Canadians’ Social Circles Market Report 2022

Overview

• What you need to know
• Key issues covered in this Report
• Definition

Executive Summary

• Top takeaways
• Market overview
  • Figure 1: Category outlook: Canadians’ social circles, 2022-27
• Opportunities
• There are many different ways for stakeholders to succeed
• Canadians are open-minded about their social circles
• Challenges
• Fragmentation makes it difficult for stakeholders to have a universal strategy
• The pandemic will have a lasting impact on social circles

Target Audience – By the Numbers

• Half of Canadians identify as introverts
  • Figure 2: Self-identification: introversion or extroversion, 2022
• • Figure 3: Self-identification: introversion or extroversion, by generation, 2022

Market Factors

• Inflation rates will affect how Canadians socialize
• Real estate trends make socializing at home more difficult
• One in six Canadians live alone
  • Figure 4: Live alone, 2022
• Canada is becoming more multicultural, less religious
• One in four Canadians are foreign-born
• Canadians are less religious than they were
  • Figure 5: Religiosity, 1989-2019
• COVID affected socializing, but Canadians got back together as soon as possible
• Early pandemic: staying in touch was a priority
  • Figure 6: Staying in touch with family/friends: higher priority, 2020
• One year in, Canadians wanted to spend time together
  • Figure 7: Most looking forward to post-COVID, 2021
• Social interactions returned to normalcy in 2022
  • Figure 8: Spent time together with friends/family in the past three months, 2021-22

Competitive Strategies

• Starbucks shows how restaurants can embrace their role as social hubs
  • Figure 9: Starbucks Instagram post, 2021
• Social media platforms want to be social hubs
• Facebook’s Meta bets big on the metaverse
  • Figure 10: Horizons World | Meta Quest 2, December 2021
• Gaming platforms offer social connections
• Companies are giving consumers fun activities to do together
  • Figure 11: Lob Toronto Instagram post, 2022
  • Figure 12: Pursuit OCR Instagram post, 2021

Canadians’ Social Circles – Fast Facts

How Often Canadians Socialize

• Half of Canadians spend time with friends on a weekly basis
  • Figure 13: Frequency of spending time with friends, 2022
• Young Canadians see their friends the most
  • Figure 14: Spend time with friends in person more than once a week, by age, 2022
• • Figure 15: Spend time with friends in person more than once a week, by age and gender, 2022
• One in five middle-aged Canadians see friends less than once a month
  • Figure 16: Spend time with friends in person less than once a month, by age, 2022
• Dads see their friends more often than moms do
  • Figure 17: Frequency of spending time with friends, dads vs moms, 2022
• • Figure 18: Elmwood Spa Instagram post, 2022

How Friends Are Made

• Canadians make friends through informal channels
  • Figure 19: How friends are made, 2022
• Neighbourhood friendships are more common among older Canadians
  • Figure 20: Meet new friends in their neighbourhood, by age, 2022
• • Figure 21: Meet new friends in their neighbourhood, by living situation, 2022
• Structured communities create opportunities to build social circles
• Work friendships skew to higher incomes and higher educations
  • Figure 22: Meet new friends at work, by age and household income, 2022
• • Figure 23: Meet new friends at work, by working situation, 2022
• School and childhood friendships play an important role in introverts’ lives
  • Figure 24: Have friends from school/childhood, by age, 2022
• • Figure 25: Have friends from school/childhood, by age and personality type, 2022
• Multicultural Canadians are the most likely to make friends at places of worship
  • Figure 26: Ways of meeting friends, by race, 2022
• Digital communities offer endless opportunities to socialize
  • Figure 27: Ways of meeting friends, by age, 2022
• LGBTQ+ Canadians use digital communities
  • Figure 28: Ways of meeting friends, by LGBTQ+ identity, 2022
• Young men use video games to make friends
  • Figure 29: Make new friends in online video game communities, by age and gender, 2022
• The stigma of online dating is no more
  • Figure 30: I have used online dating (% agree), by age, 2022

