We wanted to test the Wisdom of Crowds – will the aggregated guesses of everyone surveyed (7IM Crowd) end up at roughly the right answer for the UK Average (Reality)?

 

So we asked “what percentage of the UK …

  • Owns an iPhone
  • Owns cryptocurrency
  • Uses Instagram

 

Annnnnnd …

 

Pretty close on all counts!

Sources: 7IM/SurveyMonkey/ https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/united-kingdom/     https://www.finder.com/uk/cryptocurrency/cryptocurrency-statistics/     https://stats.napoleoncat.com/instagram-users-in-united_kingdom/2026/05/

 

iPhones, basically bang on. Crypto, interestingly, the number of people who HAVE owned crypto is ~16%. And Instagram, there’s possibly an age bias in our audience; something to check next time!

 

So far so good.

 

But the other thing we were testing for was on the second page, where we asked about YOUR personal experience with iPhones and crypto and Insta.

 

You see, our own personal experiences affect how we see the world. It’s often called the availability bias. Even when we’re asked about other people, we start with how WE think already …

 

The chart below shows the survey responses sorted into groups depending on whether the respondent do or don’t own an iPhone:

Source: 7IM/SurveyMonkey

 

So people who own an iPhone said that 55% of the population have iPhones, vs. people who didn’t who thought it was 46%. We start with our own experience, and then adjust!

 

The same with the other two:

Source: 7IM/SurveyMonkey

 

Pollsters at elections have started to use this tendency to find out how people really feel about possibly awkward subjects.

Rather than ask you “do you support controversial policy X”, they now ask “Do you think your neighbours support controversial policy X?”

 

And though you’re speaking about your neighbours, you’re actually talking about yourself …

 

*Disclaimer* This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at UK retail clients only.

All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future. Data Source 7IM