For the latest survey data on social media and messaging app, come across "Social Media Use in 2021. "

A new Pew Inquiry Center survey of U.S. adults finds that the social media landscape in early 2018 is divers by a mix of long-standing trends and newly emerging narratives.

Facebook and YouTube dominate this mural, every bit notable majorities of U.S. adults use each of these sites. At the same time, younger Americans (especially those ages 18 to 24) stand out for embracing a variety of platforms and using them frequently. Some 78% of 18- to 24-twelvemonth-olds use Snapchat, and a sizeable bulk of these users (71%) visit the platform multiple times per solar day. Similarly, 71% of Americans in this age group now use Instagram and close to half (45%) are Twitter users.

Every bit has been the case since the Eye began surveying about the use of unlike social media in 2012, Facebook remains the chief platform for most Americans. Roughly two-thirds of U.S. adults (68%) now written report that they are Facebook users, and roughly three-quarters of those users access Facebook on a daily basis. With the exception of those 65 and older, a majority of Americans beyond a wide range of demographic groups now use Facebook.

Only the social media story extends well beyond Facebook. The video-sharing site YouTube – which contains many social elements, fifty-fifty if it is not a traditional social media platform – is at present used by nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults and 94% of 18- to 24-year-olds. And the typical (median) American reports that they use three of the eight major platforms that the Center measured in this survey.

These findings also highlight the public's sometimes alien attitudes toward social media. For case, the share of social media users who say these platforms would be difficult to give upwardly has increased past 12 percentage points compared with a survey conducted in early on 2014. But by the aforementioned token, a majority of users (59%) say it would non exist hard to end using these sites, including 29% who say it would not be difficult at all to surrender social media.

Different social media platforms show varied growth

Facebook remains the most widely used social media platform past a relatively healthy margin: some 68% of U.S. adults are now Facebook users. Other than the video-sharing platform YouTube, none of the other sites or apps measured in this survey are used past more than than 40% of Americans.

The Center has asked nearly the use of five of these platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest) in several previous surveys of technology use. And for the most office, the share of Americans who utilise each of these services is similar to what the Eye found in its previous survey of social media utilise conducted in April 2016. The about notable exception is Instagram: 35% of U.S. adults now say they utilise this platform, an increase of seven percentage points from the 28% who said they did in 2016.

The youngest adults stand out in their social media consumption

As was true in previous Pew Research Center surveys of social media utilise, there are substantial differences in social media use past historic period. Some 88% of 18- to 29-twelvemonth-olds signal that they use whatever form of social media. That share falls to 78% among those ages 30 to 49, to 64% among those ages 50 to 64 and to 37% amidst Americans 65 and older.

At the same time, there are pronounced differences in the use of various social media platforms within the young adult population too. Americans ages 18 to 24 are substantially more than probable to utilise platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter even when compared with those in their mid- to belatedly-20s. These differences are especially notable when it comes to Snapchat: 78% of 18- to 24-year-olds are Snapchat users, only that share falls to 54% amidst those ages 25 to 29.

With the exception of those 65 and older, Facebook is used by a majority of Americans across a broad range of demographic groups. But other platforms appeal more strongly to certain subsets of the population. In addition to the age-related differences in the utilize of sites such as Instagram and Snapchat noted in a higher place, these are some of the more prominent examples:

  • Pinterest remains substantially more popular with women (41% of whom say they employ the site) than with men (16%).
  • LinkedIn remains especially popular among higher graduates and those in high-income households. Some fifty% of Americans with a college degree utilise LinkedIn, compared with just ix% of those with a loftier schoolhouse diploma or less.
  • The messaging service WhatsApp is pop in Latin America, and this popularity also extends to Latinos in the The states – 49% of Hispanics report that they are WhatsApp users, compared with fourteen% of whites and 21% of blacks.

For more details on social media platform use past different demographic groups, come across Appendix A.

Roughly 3-quarters of Facebook users ­– and around vi-in-ten Snapchat and Instagram users – visit each site daily

Forth with being the almost popular social media site, Facebook users also visit the site with high levels of frequency. Fully 74% of Facebook users say they visit the site daily, with effectually half (51%) saying they do several times a day. The share of Facebook users who visit the site on a daily basis is statistically unchanged compared with 2016, when 76% of Facebook users reported they visited the site daily.

While the overall share of Americans who use Snapchat is smaller than that of Facebook, a like share of Snapchat users (49%) say they use the platform multiple times per day. All told, a majority of Snapchat (63%) and Instagram (60%) users indicate that they visit these platforms on a daily basis. The share of Instagram users who visit the platform daily has increased slightly since 2016 when 51% of Instagram users were daily visitors. (Note: this is the beginning yr the Center has specifically asked about the frequency of Snapchat apply in a telephone poll.)

In addition to adopting Snapchat and Instagram at high rates, the youngest adults as well stand up out in the frequency with which they use these ii platforms. Some 82% of Snapchat users ages 18 to 24 say they utilize the platform daily, with 71% indicating that they use it multiple times per solar day. Similarly, 81% of Instagram users in this historic period group visit the platform on daily basis, with 55% reporting that they do so several times per day.

The median American uses 3 of these eight social platforms

As was true in previous surveys of social media use, at that place is a substantial amount of overlap betwixt users of the diverse sites measured in this survey. Most notably, a significant majority of users of each of these social platforms besides indicate that they use Facebook and YouTube. But this "reciprocity" extends to other sites as well. For case, roughly three-quarters of both Twitter (73%) and Snapchat (77%) users besides indicate that they apply Instagram.

This overlap is broadly indicative of the fact that many Americans use multiple social platforms. Roughly three-quarters of the public (73%) uses more than one of the eight platforms measured in this survey, and the typical (median) American uses iii of these sites. As might be expected, younger adults tend to employ a greater variety of social media platforms. The median 18- to 29-year-old uses iv of these platforms, but that figure drops to iii among thirty- to 49-twelvemonth-olds, to two among l- to 64-twelvemonth-olds and to one among those 65 and older.

A majority of social media users say information technology would not exist difficult to give up these sites

Even as a bulk of Americans at present apply social platforms of various kinds, a relatively large share of these users feel that they could surrender social media without much difficulty.

Some 59% of social media users think it would not be hard to requite up social media, with 29% indicating it would not be hard at all. Past contrast, 40% say they would indeed find it hard to give up social media – although only fourteen% think it would be "very difficult" to do this. At the same time, the share of social media users who would find it hard to surrender these services has grown somewhat in recent years. The Center asked an identical question in a survey conducted in Jan 2014, and at that time, 28% of social media users indicated they would take a difficult fourth dimension giving up social media, including 11% who said it would be "very hard."

These findings vary by historic period. Roughly half of social media users ages 18 to 24 (51%) say it would be hard to give up social media, but just 1-tertiary of users ages 50 and older feel similarly. The data also fit broadly with other findings the Center has collected about Americans' attitudes toward social media. Despite using them for a wide range of reasons, only 3% of social media users indicate that they have a lot of trust in the information they discover on these sites. And relatively few have confidence in these platforms to continue their personal data safe from bad actors.