How engaged is Facebook’s user base? Now with 955 million monthly active users (half of them accessing Facebook via mobile), Facebook’s Head of Audience Insights Robert D’Onofrio says that around 85% of those users are creating some form of content (AdAge).
Monthly active users on Facebook are defined as anyone who has visited Facebook via its website or mobile site, or clicked on a Facebook share button from another (third-party) site within the past month.
How does Facebook define content creation? The 85% of Facebook’s active users that ‘create content’ might be writing a status update or uploading photos/videos — or performing actions requiring less effort, including becoming a fan of something or liking a friend’s post. Messaging within Facebook and check-ins are not included as content creation.
This seems quite an impressive number compared to other social media platforms – like Twitter – where creation on the platform is largely driven by a few ‘super-users,’ rather than by the majority. D’Onofrio told AdAge that “There’s a misperception generally out there that when it comes to social media you have a minority of the users generating a majority of the content.” In Facebook’s case, the majority are participating and creating; but according to eMarketer’s Debra Aho Williamson, Facebook’s 85% is a “weird stat” since the definitely of content creation is so broad (AdAge).
Is clicking the like button really an act of content creation? Should it count as an equal measure of usage alongside posting pictures or creating status updates? What do you think?
And what about the other 15% of actively monthly users on Facebook? According to AdAge, these 135 million users are more like “lurkers,” visiting Facebook properties and clicking on different content.
