Social Media
Power List 2024
Small Groups

TikTok grew from 5 million to over 23 million UK users between 2019 and 2023, a rise of more than 400 per cent.

Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram each added around 11 million users over the same period, with Instagram seeing the largest proportional growth at 47 per cent.

Facebook dominates every age band except 25 to 34, where LinkedIn's 18 million users take the lead. It has more than three times as many over-65 users (5.9m) as its nearest competitor.

LinkedIn concentrates among 25 to 34-year-olds, reflecting its professional audience, while TikTok skews youngest, led by 18 to 24-year-olds.

Cygnet Health Care accounts for roughly two-thirds of the combined following of all top 20 small groups, around 50,000 followers. It holds about 74 per cent of the total LinkedIn figure, 30 per cent of Facebook, and over 80 per cent of X.

Its inclusion as a “small” group reflects its limited nursing home portfolio (two homes, under 300 followers between them), not its overall scale. It is excluded from the wider analysis that follows.

With Cygnet removed, a clearer picture of the smaller groups emerges. Facebook leads on 53 per cent of the combined following (18,442), suited to the personal, image-led posts these groups favour.

LinkedIn follows on 37 per cent, a striking rise from just 8 per cent in 2022. Instagram accounts for 7 per cent and X for three-and-a-half. TikTok is all but absent.

Boutique Care Homes leads the smaller groups with 9,327 combined followers, almost twice second-placed Connaught Care (around 4,600). Over 7,000 of Boutique's total sits on LinkedIn, the highest of any small group.

Sanders Senior Living holds the highest Facebook following (2,951), while Rotherwood Group follows closely overall on a well-distributed mix across its eight homes.

The shift between the two reports is stark. Facebook fell from 81 to 53 per cent of total followers, declining both proportionally and in number (23,157 down to 18,422).

LinkedIn surged from 8 to 37 per cent, the most dramatic platform shift recorded across any care home group tier.

The Burlington (Boutique Care Homes) leads all individual homes with around 1,100 followers, all on Facebook. Claridge Place (Sanders) and the Rotherwood homes follow closely.

Doveleigh Care leads on Instagram with more than 1,000 followers, while Rotherwood Group tops X (287), with Peverel Court close behind on 253.

Boutique Care Homes dominates group accounts with over 7,000 LinkedIn followers. Connaught Care holds 2,700 on LinkedIn but keeps no mirror Facebook account, preferring individual home pages.

LinkedIn adoption is rising fast: eight groups now run a page, double the four a year earlier. Even so, more than half (11 of 20) still have no LinkedIn presence, and several operate no central group account at all.