Derry is a social media obsessed city: research

The study by internet experts VPNOverview.com 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 highest searches per 1,000 people.

It found that the Lancashire city of Preston was the most social media obsessed city. This is due to more than 215,200 social media searches being made in the city, which when accounting for population means there are 1,517.63 searches per 1,000 people made every month.

Glasgow comes in as the second most social media obsessed city. More than 956,300 searches are made for social media in the city every month, which gives a score of 1,512.34 searches per 1,000 people when accounted for population.

With 1,249.84 searches per 1,000 people and 138,400 social media searches a month, Derry is the ninth most social media obsessed city - pipping Belfast into tenth place.

Facebook was found to be the most popular platform in every city out of all the platforms studied.

Commenting on the research, a spokesperson from VPNOverview said: “Social media has become a fundamental part of so many people’s lives over the past decade, so it’s natural that some cities would take more of a liking to it than others.”