at Statista.
“Statista
– The portal for statistics,” reads the banner statement on their website.
Employing
more than 550 people, Statista performs in-depth social media and consumer data
research for its clients throughout the world.
More
than 12 million consumers have visited Statista’s website this month; yours
truly, was one of them.
So,
without further ado, let’s move on to this week’s impressive numbers.
Currently,
the US has 209 million people regularly participating in social media networks,
such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
This
number represents 64 percent of our current estimated population of 326
million.
The
country with the highest population-use of social media is China, which boasts
nearly 596 million users, or 42.5 percent of its estimated population of 1.4
billion.
South
Korea has 44 million people actively using various online social media sites.
This represents 86 percent of the country’s population, which is estimated at
51 million.
Following
celebrity Instagram accounts is something many online social media users
participate in.
The
popular Instagram (owned by Facebook) online social networking platform is
frequently used for posting photos and videos to friends, family, and
followers.
As
of June, Instagram had 105 million users within the US.
Globally,
1 billion people regularly post their videos and photos onto Instagram each
month.
I’ve
listed the most popular celebrity Instagram accounts as of Oct. 16, and the
number of followers for each:
Selena
Gomez: 144 million;
Cristiano
Ronaldo: 143.5 million;
Ariana
Grande: 131.2 million;
Kim
Kardashian: 119.2 million;
Beyoncé:
119 million;
Dwayne
Johnson (The Rock): 118.1 million;
Kylie
Jenner: 117 million;
Taylor
Swift: 112.4 million; and
Justin
Bieber: 102.5 million.
The
top-ranked countries using Instagram, including individual user accounts are:
US:
120 million;
India:
67 million;
Brazil:
63 million;
Indonesia:
59 million;
Turkey:
36 million;
Russia:
33 million;
Japan:
24 million;
United
Kingdom: 23 million;
Mexico:
21 million; and
Italy:
18 million.
Twitter,
one of the most widely-used social media networks, currently has 335 million
users.
Facebook,
the world’s most popular social media networking platform, presently has 2.23
billion users.
Worldwide,
more than 50 percent of all wireless mobile cellphones are feature-enhanced
smartphones.
By
the end of 2019, as 5G wireless technology is being widely deployed, it is
predicted there will be 2.7 billion smartphone users.
Today,
the leading smartphone makers are Apple and Samsung.
In
2017, Samsung sold more than 321 million Galaxy smartphones, while Apple sold
nearly 215 million of their smartphones called iPhones.
When
adding all other smartphone makers, the total number of smartphones sold
worldwide in 2017 was 1.5 billion.
Statista
reports during the second quarter of this year, 88 percent of every smartphone
sold throughout the world contains the Android OS (operating system).
Apple
iPhone’s OS is called an iOS, and its market share averages between 14 and 21
percent.
The
Android OS was commercially launched by Google in 2008, while the Apple iOS was
released in 2007, with their iPhone.
Currently,
3.8 million smartphone apps (application programs) are available for Android
operating system users, while Apple iOS owners can choose among 2 million apps.
The
total number of “non-smart” mobile phones (basic cellphone services) owned by
folks throughout the world stands at 4.5 billion, which represents 63 percent
of the world’s population.
China,
alone, has an estimated 1.4 billion mobile phone users.
The
smartphone I currently use is a 4-year-old Droid Turbo with the Android 6.0.1
OS.
I
plan on purchasing a new smartphone soon, and will keep you informed on this
grand adventure in a future column.
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| In memory of Therese M. Ollig 1930-2018 |