Most Americans report using YouTube and Facebook, while Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok use is particularly common among adults under 30.
how did we do that
To better understand Americans' use of social media, online platforms, and messaging apps, the Pew Research Center surveyed 1,502 American adults on cell phones and landlines from January 25 to February 8, 2021. Conducted by interviewers led by Abt Associates, the survey is weighted to be representative of the US adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, education and other categories. Here are theQuestions used for this report, along with the answers, andSumetology.
trotz achain of disputesand the publicrelatively negative feelingsWhen it comes to social networking issues, about seven in 10 Americans say they have ever used some type of social networking site, and some haveremained relativestable for the past five years, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of American adults.
In addition to the general question about overall social media use, the survey also includes the use of individual pages and apps. YouTube and Facebook continue to dominate the online landscape, with 81% and 69% respectively saying they have ever used these sites. And YouTube and Reddit were the only two platforms considered statisticallysignificant growth since 2019, when the Center conducted the last survey on the subject via telephone survey.
Across the other platforms in the survey, 40% of adults say they have ever used Instagram, and about three in 10 say they use Pinterest or LinkedIn. A quarter say they use Snapchat, and similar shares say they use Twitter or WhatsApp. TikTok – ashort video sharing app- is used by 21% of Americans, while 13% say they use itneighborhood focusedplatform next door.
While other platforms don't have the general reach of YouTube or Facebook, there are certain sites or apps -- most notably Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok -- that have a particularly strong following among young adults. In fact, the majority of 18-29 year olds say they use Instagram (71%) or Snapchat (65%), while around half say the same about TikTok.
These results come from a nationally representative survey of 1,502 American adults conducted by telephone from January 25 to February 8, 2021.
With the exception of YouTube and Reddit, most platforms have shown little growth since 2019
YouTube is the most widely used online platform asked about in this survey, and there is evidence that its reach is growing. 81% of Americans say they've ever used the video-sharing site, up from 73% in 2019. Reddit was the only other platform surveyed to see statistically significant growth over the period, up from 11% annually increased to 18% today in 2019. .
Facebook's growth has slowed over the past five years, but it remains one of the most used adult social networking sites in the United States: 69% of adults today say they ever use the site, which is the same rate as in the last two years.
Likewise, the relative proportions of Americans reporting use of Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter, and WhatsApp do not change statistically.since 2019. This represents a broader trend that extends beyond the past two years, where the rapid adoption of most of these sites and apps has slowed over the past decade. (This was the first year the center had asked about TikTok via a phone survey, and the first time it had conducted a survey on Nextdoor.)
Adults under 30 stand out for their use of Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok
When asked about their use of social media broadly, rather than their use of specific platforms, 72% of Americans say they have ever used social media.
In a pattern consistent withprevious studies of the centerWhen it comes to using social networks, there are some clear age differences. About 84% of adults aged 18-29 say they have ever used social media, which matches the proportion of 30-49 year olds who say so (81%). In comparison, a slightly lower proportion of those aged 50-64 (73%) say they use social media, while less than half of those aged 65 and over (45%) say they do.
These age differences generally extend to use of specific platforms, with younger Americans being more likely to use those sites than their older counterparts, although differences between younger and older Americans vary by platform.
A majority of 18-29 year olds say they use Instagram or Snapchat, and about half say they use TikTok, with younger people in this cohort (18-24 year olds) being the most likely to say who uses Instagram ( 76%). , Snapchat (75%) or TikTok (55%).1These percentages contrast sharply with those of the older age groups. For example, while 65% of adults ages 18-29 say they use Snapchat, only 2% of those over 65 say they use the app, a difference of 63 percentage points.
In addition, the vast majority of adults under the age of 65 report using YouTube. 95% of 18-29 year olds say they use the platform, along with 91% of 30-49 year olds and 83% of 50-64 year olds. However, for those over 65, this proportion drops significantly to 49%.
In comparison, the age gap between the youngest and oldest Americans is the smallest on Facebook. 70% of 18-29 year olds say they use the platform, and these proportions are statistically the same for 30-49 year olds (77%) or 50-64 year olds (73%). Half of the over 65s say they use the site, making Facebook and YouTube the two most used platforms by this older population.
Other sites and apps stand out because of their demographic differences:
- Instagram:About half of Hispanics (52%) and African Americans (49%) say they use the platform, compared to a lower percentage of White Americans (35%) who say the same.2
- Whatsapp:Hispanics (46%) are far more likely to say they use WhatsApp than Black Americans (23%) or White Americans (16%). Hispanics also stood out for their use of WhatsApp in the center's previous surveys on the subject.
- LinkedIn:In turn, those with a higher level of education are more likely than those with a lower level of education to report being a LinkedIn user. About half of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher (51%) report using LinkedIn, compared to smaller percentages of those with some college experience (28%) and those with a high school diploma or less (10th percentile). %).
- Pinterest:Women are still far more likely than men to say they use Pinterest, compared to their male counterparts, with a difference of 30 points (46% vs. 16%).
- Next:There are big differences in the use of this platform by type of community. Adults who live in cities (17%) or suburbs (14%) are more likely to say they use Nextdoor. Only 2% of rural Americans say they use the site.
Most Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram users say they visit these platforms on a daily basis.
While much has been written about AmericansChange relationship with Facebook, its users remain fairly active on the platform. Seven in ten Facebook users say they use the site every day, including 49% who say they use the site several times a day. (These numbers are statistically the same as those in theCenter survey 2019about the use of social networks).
Smaller fractions, but still the majority, of Snapchat or Instagram users say they visit their respective platforms on a daily basis (59% for both). And being active on these sites is especially common for younger users. For example, 71% of Snapchat users aged 18-29 say they use the app every day, including six in 10 who say they use the app multiple times a day. The pattern is similar on Instagram: 73% of Instagram users aged 18-29 say they visit the site every day, with around half (53%) reporting multiple times a day.
YouTube is used daily by 54% of its users, with 36% reporting that they visit the site multiple times a day. In comparison, Twitter is used less frequently, with less than half of users (46%) saying they visit the site every day.