For the second year in a row, we did a bit of informal censusing last month to get to know our users in the best way possible: anonymously and collectively. Maybe you saw and took the survey, which we shared through email, our about:home page, and social media. There were some important questions and some not quite as important questions on it, but what was important was that it was totally voluntary and—like everything we do—about openness and transparency. Well, and having at least some fun on the internet.
So without further drumroll, here are the results! In looking at this year’s results, we’re also going to look at how they compared in some ways to last year’s results! DATA.
Demographics + Lifestyle
This year we had 95,204 responses. 98% of the respondents were Firefox users, but it’s also important to note that a good chunk of these users also use other browsers (which is totally fine. Browser monogamy is not required). In fact, 17% use another browser as their primary browser (less fine, but we’ll let it slide).
58% of census takers were either between 19-22 or over 55, so we’re kind of starting to wonder if Firefox is something passed down through the generations? Boomers and Gen-Xers, did you pass Firefox down to your millennial children as your most prized possession? If so, thanks. Otherwise, we’ll just assume the demographics turned out that way because of the channels we promoted it in (social was a big driver for 19-24 and email was a big driver for 55+).
We’d be lying if we said the next stats didn’t warm our hearts a bit. Turns out Firefox users are smart *and* considerate. It’s something we’ve always known, but it’s nice to see some stats to back that up. Here’s a quick tl;dr of what we mean:
- 52% either donate their time or money regularly to give back to the community
- 84% recycle at least most of the time
- 48% are fluent in 2 or more languages
- 32% have a graduate degree (but somehow only 28% are Ravenclaws?)
- 27% have an undergraduate degree
- 17% are professional developers
- 67% of them have won a game of chess
And this might be splitting hairs, but the people who said they use Chrome as their primary browser? 1.4% more of them were more likely to say “I am the gift” when it comes to giving back instead of, you know, actually giving back. Take from that what you will.
Online Life is Real Life
Unsurprisingly, Firefox users are spending even more time online than they were last census. At the end of 2016, 21.1% spent more than 8 hours online a day, where at the end of last year that number was up to 30%.
The good news is that somehow even though they’re spending more time online, they’re also spending more time outside of work. In 2016, around 40% took more than 11 days off and in 2017 that rose to 47%.
Even though they’re spending more time online, it seems like they’re organizing that time. Just 2% of users had more than 100 tabs open, which we find soothing somehow.
It might not seem like this is related to online life, but the overwhelming majority of respondents said that they don’t know what we’re talking about when we asked “Is Bran the Night King?” and honestly we’re kind of disappointed in all of them. That’s all we’re going to say about that.
How the stars aligned
Okay so whatever you think about astrology, we accidentally created a self-fulfilling prophecy with our question about the zodiac.
We asked whether Firefox users were more likely to be Leos or Libras because it has a nice ring to it. Well, Leos and Libras apparently saw that as a call to arms because they came out stronger than any other sign with over 10% of users being represented by each of these signs.
That said, there were some interesting breakdowns when looking at each sign’s answers. 51% of Leos spend 5 hours or less online, less time online than any other sign. 45% of Leos also identify as Gryffindors, which is to be expected. Slytherin is the least represented house amongst Firefox users, but interesting tidbit: Scorpios are most likely to be Slytherins by a long shot.
However we sliced the data, one thing was clear: y’all are some clever, cool, opinionated people who generally agree that a hot dog is not a sandwich. Oh, and that you all have chosen to use a browser that’s for people, not profit, and that makes a difference. You keep being you and we’ll be right here making your way around the web the best it can be.
