New research has revealed the UK’s least social media-obsessed cities, with Newport coming out on top.
The study, conducted by gaming site AskGamblers, analysed the number of monthly Google searches over the past year for social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok, to see which cities had the lowest number of social media searches per 1,000 people.
It found that the Welsh city of Newport is the least social media-obsessed city in the UK. On average, the city has 23,780 searches for social media platforms every month. When accounting for population, there are just 149 social media searches per 1,000 people, which is lower than any other city. Facebook makes up 18,100 of the monthly searches.
Coming in second place is the West Yorkshire city of Wakefield. The city has around 84,200 social media searches per month which means there are 238 social media searches for every 1,000 people. The most popular social media platforms in the city in order are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The city of Winchester comes in third as the entry with the lowest population in the top ten. There are 47,460 searches for social media platforms every month in the city, which works out to 371 social media searches for every 1,000 people.
The southeast city of Canterbury takes fourth place on the list. There are around 61,990 searches for social media platforms made every month in the city, which, when factoring in population, means there are 396 social media searches per 1,000 people.
Rounding out the top five is the city of Chelmsford, which comes in with 87,220 social media searches every month. The city has roughly 480 social media searches for every 1,000 people each month when population is accounted for.
By comparison, the city that was found to be most ‘social-media obsessed’ is Wrexham. The city has around 116,780 searches for social media each month on average, which when accounted for the population of 65,692 people, there are 1,778 searches for social media for every 1,000 people.
| # | Location | Population | Monthly social media searches | Searches per 1,000 people |
| 1 | Newport | 159,587 | 23,780 | 149 |
| 2 | Wakefield | 353,802 | 84,200 | 238 |
| 3 | Winchester | 127,916 | 47,460 | 371 |
| 4 | Canterbury | 156,554 | 61,990 | 396 |
| 5 | Chelmsford | 181,763 | 87,220 | 480 |
| 6 | St Albans | 148,641 | 74,290 | 500 |
| 7 | Lancaster | 142,162 | 71,280 | 501 |
| 8 | Milton Keynes | 288,201 | 146,700 | 509 |
| 9 | Bradford | 546,976 | 296,600 | 542 |
| 10 | Southampton | 247,256 | 137,800 | 557 |
