'Stories' most favored content on social media: Survey

Taipei, Nov. 7 (CNA) A survey conducted by the Institute for Information Industry's Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC) released Thursday showed that "stories" are the most favored kind of content on communications apps and social media.

In this context, "stories" refers to content on Instagram or Facebook that can only be viewed for 24 hours. They can appear in the form of short videoclips, graphics, pictures, text or a combination of these different elements.

After stories, which were preferred by 37 percent of respondents, videos clips came next with 34 percent, followed by live videos with 26.1 percent, text with 25.7 percent, and 2D pictures, photos and graphs with 25 percent.

The rankings and percentages of text and pictures both fell from the previous year, the MIC said.

The survey showed that young groups between the ages 18-25 and 26-35 showed a strong preference for "stories," with 55 and 46 percent, respectively.

A significant gap between the use of social media by different generations was also revealed in the survey.

The 18-25 age group used Instagram significantly more than average, and over 60 percent frequently used YouTube and Instagram.

Facebook use was divided around the age of 35, with user frequency lower than 60 percent in younger groups and people aged 36-65 using it at a frequency of 75 percent, according to the report.

Overall, the most used social media platforms in Taiwan are Facebook (70%), YouTube (53%), Instagram (34%), PTT (11%) and Dcard (9%).

As to graphic and text advertisements on social media, more than half of internet users said they preferred content that can be read within one minute. They secondly preferred advertisements with under ten keywords, MIC industry analyst Hung Chi-ya (洪齊亞) said.

Hung said that the reasons for using social media have changed. "Watching entertaining content" has replaced "following and interacting with friends and family" as the No. 1 reason. The third highest cited reason, "obtaining news information," also rose in percentage.

This indicates that the core function of social media has gradually transitioned from social interaction to comprehensive information acess, said Hung.

As for communications applications, the top two used by Taiwanese users are Line (87%) and Messenger (24%), according to the MIC report.

Hung noted that these apps are increasingly evolving into tools for consumer activities, expanding their role beyond simple messaging.

While the main use for these applications remains contacting friends and family (76%), the percentage fell from last year. Meanwhile, their consumption-related functions, including mobile payment, receiving and browsing information, shopping, mobile membership, and points collection, has increased, Hung said.

The report was conducted during the fourth quarter of 2023, with 1,068 valid samples, a confidence level of 95 percent and a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, according to the MIC.