Social media usage in Switzerland: winter blues on social networks?

Four times a year, we provide an overview of user numbers on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. This allows us to compare the channels and gain an even better insight into target groups on social media.

In the new year, we are once again analysing the development of social media user numbers. In addition to Facebook, we are now also looking at Instagram and LinkedIn. Our findings so far: the Swiss population is continuing to take a cautious approach to social media in winter. Both Facebook and Instagram have significantly fewer users than in the third quarter of 2024. On Facebook, the decline over the last three months was 4.17% (almost 115,000 users), while on Instagram it was almost as high at 3.79%. However, due to the higher numbers, the percentage there actually represents more than 158,000 users.

Decline in all segments – not least among young people

Not a single age segment analyzed on Facebook and Instagram grew in the fourth quarter of 2024. But the decline in the last three months also shows which age segments are loyal to the platforms. On Facebook, the 20-29 segment lost the highest share at 7.48%, while the 60+ segment lost the smallest share of the total at 1.34%. The numbers show that the older the segment, the smaller the loss. The exception is the 18-19 year-old segment, which, however, is not relevant for Facebook due to the low number of users in this age group.
A similar picture emerges on Instagram. The younger the segment, the greater the decline. This was particularly evident in the 18-19 year old segment, where 26,800 users (more than 15%) no longer logged into Instagram in the fourth quarter. And in the 20-29 year old segment, the decline was 7.14%. Across both platforms, it is clear that younger target groups are declining more significantly.

Despite the declines, the proportions between Facebook and LinkedIn remained roughly the same. The percentage proportions of the individual segments in relation to the total also remained similar on both platforms. It is still the case that on Facebook around 60% of users are older than 40, while on Instagram around 60% are younger than 40.

LinkedIn remains stable – business first…

In contrast to Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn was able to maintain the number of users compared to the third quarter of 2024. And in contrast to other platforms, the number of users in the youngest segment (18-24 years) also increased by 20,000. We will see in upcoming analyses whether LinkedIn is becoming more relevant for younger target groups or whether the numbers will decrease again.

Facebook the same as in summer

Since the new regulations on meta in the summer, the number of users on Facebook has only decreased by 0.37 %. So, in the last six months, there has been a fairly consistent number of people in Switzerland on the platform. Only September had more than 2.7 million users. In previous years, the numbers increased at the start of a new year. Will the curve also point upwards at the beginning of 2025?

Conclusion

We have already seen in recent years that Facebook usage drops in winter – and now Instagram is also confirming this trend. In particular, young users up to the age of 30 have been logging in less in recent months. So is Instagram also losing young people or can this decline be explained by the usual fluctuations? We are looking forward to the first analysis in 2025 and our prediction for the new year is that the negative trend will be confirmed and that young people in particular will tire of social media or devote their time to other platforms.

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