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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

Note: This blog is based on the Digital 2023 Global Overview Report – produced in partnership with Meltwater and We Are Social. See Simon Kemp's article about The Changing World of Digital in 2023. Download the Global Digital Report 2024 and the Global Digital Report 2023 for free.

If there's one thing you can count on in social media its that it will be constantly evolving and changing. We recently released our most comprehensive digital trends report to date in partnership with We Are Social and Simon Kemp (world renowned data analyst). With this report, you can find out what your digital strategies are missing and help you make data-led decisions for your campaigns and marketing initiatives going forward.

How many people use social media in the UK?

Main reasons for using social media in the UK

Most used social media platforms in the UK

Time spent using social media apps in the UK

Summary: Outstanding insights into the UK digital landscape

In this blog, we feature the key social media insights for the United Kingdom and a deep dive into the social media usage of each platform. Although this blog covers 2023 social media insights for the United Kingdom, you can also compare statistics from 2015 for the UK here. All UK social media usage statistics detailed in this blog are from the start of 2023.

Tip: Take a look at other general social media statistics if you are interested in this topic

To understand the statistics for each social media platform, we need to build a foundation of data around the overall usage of the internet compared to the general population:

UK total population was 67.62 million, an increase of 0.3% compared to 2022

UK gender divide: 50.6 percent is female, while 49.4 percent of the population is male*

Geographical factors: 84.5 percent of the United Kingdom’s population lived in urban centres, while 15.5 percent lived in rural areas

The median age of the United Kingdom’s population is 40.0

Total internet users in the UK was 66.11 million, analysis indicates that internet users in the UK increased by 224 thousand (+0.3 percent) between 2022 and 2023.

*Note: gender data are currently only available for “female” and “male”.

While these numbers offer an excellent snapshot of the make up of the UK's population to understand how the adoption of the internet and social media usage is increasing, we need to take a deeper dive into what those statistics actually mean in terms of online behaviours and how it impacts your digital strategies in the UK for 202

There were 57.10 million social media users in the United Kingdom in January 2023.

Compared to previous years, in almost all countries and particularly in the UK, social media use continues to increase.

More broadly, 86.4 percent of the United Kingdom’s total internet user base (regardless of age) used at least one social media platform in January 2023. Now that we know the overall internet and social media usage in the UK, let's break it down per social media platform to truly understand where you should be focusing your social media strategies based on your target audience.

There are many reasons why people use social media in the UK.

At the top of the chart is keeping in touch with friends and family, showing us that social media is still a truly "social" experience for most people but one of the most interesting findings is the 4th line representing 22.2% are using social media in the UK to find inspiration for things to do and buy.

Tip: Take a look at our social commerce blog to find out how to leverage these findings for your marketing strategy.

Whatsapp and Facebook lead the pack in terms of the most used social media platforms in the UK.

Surprisingly, TikTok doesn't fall into the top 5 most used social media platforms despite it being the fastest-growing social media platform.

Tip: Learn How To Use WhatsApp for Business, and find out more about WhatsApp Broadcast.

Although TikTok wasn't in the top 5 most-used social media platforms in the UK, the time spent on the platform is staggering.

The report states that UK users, on average, are spending more than 27 hours per month on the platform. While the other 4 platforms experienced a decrease in time spent on the platform per month.

The statistics do show, however, that video-based platforms have the most time spent on them over the more traditional social platforms.

So let's break it down and look into each platform.

Facebook: Advertising audience overview in the UK

YouTube: Advertising audience overview in the UK

Instagram: Advertising audience overview in the UK

TikTok: Advertising audience overview in the UK

Linkedin: Advertising audience overview in the UK

Snapchat: Advertising audience overview in the UK

Twitter: Advertising audience overview in the UK

Pinterest: Advertising audience overview in the UK

Potential ad reach on the platform decreased by 1.9 percent between 2022 and 2023

54.1 percent of Facebook’s ad audience was female, while 45.9 percent was male

However, even though this showed a slight decrease in the ad reach on the platform, Meta has caveated this by stating “Estimated audience size is not a proxy for monthly or daily active users, or for engagement. Estimates aren’t designed to match population, census estimates or other sources, and may differ depending on factors such as how many accounts across Meta technologies a person has, how many temporary visitors are in a particular geographic location at a given time, and Meta user-reported demographics.”

As a result, changes in ad reach may not necessarily indicate any change in the platform’s overall user base. But despite these caveats, Meta’s ad reach data still offers valuable insights into how Facebook use is evolving.

