We surveyed the UK to find out their opinions on the most and least acceptable topics to post about across the leading social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and Instagram Stories.
Are you an avid social media user and spend hours scrolling through Instagram or Facebook, or perhaps you like to while away your free time on Snapchat or Twitter? Well, you’re not alone. With the average person spending nearly two hours on social media every day1, and 30% of overall time spent online allocated to social media use2, it’s safe to say we’re a nation of social media lovers.
But are there any dos and don’ts when it comes to what content you post? And have you ever regretted posting something on social media?
We surveyed the UK to find out their opinions on the most and least acceptable topics to post about across the leading social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and Instagram Stories.
Most acceptable
As a nation of animal lovers, it’s no surprise that Brits voted pets as the most acceptable topic to post about across all social media platforms. Birthday photos also proved popular, coming in the top 5 in each leading social media platform
Posts about friends and family are also approved by the public, landing in the top 5 in each social platform except Twitter, whereby users prefer to see random thought musings or posts about politics than photos from your girls’ night out or family gettogether.
Food is also an approved social media staple, with people voting indulgent sweet treats and healthy brunch posts in their top 5 most acceptable topics, except Facebook and Twitter users, that is.
Let’s take a look at the top 5 most acceptable topics across all social platforms:
- Pets (68%)
- Birthdays (65%)
- Travelling / Holidays (53%)
- Mother’s / Father’s Day (53%)
- New Job / Leaving a job (51%)
- Pets (52%)
- Birthdays (46%)
- Travelling / Backpacking / Holidays (41%)
- Spending time with family (40%)
- Food (39%)
- Pets (41%)
- Birthdays (37%)
- Politics (36%)
- Random thoughts (34%)
- New Job / Leaving a job (33%)
Snapchat story
- Pets (40%)
- Birthdays (35%)
- Spending time with friends (34%)
- Spending time with family (34%)
- Food (33%)
Instagram story
- Pets (41%)
- Spending time with family (38%)
- Spending time with friends (35%)
- Birthdays (34%)
- Food (35%)
Least acceptable
So, what’s on the other end of the spectrum? Unanimously, posts about buying a house are branded the least popular across all social media platforms.
And Facebook users dislike them the most, with 26% of people branding new home posts their least acceptable social media topic. Comparatively, 19% of Instagram users and 16% of Snapchat story, Instagram story and Twitter viewers voted them in their top spot as the least acceptable.
So, if you’ve recently bought a new home, maybe think twice about posting the news across your social media!
Social media regret
Have you ever regretted a social media post? 49% of Brits said they have and do worry about the consequences of what they’ve posted on social media, whilst 48% claimed they don’t.
The top worries are that it may be seen negatively when applying for a job (12%) or that a family member may see it (14%).
We asked members of the public for some of their social media regret stories. John* had an experience of his social media nearly affecting a job offer, explaining:
"When I was at uni I applied for an internship in the comms and marketing team at my local council, […] , I was called in to meet with a senior manager to discuss my placement. During the meeting, I was shown tweets of mine from a year or two before, in which I was less than polite to the local railway service over some delays.
“Because of the link between the rail service and the council, I was asked to go back through my posts and remove all the content within that day, or I wouldn't have been accepted for the role. Safe to say I'd taken it down within the hour!"
And Jenny* had a close-shave, too:
“I posted a cute picture of the bath the other week to my insta stories, then soon realised my naked reflection was in the tap so swiftly deleted it. Hopefully, no one saw. It wasn’t too funny at the time, I saw it and shouted NO, NO, NO whilst I maniacally pressed every button other than delete.”
We are truly a nation of social media lovers, and if you want to ensure your smartphone is protected so you can continue to post and scroll to your heart’s content, our award-winning smartphone insurance starts from just £7.99 a month.
*Names have been changed for confidentiality