How Time is Spent with Friends

• Homes are a common social setting
  • Figure 31: Ways of spending time with friends, 2022
• Women are more likely to spend time with friends at home
  • Figure 32: Spent time with friends at one of our homes, by age and gender, 2022
• • Figure 33: HomeSense Instagram post, 2022
• Foodservice is a gathering place
• Dining out skews older, while getting drinks skews younger
  • Figure 34: Spent time with friends at foodservice, by age, 2022
• Dads are underdeveloped at restaurants
  • Figure 35: Spent time with friends at foodservice, by gender and parental status, 2022
• Chinese Canadians are more likely than average to meet friends at restaurants
• Canadians go on outings together with their friends
  • Figure 36: Outings with friends, by age, 2022
• Moms are the most likely Canadians to go shopping with friends
  • Figure 37: Outings with friends, moms vs dads, 2022
• South Asian Canadians are more likely than average to go on outings with friends
• Group activities could be combined with other categories to attract more social gatherings
• Higher-income consumers are more likely to engage in group activities
  • Figure 38: Outings with friends, by household income, 2022
• • Figure 39: The Rec Room Instagram post, 2022
• Quebec trails the rest of the country in group activities

Ways of Interacting with Friends

• Digital tech drives interactions, but is fragmented
  • Figure 40: Ways of interacting with friends, 2022
• Text-based messages are the most common method of communication
• Preferred methods vary by generation
  • Figure 41: Ways of interacting with friends: text, by generation, 2022
• Phone calls and video calls can coexist
• Younger consumers are still using phone calls
  • Figure 42: Ways of interacting with friends: calls, by generation, 2022
• Video calls are particularly relevant for foreign-born Canadians
  • Figure 43: Ways of interacting with friends: calls, by country of origin, 2022
• Calls are more common among extroverts
  • Figure 44: Use phone calls to interact with friends, by age and personality type, 2022
• • Figure 45: Use video calls to interact with friends, by age and personality type, 2022
• Social media private messages are a form of instant messaging
  • Figure 46: Ways of interacting with friends: social media, by generation, 2022
• Social media may become less public in the future
  • Figure 47: I post life updates on social media (% agree), by generation, 2022
• Women are more likely to talk to friends via social media
  • Figure 48: Ways of interacting with friends: social media, by gender and parental status, 2022
• Video games have become a meeting place for Gen Z men
  • Figure 49: Ways of interacting with friends: social media, by gender and generation, 2022
• Video games will become a central social tool for dads
• The metaverse will need to wait

Shared Attributes between Friends

• Personality types and interest/hobbies are the most important factors
  • Figure 50: Importance of shared attributes among friends, 2022
• Younger consumers put greater value on similarities with friends
  • Figure 51: Importance of shared attributes among friends (% very/somewhat important), by age, 2022
• Higher-educated Canadians are more particular about friends
  • Figure 52: Importance of shared attributes among friends (% very/somewhat important), by education level, 2022
• There are two schools of thought about political beliefs between friends
• Someone’s personal culture is connected to their priorities in friends
  • Figure 53: Importance of shared attributes among friends (% very/somewhat important), South Asian and Black/African Canadians vs overall, 2022
• • Figure 54: Importance of shared attributes among friends (% very/somewhat important), Chinese Canadians vs overall, 2022
• • Figure 55: Importance of shared attributes among friends (% very/somewhat important), by language spoken at home, 2022

Community Engagement

• Most Canadians engage in small talk with people they don’t know well
  • Figure 56: “I often engage in small talk with people I don’t know well” (% agree), by generation, 2022
• Introverts struggle with small talk
• English-speaking Canadians are the most likely to chat with people they don’t know well
  • Figure 57: “I often engage in small talk with people I don’t know well” (% agree), by language spoken at home, 2022
• Half of Canadians know their neighbours
• Cities are densely populated, but not overly neighbourly
  • Figure 58: “I know the names of most of my neighbours” (% agree), by living location, 2022
• • Figure 59: “I know the names of most of my neighbours (% agree)”, by home ownership, 2022

The Effects of the Pandemic on Social Circles

• Friendships have ended since the beginning of the pandemic
• Young Canadians are the most affected
  • Figure 60: “I’ve lost touch with some friends since the start of the pandemic” (% agree), by age, 2022
• Pandemic-related disagreements were not uncommon
  • Figure 61: “I had major disagreements with a friend/friends about the pandemic” (% agree), by concern about exposure to COVID-19, 2022
• Young men are the most likely to have disagreements
  • Figure 62: “I had major disagreements with a friend/friends about the pandemic” (% agree), by age and gender, 2022
• Disagreements were a likely cause for the end of some friendships

Appendix – Data Sources and Abbreviations

• Data sources
• Consumer survey data
• Consumer qualitative research
• Mintel Trend Drivers
• Abbreviations and terms
• Abbreviations
• Terms