Tip: Check out our Facebook Management Guide, learn how to create a Facebook Business Page, and check out some helpful Facebook Marketing Tips

Youtube: Advertising audience overview in the UK

YouTube ads reached 86.4 percent of the UK’s total internet user base (regardless of age)

50.2 percent of YouTube’s ad audience was female, while 49.8 percent was male

YouTube’s potential ad reach decreased by 0.9 percent between the start of 2022 and early 2023

Tip: Check out all the YouTube statistics you need to know.

Instagram users and statistics in the UK:

Instagram’s ad reach was equivalent to 43.5 percent of the local internet user base (regardless of age)

56.4 percent of Instagram’s ad audience was female, while 43.6 percent was male.

Potential ad reach decreased by 9.4 percent between 2022 and 2023.

Tip: Check out more Instagram statistics you need to know.

19.66 million TikTok users in the UK
TikTok’s ad reach was equivalent to 29.7 percent of the local internet user base (regardless of age)

53.5 percent of TikTok’s ad audience was female, while 46.5 percent was male

TikTok’s potential ad reach in the United Kingdom decreased by 9.9 percent between the start of 2022 and early 2023. However, figures indicate that the potential reach of ads on TikTok in the United Kingdom actually increased by 1.9 million (+10.9 percent) between October 2022 and January 2023, suggesting that reach may have fallen between January 2022 and October 2022.

Tip: Check out more TikTok statistics you need to know and stay on top of TikTok trends.

35 million LinkedIn “members” in the UK

LinkedIn’s ad reach in the UK was equivalent to 52.9 percent of the local internet user base (regardless of age)

43.8 percent of LinkedIn’s ad audience was female, while 56.3 percent was male

LinkedIn’s potential ad reach in the United Kingdom increased by 2.9 percent between 2022 and 2023.

Tip: Check out our full guide to LinkedIn management to make the most out of this channel.

UK Social Media Statistics [Updated 2023]

As UAE embraces the digital transformation in the region, social media remains no exception. Rapidly becoming the way of life for people in Dubai, understanding the array of social platforms is essential in making market headway in the region.

With a soaring 10 million social media users in the region, your business needs to understand the space in terms of user trends, behaviours, demographics and much more to engage with your audience and drive your return on investment (ROI).

To get you started, this blog features all the UAE social media statistics 2023 that will help you to win your social media strategy.

Tip: We also have more general social media statistics for you. Also, take a look at the media landscape in the UAE.

The Key Demographics: Who is your Social Media Audience in the UAE?

Breakdown of social media usage in UAE by platform

The Future: UAE Social Media's Future in 2023 and Beyond

It’s simple when your business knows who is likely to buy from you, you will most likely try to understand what’s important to them. Their preferences and where they are readily available to engage with your brand and your products will become a central focus for you.

The comprehensive digital report by Meltwater and We are social reports that in the UAE, there are 9.6 million internet users, with most having access to at least one of the social media channels.

The average daily time spent on social media in the UAE is 2 hours and 33 minutes, which we believe is enough for your business to make an impression.

With such potential opportunities, there’s a lot to discover about who are the users on social media and how much they resonate with your targetted audience.

Reasons for Using Social Media in the UAE

The five main reasons for why people in the UAE use social media are:

Keeping in touch with friends and family - 46.8%

Finding inspiration for things to do and buy - 30.4%

69.6 % of social media users in the UAE are Male

Gender preferences have always been a critical aspect of a winning social media strategy. 

Keeping that social media users in the UAE are predominantly male, businesses can tailor their marketing efforts to better appeal to this audience.

This could involve creating content that resonates with male interests, developing targeted ad campaigns, or using social media platforms with more male users, such as Twitter or Linkedln.

9.75 million users aged 18 and above using social media

The 9.75 million social media users in UAE aged 18 and above represent a broad range of consumer preferences, interests, and behaviours. It is a testament to the popularity of social media in the country and the fact that the UAE witnesses a more mature digital audience.

This means using social media to reach customers where they are most active and taking advantage of the unique features that each social media platform offers.

Now that we have covered the demographics Let’s narrow down to the top statistics for each social media platform.

Your social media strategy can only go right if you know which platform works best for your business, drives results, and meets your unique goals set for social media.

This is why it’s essential to know where your business’s investment should be at.

To help you learn more about what is happening in each platform, here are some channel-specific statistics for the UAE to help you focus your efforts on the right channel.

