Technology usage across all generations from Baby Boomers to Gen X to Millennials and beyond continues to grow.
Covid accelerated digitalization and the number of active social media users has increased by 10.5%.
It became interesting for us to look at Instagram influencers in terms of their belonging to a particular generation and their features of content production.
Key Findings
Most Instagram influencers are Millennials (54%), with Gen Z in second place with 31%. Gen X and Boomers 4.9% and 0.62%, respectively.
Gen X influencers have 3 times more male influencers than women, and boomers have 5 times more male influencers than women.
Gen Z influencer followers are more active and more engaged in influencers' content. Gen X has the least ER.
Every 9th Gen X and Boomer Influencer has the blue verification Instagram checkmark. Among Gen Z, the least number of accounts is verified – only 3.15%.
The account of Vice President @kamalaharris is among the Top 5 most mentioned Instagram accounts by influencers from generations of Gen Z, Gen X, and Boomers. Millennials only have brands among the Top 5 most mentioned accounts
Distribution of Instagram Influencers by Generations
Most Instagram influencers are Millennials (54%), with Gen Z in second place with 31%. Gen X and Boomers 4.9% and 0.62%, respectively.
Gen X influencers have 3 times more male influencers than women, and boomers have 5 times more male influencers than women.
Average Engagement rate of Instagram Influencers by Generations
Gen Z influencer followers are more active and more engaged in influencers' content. Gen X has the least ER.
Instagram verification by Generations
Every 9th Gen X and Boomer Influencer has the blue verification Instagram checkmark. Among Gen Z, the least number of accounts is verified – only 3.15%.
Such a big difference suggests that among Gen X and Boomer influencers there are more public and famous people: artists, writers, and politicians. Since Gen Z and Millennials are dominated by social media personalities.
Average Audience Quality Score by Generations
Gen X and the Boomer generation have the highest average AQS scores. Gen Z has the lowest quality AQS.
Audience Quality Score (AQS) is an internal HypeAuditor metric – the result of 8 metrics that are split into 4 key categories:
Engagement Rate (ER) (% of followers who are engaged with the influencer’s content),
Active Audience Type (% of real people among influencer’s followers),
Growth (abnormal activities detected in Followers & Followings graphs),
Comments Authenticity (% of recent comments which come from accounts that don’t participate in Engagement Pods.)
It gives a general idea of the audience quality of an influencer account.
Gen Z Influencers on Instagram
Gen Z and Millennials dominate Gen Z’s subscribers. They are almost equally divided, about 48%. Gen X is only 3.4% and the number of Boomers is very insignificant – 0.2%
Millennials Influencers on Instagram
The majority of Millennial subscribers are also Millennials 55.27%. Gen Z comes in second with 39.5%. Gen X and Boomers barely gain 5% together: 4.79% for Gen X and 0.44% for Boomers.
Gen X Influencers on Instagram
The majority of Gen X’s subscribers are Millennials (59.61%). Gen Z is slightly less – 31.94%. Gen X and Boomers 7.27% and 1.18% respectively.
Boomers Influencers on Instagram
Boomers also have a majority of Millennials subscribers – 58.37%. Gen Z is almost two times less – 29.9%. And the largest number of Gen X and Boomers among all generations – 9.74% and 1.99%, respectively.