I was doing some research for a client and assembled some data about the prevalence and growth of various forms of digital usage that could be easily quantified.

Sharing some basic data here, but I found a couple of items notable.

1) Email usage is the largest, and still growing – This surprised me.  I was under the impression that email was stalling out and that all of the other platforms would overtake it.  This data would suggest differently.  Email is still very much alive.  This would confirm the feeling that a lot of us have that we’re not replacing, but augmenting the number of places where we can (or have to?) access data and interact with people.

Quantity of US-Based User Accounts (US, in Millions)

2) Instagram is growing much more rapidly than other platforms – Everyone knows that Instagram is growing rapidly, but the rate of sustained user growth is notable.  Check out YoY growth here….  Instagram is projected still be at 10%+ growth as it ends 2017.

YoY Growth Rates of US-Based Accounts

 

I’m not going to wax philosophic here and try to interpret the trends.  I just found the data interesting and thought I’d document and share.

Sources

Here are the two articles I pulled the US-based user data from:

• Instragram Continues Double Digit Growth (eMarketer)
• Number of e-mail users in the United States from 2013 to 2020 (Statista)

And here’s my Google Spreadsheet where I compiled the simple data.  Feel free to poke around, make a copy, etc.