5,733 Americans participated in a Pew Research Center survey conducted in mid-2023.
An updated survey on the use of social media by adults in the United States has been published by the Pew Research Center. TikTok is the platform that is expanding at the fastest rate, with more than a third of adults recently stating that they use the app. This is despite the fact that YouTube (particularly) and Facebook continue to maintain their dominant status from the last poll in 2021.
Between May 19 and September 5, 2023, the study questioned 5,733 adults in the United States. More than eighty-three percent of respondents stated that they had used YouTube at some point in their lives, making it the platform with the highest usage rate. On the other hand, 68 percent of users stated that they were using Facebook.
There are only two platforms that have a majority of users across all age groups, and they are the two platforms. It is important to note that there are still disparities between age groups, particularly among YouTube users. For instance, 93 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 29 have reported utilizing Google’s video platform, while sixty percent of people aged 65 and older have reported doing the same. According to Facebook, there is just a nine percent difference between the two demographics that are represented.
Overall, Instagram finished in third place, with 47 percent of respondents indicating that they make use of the platform. There are several social media platforms that are included in the next tier down, including Pinterest (35 percent), TikTok (33 percent), LinkedIn (30 percent), WhatsApp (29 percent), and Snapchat (27 percent). The expansion of TikTok is particularly noteworthy: the platform, which is owned by ByteDance, experienced a rapid increase of 12 percentage points from 21 percent two years ago. It is without a doubt the most significant advancement of any platform on the list.
Reddit and X are situated at the next tier down, with each of them holding a 22 percent share. During the time that the surveys were being conducted, Elon Musk’s company changed its name from Twitter to X and hired a new chief executive officer. This further complicated the situation. From 23 percent in 2021, the company’s claimed users have experienced a modest decrease over the past two years. The popularity of Reddit, on the other hand, increased by four points from 18 percent two years ago, despite the fact that the platform’s API scandal occurred when the surveys were being conducted.
Instagram (78 percent of survey participants aged 29 and under use it, compared to 15 percent of those aged 65 and up) and Snapchat (65 percent use it for those under 30, four percent use it for those aged 65 and above) are two other platforms that have large age-group differences. LinkedIn (40 percent), WhatsApp (38 percent), and Facebook (75 percent) have particularly high rates within the demographic of people aged 40 to 49 years old. This demographic includes younger members of the Gen X generation as well as all but the youngest members of the Millennial generation.
In terms of additional demographic-based notables, Pew states that TikTok is particularly popular among Hispanic users, with 49 percent of Hispanic users stating that they use the app (and women reported using it at a rate that is 15 percent higher than men). In comparison to the tier that ranges from $70,000 to $99,999, the tier that is most popular among adults is X, which is more popular among those with yearly household earnings of at least $100,000. To add insult to injury, LinkedIn has a greater percentage of respondents who have at least a bachelor’s degree, which is 25 points more than those who have “some college education” and 43 percent higher than those who have a high school diploma or less. This may come as no surprise given the fact that LinkedIn is particularly focused on career advancement.