elizabeth_mongtgomery_comicsJust as you get things rolling, Facebook goes and updates how I get all of the data when it comes to looking at demographics. It’s not a big secret that I manipulate Facebook’s advertising platform to return the data that you’ve seen in all of these demographic studies. Recently Facebook has updated that platform, and there’s some good and bad about it all.

The bad is, it’s not as easy to plug in the “like” terms I’ve been using for these studies. But, it’s now easier to find new terms.  Overall, right now 67 “like” terms are used for me to configure the numbers and with my most recent report, after dropping outdated terms and adding new ones, the comic fan population on Facebook is about 12.4 million, slightly higher than earlier in the month.

But, here’s the awesome thing, they now give the ability to advertise to, or in my case, study more segments. They now allow advertisers to focus in on populations determined by Facebook. While they don’t go into detail in how they put these together, they give some descriptions as to what you can now research. Some examples of what you can find out about individuals are:

  • New Job
  • New Serious Relationship
  • Recently Moved
  • Engaged less than 1 yr
  • Newlywed less than 1 yr
  • Expecting Parents
  • Parents (and general age of children)
  • Console gamers
  • People interest in Hispanic products or services
  • iPad/Smartphone/Tablet Owners
  • Political Leaning
  • Travel habits

There’s a couple that really stood out to me from the above. Obviously political leanings got me really interested considering my background, but one answers a question we’ve had, what is the ethnic breakdown of comic book readers?

While the “Hispanic” population in Facebook isn’t perfect since it’s people interested in “Hispanic products or services” it gives us some idea.

Overall, Facebook’s “Hispanic” demographic accounts for 22 million individuals in the United States out of the total population of 178 million, that’s 12.36%. As of September 2013, statistics put the Hispanic population in the United States at 53 million or 17%. So that’s about a 4-5% difference right off the bat.

Out of that “Hispanic” Facebook population women are about 11.6 million (52.73%) with men about 11 million (50%). The fact those two don’t add to the 22 million is a quirk of the Facebook system.

So, how do comic fans compare?

The “Hispanic” population on Facebook clocks in at 2.6 million out of 12.4 million total fans in the United States, that’s 20.96%. That’s a higher percentage than both the “Hispanic” demographic on Facebook and the general US population. Out of that 2.6 million, men account for 1.5 million (57.69%) and women 1.04 million (40%). That’s a stark difference from the general population, but is similar to the general comic fandom which has 58.06% men and 40.32% women. That’s some interesting differences.

“Hispanic” Facebook demographic by gender

With numerous new ways to “cut lists” these new terms and categories not only provide us more insight into comic fandom, but greater opportunity for marketers to tailor their message to the right individuals.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Part of the Jews bad luck in Nazi Germany was was that their religious status was registered with the state. If Hitler had had Facebook, he could have gotten rid of all those pesky homosexuals much more effectively, too. And the commies; and whatever . Would Facebook sell Data to the russian Government?

  2. Of course, these demographics are limited by the very fact that one has to be a facebook user in order to be included in the count.

  3. You know who else liked comic books? Hitler.

    But seriously, Brett, I’m diggin’ the articles and info you’re putting up. While it might not hold up in court these are interesting things to mull over.

    To those who are concerned about their personal information, you’re on the internet so it’s already too late!

Comments are closed.