Most used social media platforms in the UAE

These are the most used social media platforms in the UAE:

Facebook: Advertising audience overview in the UAE

Total Facebook users in the UAE: 7.30 Million  

Potential ad reach increase between 2022 and 2023 is 100,000 (+1.4%)

Decrease in ad reach between October 2022 and January 2023: 750,000 (-9.3%)

Facebook adoption in the UAE is 77.0% of the total population and 88.9% of the eligible audience

Facebook's ad reach in the UAE as a %age of the local internet user base is 77.8%

Gender breakdown of Facebook's ad audience in the UAE: 26.9% female and 73.1% male.

Instagram: Advertising audience overview in the UAE

Total Instagram users in the UAE are 4.95 million

Instagram ad reach as a %age of the total population: 52.2%

Instagram adoption in the UAE: 60.3% of the eligible (13+ age) audience

Instagram's ad reach in the UAE as a %age of the local internet user base: 52.7%

Gender breakdown of Instagram's ad audience in the UAE: 35.4% female and 64.6% male

Potential ad reach decrease between 2022 and 2023: 300,000 (-5.7%)

Quarterly decrease in ad audience size between October 2022 and January 2023: 400,000 (-7.5%)

TikTok: Advertising audience overview in the UAE

Total TikTok users in the UAE are 8.23 million users aged 18 and above 

TikTok ads reached 105% of all adults aged 18 and above 

TikTok's ad reach was equivalent to 87.7% of the local internet user base at the beginning of the year, regardless of age.

25.8% of TikTok’s UAE ad audience was female, while 74.2% was male

TikTok's potential ad reach in the UAE increased by 1.5 million (+22.5%) between the start of 2022 and early 2023

The potential reach of ads on TikTok in the UAE decreased by 21,000 (-0.3%) between October 2022 and January 2023, as per figures.

Snapchat: Advertising audience overview in the UAE

Total Snapchat users in the UAE: 4 million

Snapchat's ad reach in the UAE was equivalent to 42.2% of the total population and 42.6% of the local internet user base, regardless of age.

48.7% of the "eligible" audience in the UAE used Snapchat in 2023, as the platform restricts its use to people aged 13 and above.

43.9% of Snapchat's ad audience in the UAE was female, while 55.5 % was male, according to data published in Snap's advertising resources.

Snapchat's potential ad reach increased by 750 thousand (+23.1 %) between the start of 2022 and early 2023

The number of users that marketers could reach with ads on Snapchat in the United Arab Emirates increased by 400 thousand (+11.1 %) between October 2022 and January 2023, according to the same data.

Twitter: Advertising audience overview in the UAE

Twitter had 3.05 million users in the UAE in early 2023.

Twitter’s ad reach in the UAE was equivalent to 32.2 % of the total population.

Twitter’s ad reach in the UAE was equivalent to 32.5 % of the local internet user base (regardless of age) at the start of the year.

37.1 % of the “eligible” audience will use Twitter in 2023.

33.2 % of Twitter’s ad audience in the UAE was female, while 66.8 % was male.

UAE Social Media Statistics [Updated 2023]

As marketers, one of our most crucial tasks is defining the audience and target market we're trying to reach. It's the foundation to all elements of a marketing strategy, from development right through to the promotion of a product or service. 

Brands are forever seeking new and innovative ways to target these audiences, as behaviors continue to change with the speed of the web. Modern research has offered a new perspective to help understand these changing consumer behaviors, through a social context that we’ll be discussing shortly.

In this post, we want to help the modern marketer decipher terminology around consumer audiences, introduce the concept of tribes and explain the added value behind targeting them.

Meltwater's vision for tribes and influencer marketing

The marketing world has been exposed to terms such as brand communities, consumer tribes, and tribal marketing for some time thanks to marketing gurus like Seth Godin.

Traditionally, global brands have focused on building customer communities. This term describes a targeted demographic of like-minded, trait-sharing consumers that identify with their brand and its values.

One example is the motorbike brand, Harley Davidson. It was able to form a cult-like following of loyal customers that identify with the lifestyle experience it sells. The ‘average target consumer’ is a married white male, in his early 50s, with an income of around $90,000 dollars, investing in a motorcycle to fulfill his passion for the lifestyle. The company is synonymous with a sense of branded community and is world-renowned for its ‘brotherhood’ of riders.

Then comes tribes. On the surface, this concept appears to be similar to customer communities but the focus instead, lies on the relationship among consumers sharing common traits. 

Tribal marketing addresses consumers through a social context. It caters to our need as people to build and associate with consumption-focused groups called ‘tribes’, that are emotionally connected through their similar consumption values.

The Meltwater Blog

UK Social Media Statistics [Updated 2023]

UAE Social Media Statistics [Updated 2023]

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