Some 94% of Danish people have a profile on at least one social media account, a new study by Ingeniørforeningen (IDA), the Danish association of engineers, has found.
More than half (57%) of Danish adults are active on three social media platforms, the study, which was carried out among 2,000 Danish consumers, found.
Facebook is the number one used social media by Danes, with 85% of the population having an account. Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat follow in second, third and fourth places, respectively.
Danes turn to Facebook
As the study found, the majority of Danes use Facebook for more than socialising – seeking information from local associations, educational institutions, and leisure groups.
“Facebook is Denmark’s digital community centre, where all types of associations communicate with their members,” commented Jørn Guldberg, IT security expert at IDA, who warned that consumers and organisations alike need to be vigilant when using social media.
“Your personal data can be vacuumed up and resold for all sorts of other purposes,” he added. “You pay with your privacy to use Facebook, and that is deeply problematic. Therefore, neither associations nor public authorities should communicate on Facebook.”
He added that society has “sleepwalked into the tech giants’ web of algorithms”, without giving due consideration to the harm that this may cause, particularly for children and young people.
Logging off
At the same time, the study also shows a noticeable decline in the popularity of platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok over the past two years, with more than a third (35%) having left X over the past two years, and 27% departing TikTok.
Guldberg associates the X exodus with Elon Musk’s ownership, and the tech billionaire’s association with US president Donald Trump.
“Since Elon Musk took over Twitter and renamed it X, there has been free rein for extremist views and fake news,” he said. “From being a solid content channel for opinion leaders and experts, X is today closely associated with Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and many Danes have a hard time liking them.” Read more here.
