79% of Maltese use social media every day

Despite living in close proximity to each other, Mediterranean islanders have emerged as the most avid users of social media networks in the European Union, a survey recently published by the European Commission shows.

The Eurobarometer survey shows that the Maltese are only surpassed by Cypriots when it comes to the daily use of social media networks.

While in Malta 79% use the social networks every day, 83% of Cypriots do likewise. The Portuguese, 72% of whom use social networks every day, come third. In contrast, only 52% of Germans and Austrians do likewise. On average 56% of Europeans use social media networks on a daily basis.

The survey shows that daily use of social networks in Malta has shot up by a remarkable 41 points since 2015. On the other hand, those who do not use the social networks at all have dropped by 26 points – from 31% in 2015 to 5% now.

More than two-thirds of respondents in each country are either regular or occasional users of online social networks. The use of social networks ranges from 94% in Malta, 93% in Cyprus and 90% in Portugal to 68% in France, 70% in Czechia and 72% in Slovenia and Germany.

In each Member State, the proportion of respondents who are users of online social networks has increased – in many cases by a considerable margin. The largest increases are seen amongst internet users in Cyprus (+34 pp), Malta (+33 pp), Denmark (+26 pp), Ireland, Austria and Poland (all +25 pp). Slovakia, Estonia (both +4 pp) and Germany (+5 pp) are the only countries where the increase in social network users is less than ten points.

The survey also quizzed respondents on their knowledge of General Data Protection Regulations. The survey suggests that the Maltese are not among the most knowledgeable or the keenest to exercise these rights.

The survey shows that only 20% of Maltese have used GDPR rules regulations to object to receiving direct marketing. In contrast 39% of Finnish and 42% of Dutch respondents have used this right to block this kind of marketing.

In 24 countries, at least half of all respondents have heard of the right to have their data deleted and forgotten, with those in the Netherlands (77%), Austria (72%) and Germany (69%) the most likely to have done so. At the other end of the scale, 44% in Bulgaria, 46% in Spain, 47% in Malta and 48% in France have also heard of this right.

In all but one country, the majority have heard of the right to correct their data if it is wrong. Awareness is highest in the Netherlands (80%), Finland (76%) and Austria (70%), and lowest in Bulgaria (43%), Romania and Malta (both 52%).

The majority of respondents in each country have heard of the right to access their data, with proportions ranging from 86% in the Netherlands, 80% in Sweden and 76% in Finland to 55% in Bulgaria and 56% in Malta and Spain.

Malta was one in five countries where at least one quarter of respondents feel they have complete control over the information they provide online. These countries were Malta (32%), Cyprus (31%), Portugal, Hungary (both 27%) and Poland (26%).

Facebook election

Over €80,000 were spent by Maltese political parties and candidates in the European elections on taking out Facebook and Instagram adverts between March and May.

The data emerges from Facebook transparency information provided with adverts taken out by paying entities.

The data shows that Nationalist Party candidates and the party spent a total of €49,824 on Facebook ads for its MEP electoral campaign since 1 March, while the Labour Party and its representatives spent a total of €24,446.

Between them, the two major parties spent €74,270.

The Facebook pages of the two major party leaders, Joseph Muscat and Adrian Delia spent €3,920 and €6,348 on Facebook ads respectively. These were paid for by their respective parties.

The PN’s highest spender was incumbent MEP David Casa, spending a total of €6,853 on Facebook ads since March. For the PL, incumbent Alfred Sant was the highest spender with €6,326 spent since March. Of these, €2,328 were spent between 16 April and 23 May.

This contrasted with the front-runners for the major parties, Labour MEP Miriam Dalli and Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola.

Outline prfile of Maltese social media users