Social networks: more private than business

Social networks are mainly used for private purposes.The use of social networks such as Facebook, Google+, Xing and LinkedIn has increased compared to last year: from 48.3% to 51.3%. Today, 3.4 million people in Switzerland use such platforms - the vast majority (70%) are so-called heavy users and log into social networks daily or almost daily. Three quarters spend their time on Facebook & Co. reading and viewing other people's profiles and posts. Seven out of ten users also use the platforms to send and receive personal messages. On the other hand, professional networking online is carried out by a minority: one in ten Swiss, or 700,000 people, use Xing, LinkedIn etc. They read profiles and posts from groups or organizations almost as often as posts from other users. Men enjoy virtual professional networking more than women - they are heavily overrepresented with a ratio of 7 to 3.Top smartphoneIt seems that social networks are often visited while on the move on the train, bus or while waiting, as three quarters of users access them on their smartphone. 7 out of 10 also prefer a larger screen for browsing, liking and commenting and use a laptop or desktop PC for this. A tablet is also regularly used by over 40 percent or 1.4 million users when visiting Facebook, Xing & Co. The two device categories of smart TV and MP3 player fall far behind, with only 1.3 percent and 1.0 percent of users respectively using them from time to time to surf social networks. Social network users are mostly multi-device users: two thirds use three or more devices. Only around 7 percent (= 250 thousand users) access the web with just one device.