Leave it to Pew Research to come up with an interesting fact.  Today’s factoid comes from Pew Internet and American Life Project.  If you’re familiar with the Pareto principle, you’ve often heard it surmised that 80% of the output of any one thing comes as the results of the efforts of 20% of the people involved.

Pew put the number of ‘power users‘ at Facebook between 20-30%, so it’s inline with Pareto’s proposed numbers.  These ‘power users‘ do a heckuva lot more sharing and ‘friending’ than the average person.  To many of us, we’ve also heard of these same personalities referred to as ‘social media superstars.’  Not surprisingly, they’re working the hardest to ensure they’re the most visible at Facebook.

Facebook Power Users Are Workhorses

The 20-30% of power users earn their keep by maintaining a higher level of activity than the average user.  They outproduce the average person across the board, including friend requests, shares, tags, and “Likes.”  It’s fair to say, these users may indeed be responsible for a disproportionate traffic share due to their relentless Facebook use.

The Power Users are giving more than they get, and the moderate users get more than they give.  Based on this research, we might be able to surmise that the moderate users are passive, and are sitting back waiting to be entertained or enlightened by the superstars.  That would explain the large audiences of docile followers that have been assembled by so many strong social media personalities.

This research should come as no surprise to anyone who does social media marketing, even as a hobby.  Amplifying your message is a tough task, and can only be accomplished through great effort and automation.  Power users plan their activities with a specific goal in mind and execute their plan with a relentless passion.  Without them, social networks like Facebook would quickly lose a lot of their appeal.  That’s likely the reason this group of users is so vocal when changes are made to Facebook.  Undoubtedly they think of it as ‘their platform,’ and in many ways it really is.

What type of Facebook user are you?