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Although more and more punctures are occurring, COVID-19 is still having an impact on the economy. On our lives. And thus also on the market share of social media in the Netherlands and Europe.
And then the summer vacations are also currently in full swing. In short, therefore, the second quarter of 2021 will once again see a lot of differences in social media share.
Above all, let's not beat around the bush: check out the shifts immediately below!
Netherlands
| Netherlands | March 2021 | June 2021 |
| 67,93% | 71,23% | |
| 12,49% | 8,33% | |
| 12,59% | 13,88% | |
| 2,20% | 2,70% | |
| Youtube | 1,76% | 1,70% |
| 2,24% | 0,94% |
Facebook and Pinterest seemed to be a bit of a toss-up over the past 12 months. Then one won, then the other won again. Yet now it seems settled in Facebook's favor. Mark Zuckerberg's platform is taking market share from Pinterest for the second time in a row. And considerably so.
Maybe by now we've fixed up our gardens, remodeled our homes and our hair is back in shape. We no longer need inspiration and share the end result on Facebook and Instagram (another winner).
Also noteworthy is LinkedIn's relatively steep decline. Whereas in March it was still showing a 700% increase from a year earlier, that gain has almost disappeared like snow in the sun. Apparently, people have found jobs again and B2B companies are no longer desperate for new customers due to the improving economy.
Let's also see how it is with our eastern neighbors.
Germany
| Germany | March 2021 | June 2021 |
| 73,50% | 63,95% | |
| 11,11% | 7,81% | |
| 5,94% | 7,76% | |
| 2,99% | 3,87% | |
| Youtube | 3,78% | 4,49% |
| 0,52% | 0,42% |
Something crazy is going on in Germany. Facebook is losing a whopping 10% market share ... and it's not going to Pinterest. That one also loses 4%. Twitter, Instagram and Youtube are all up only marginally. So where did that market share go?
Answer: Tumblr.
Tumblr is a microblogging system that, with 10.52% social media market share in Germany, virtually made it the second largest channel out of nowhere.
Mistake, you might say. Especially since it only had 0.78% market share in March 2021. But if we zoom in on the data, we see that the share was already at 3% in April and 6% in May.
Why and how this came about remains a mystery. For us, anyway. Whoever knows, please tell us.
Belgium
| Belgium | March 2021 | June 2021 |
| 60,26% | 63,87% | |
| 25,36% | 17,86% | |
| 6,55% | 8,41% | |
| 3,06% | 3,69% | |
| Youtube | 2,64% | 2,77% |
| 0,22% | 0,53% |
From the east we go south. To Belgium to be exact. Here the loss of Pinterest is roughly distributed among all the other social media channels.
There is not much else to say about that. Except that it is now the third time in a row that Twitter and Instagram have gained in terms of social media market share. So it seems the need for short, quick content is growing again.
Also, you may be wondering (we are, at least) if Tumblr is used more here, too. The answer is yes, but not as much as in Germany. The market share goes from 0.61% (March 2021) to 1.57% (June 2021).
Europe
| Europe | March 2021 | June 2021 |
| 82,25% | 77,56% | |
| 6,59% | 5,47% | |
| 5,70% | 8,20% | |
| 2,20% | 3,30% | |
| Youtube | 1,79% | 2,38% |
| 0,37% | 0,37% |
Across Europe, Facebook and Pinterest social media are losing market share and Twitter, Instagram and Youtube are also gaining again. LinkedIn's share remains the same.
This makes it somewhat similar to the German trend, but moderate. Which may be true, because the Germans obviously have much more influence on these figures than the Netherlands and Belgium combined.
That would also explain why Tumblr's European share rises from 0.33% to 1.69% during this period.
UK
| Europe | March 2021 | June 2021 |
| 56,80% | 52,27% | |
| 10,50% | 7,26% | |
| 22,83% | 27,75% | |
| 4,16% | 6,68% | |
| Youtube | 2,80% | 3,06% |
| 0,82% | 0,87% |
Although the UK is no longer in the European Union, it has no trouble following European trends. At least not in terms of social media market share.
Facebook and Pinterest are caving in, while Twitter and Instagram manage to make the biggest gains relatively. So nothing new under the sun given the shifts in the other countries.
Conclusion
From all the data, we can conclude that Instagram and Twitter are the biggest winners. Their gains come at the expense of Facebook and Pinterest.
Our explanation? The sports summer. With big events (the Eurovision Song Contest, elections, etc.) you see that people quickly reach for social media channels with short content that can be quickly hurled into the world and thus is always up-to-date.
Now with the European Football Championship, the Tour de France and soon the Olympic Games, this does not seem any different. We therefore expect this increase to continue for a while, but to straighten out by the end of the year. So you know what to advertise on in the near future ;-).
Anyway, we look forward to seeing you again in a few months to see what Q3 brings!
See you then!
Source: gs.statcounter.com
Written by: Daniel Kuipers
Daniel is the founder of Online Marketing Agency. He constantly scours the Internet for the latest gadgets and tactics and blogs about them in understandable language. Well, sometimes.