There are 4,8 billion social media users worldwide, representing 59,9% of the world's population and 92,7% of all Internet users. Those who use social media use an average of 6,7 different networks each month, spending an average of 2 hours and 24 minutes a day.
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Despite the popularity of social media, however, the apps they use can quickly fall out of favor with users. Sometimes, influencers and celebrities can trigger a wave of social media app deletions—for example, when Kylie Jenner announced on Twitter in 2018 that she was deleting Snap.chat, this bored tweet knocked more than $1 billion off Snap Inc.’s market value in one of the company’s worst trading days. Other times, social media apps can be mass-deleted due to scandals and controversies. A third scenario is when a new social platform initially generates excitement and curiosity among users, but then experiences a massive churn a few months later.
In TRGDataCenters decided to use data from Statista to compile a ranking of social network applications that have fallen out of favor the most over the past year. To compile the ranking, they used a list of the most popular social networks in the world, focusing on those that have the highest number of users and are available in the most countries. They then analyzed how many times the phrase "How to delete account on XY" was searched for in the last 12 months.
According to TRGDataCenters, people wanted to delete Instagram very often - in 2023, more than 1 million people worldwide searched for a password every month "how to delete (your) instagram account". That’s more than 12 people for every 500 people in the world. Instagram originally served as a purely photo-based social network. Over time, it has developed new features to keep up with consumers and competitors, including Stories (to compete with Snapchatat the time of its launch), videos, live streaming, and shopping. All of these additions have changed the original purpose of the app, which was to share photos. It is also increasingly becoming a place for influencer careers, which means that many people's feeds contain #ad, which could be seen as negatively impacting the user experience.
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Despite this, the app still boasts 2 billion users worldwide. But if a million people continue to seek to delete their accounts every month, Instagram's bubble could burst, potentially changing its face within a year. Snap followedchat, which was first launched in 2011. Last year, I created my account on Snapchatu wanted to delete nearly 130 people per month. And while that's significantly less than Instagram, it's still a large portion of its 000 million users. Snapchat is known more as a space where young social media users from Generation Z have fled in the hope of escaping their parents, who are now more on Instagram and Facebooku.
Who are the people who want Snap?chat leave, and why? According to Statista, 13-17 year olds make up 20% of this demographic, but the peak is 18-24 year olds at 38,8%. 25-34 year olds make up 22,8%, and adults 35-49 make up 13,8%. Snapchat However, it has seen a significant increase in viewership in recent years. In 2022, the number of Snap userschatincreased by more than 123% compared to the number of users in 2018. Based on this, it is likely that it is people in older demographics who are looking for and deciding to delete their accounts.
Times are changing, and so are social networks
Based on these facts and figures, it can be seen how social media is constantly changing and as the number of users increases, so does the need to store, process and manage large amounts of data.
According to 2021 data, Twitter, Meta and TikTok accounted for the 11 largest wholesale multi-tenant data center leases signed that year. Additionally, TikTok's first European data center in Dublin went live in late 2022, and Meta also announced a $1,1 billion project in Spain to complement existing facilities in Sweden and Ireland.
So why are social media channels investing so heavily in data centers and how do they work in sync with each other?
Storage of user data: Social media platforms collect vast amounts of user-generated content such as photos, videos, posts, and personal information. Data centers provide the infrastructure to securely and reliably store this information.
Traffic processing: As the relevant data shows, there is huge traffic every day, with millions or even billions of users accessing and interacting with the platforms simultaneously. Data centers contain servers and network devices that can manage and process these high volumes of requests and data.
Ensuring availability: Data centers help ensure that the social media platform is available and responsive around the clock. Redundant and backup systems must be used to prevent outages and maintain service continuity.
Security: The data center will have robust security measures in place to protect user data from intrusions, cyber attacks and unauthorized access. This includes physical security, encryption, firewalls, and other necessary cybersecurity protocols.
Processing and analysis: Social media platforms use data centers to process and analyze user data. This analysis helps in improving the user experience, providing personalized content and targeted advertising.
Compliance and Regulation: In many regionsoneThere are specific data protection laws that social media companies must comply with. Data centers play a critical role in ensuring compliance with these regulations by securely managing and storing user data.
Data centers essentially act as the backbone of social media networks, providing the infrastructure necessary to store, process, secure, and manage the vast amounts of data generated and consumed by these platforms.