Global companies loof to The Nordics to gauge future consumer behaviour when it comes to tech. Facebook has by far the highest reach in the online population of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, according to an Audience Project report. On average, around two-thirds of the online population use Facebook on a daily basis.
Beyond Facebook, some interesting patterns emerge
Yet while the Nordic region has many similarities, patterns of user behaviour differ significantly between countries. The biggest outlier is Finland. There, WhatsApp is used by 69% of the online population, but it doesn’t feature in the top five in Denmark, Sweden or Norway.
Finland is also the only one of the four countries without Snapchat in the top five. Snapchat’s biggest success in the region is in Norway, where 60% of the online population use the app, more than twice that of any other Nordic country.
“Everyone talks about the Nordic, or the Scandinavian market,” says Sarah Wullf, brand manager at Retriever Denmark. “Of course, there are similarities, but it is important to remember that the Nordic market is made up of different countries, each with their own local markets. Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland have completely different users, with completely different habits, which leads to huge differences in how people behave on social media.”
What the future holds
While no other social media comes close to Facebook in terms of reach, it’s a very differnet story when looking at the usage patterns of people under 25. In both Norway and Finland, other platforms – Snapchat and Whatsapp respectively – are more popular among younger people. In Norway, 90% of the young Norwegians surveyed use Snapchat on a daily basis.