Millennials aren’t shy about promoting what they like.
According to a June 2014 study by ShareThis, 25% of US millennial internet users shared digital content via social, with an average four shares per week—3.6 times and 2.1 times more than the total online population, respectively.
In a word, when Millennials see interesting content, they itch to broadcast it via social networks in numbers greater than other demographics.
Where to share?
Millennials like Facebook, the group’s primary social channel for sharing (55 percent). But Millennials — among the most savvy surfers, were more likely than total internet users to post on additional platforms. For example, Twitter and Pinterest each grabbed 10 percent of content shares by Millennials (that compares to 7 percent for Twitter and 5 percent for Pinterest among total web users).
“Shares by Millennials do more than take up space on friends’ feeds—they influence purchases, too,” contends eMarketer. “ShareThis reported that millennials were more likely than older generations to make a purchase based on content shared by one of their peers on social. Two-thirds of 18- to 34-year-olds were at least somewhat likely to do so, compared with 53 percent of those ages 35 to 44.”
But, take note: social commentary and personal recommendations are growing influential among all age groups when it comes to purchasing and consumption decisions.
“However, just because social influences purchases doesn’t mean those transactions take place online,” eMarketer concludes. “In fact, CivicScience found that those influenced most by social media chatter were most likely to make the majority of their purchases in-store. Fully 23 percent split their buys between the physical and digital worlds, while the same percentage were almost completely online-only.”