Social Media
Power List 2024
Large Groups

Chart 1 tracks the five platforms most used across adult social care. TikTok has grown fastest by far, from around 5 million UK users in 2019 to more than 23 million in 2023, a rise of over 400 per cent.

Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram each added roughly 11 million users over the same period. Instagram saw the largest proportional growth at 47 per cent, while X grew far more slowly.

Audience age shapes which platform suits which goal. Facebook has the largest user base in every age band except 25 to 34, and dominates older audiences: its 5.9 million over-65s outnumber the nearest platform more than three to one.

LinkedIn peaks among 25 to 34-year-olds at over 18 million, the highest of any platform in a single band, reflecting its pull with young professionals. TikTok skews youngest, led by 18 to 24-year-olds.

Across all five platforms the top 20 large groups hold a combined 1,628,806 followers. Barchester Healthcare leads on 276,678, almost three-quarters of it on Facebook (201,925), and up 19 per cent since August 2023.

Care UK follows on 252,507, with the strongest LinkedIn presence of any group (101,272). Anchor ranks third on 229,997 and holds the largest X following of all (69,383).

Of the 16 groups present in both the 2023 and 2024 lists, Runwood Homes grew fastest, up 50 per cent overall. Much of that came from its individual homes, where followers rose 82 per cent.

Caring Homes followed on 45 per cent, then Greensleeves Care (34 per cent), Country Court (32 per cent) and Anchor (29 per cent).

Facebook accounts for 63 per cent of the sector's combined following (1,022,128), up around 46 per cent on the 2022 list. Its dominance reflects both the size of its user base and its fit for personal, image-led posts.

LinkedIn is second at 21 per cent (346,430), ahead of X at 8 per cent and TikTok at 7 per cent. Instagram trails at just over 1 per cent.

Comparing the two lists, LinkedIn grew fastest in number, up 63 per cent year-on-year against Facebook's 47 per cent, lifting its share of the total by three points. The shift towards LinkedIn is real but more muted than among smaller groups.

TikTok was the only platform to decline, slipping from 117,208 to 114,562 followers. Almost all sector TikTok activity sits with Anchor (40,778), Kingsley Healthcare (34,771) and Excelcare (30,187).

Marham House Care Home (Anchor) tops the individual leaderboard with 64,060 followers, split almost evenly between Facebook and TikTok. One of its TikTok videos has drawn close to half a million likes.

St Fillan's Care Home (Excelcare) ranks second on a strong TikTok presence, followed by Redwalls (Kingsley Healthcare) and Aire View (Avery Healthcare), each around 15,000. Across all homes, Facebook supplies 83 per cent of followers.

Group-level accounts hold 556,405 followers, about a third of the sector total. Here LinkedIn leads, supplying 62 per cent of group-account followers against Facebook's 23 per cent, a reversal of the home-level pattern.

Care UK runs the largest group account at roughly 130,000 followers, mostly on LinkedIn, ahead of Barchester Healthcare (85,753). Every group operated an account, averaging 27,820 followers.