YouTube dominates, X stalls, Snapchat drops: survey reveals US social media preferences

[midian182]

In a nutshell: A new report on the state of social media use among Americans has arrived. It's good news for Facebook, TikTok, and Reddit, which have seen their usage increase, but Elon Musk probably won't be pleased to see that X is stagnating.

The Pew Research Center's latest Americans' Social Media Use report shows that YouTube remains the most widely used "online platform," which seems like Pew's preferred term for the video-sharing site – the argument over whether YouTube should be classed as a social media company has raged for years.

A massive 84% of US adults say they ever use YouTube, noticeably more than second-place Facebook (71%). However, a higher percentage of adults say they go on the social network several times or at least once per day – 54% – compared to YouTube (48%).

Meta-owned Instagram is third on the list, though its usage hasn't increased compared to last year.

Despite the long-running saga – that could soon be over – surrounding TikTok's potential US ban/takeover of its American operations, ByteDance's app saw a sharp increase in users compared to last year, reaching 37%. WhatsApp and Reddit were also up, to 32% and 26%, respectively.

Like Instagram, the number of US adults who said they use X hasn't changed since last year, holding steady at 21%. The former Twitter platform's monthly active users were reportedly down YoY in September, though owner Musk likely disagrees with that claim.

The only social media platform to decline this year was Snapchat, falling to 25%.

For this year's survey, Pew ask about three new platforms, which are used by about one-in-ten or fewer US adults: Threads, Bluesky, and Truth Social. Threads leads with 8%, followed by Bluesky (4%) and Truth Social (3%).

The survey also examined the ages of platform users. Unsurprisingly, adults under 30 are more likely to use most of these platforms, with Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and Reddit particularly popular with those aged 18 – 29.

Facebook, which has been fighting to lose its "social media for old people" image for years, is more popular with over 30s, as is YouTube, though it's popular across all age groups.

Elsewhere in the findings, Americans with higher levels of formal education are more likely to report using some sites and apps, including Reddit, WhatsApp and Instagram – four-in-ten adults with at least a college degree say they use Reddit. Those with some college or less education are more likely to use TikTok.

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YouTube dominates, X stalls, Snapchat drops: survey reveals US social media preferences

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

The main thing I learned from this is that TikTok is the only social media platform that appeals to stupid people.

 

[adaplect]

I'm not an Elon fan (far from it) but I find myself using X faaaar more than I ever used Twitter.
Also Viber is extremely popular here in Greece.

 

[axiomatic13]

Thank goodness my kids avoid all thing's Meta and X. They are both highly intelligent and do not suffer fools.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Social media to me is just a bunch of people wanting to show each other what they found online.
Whether it's a funny meme, joke, quote, sweater, video or whatever. I can do all that on my own.

 

[candle86]

I don't know how anybody can realistically use Reddit it's a giant leftist echo chamber. I'll.stick to Quora it's better

 

[bviktor]

I don't know how anybody can realistically use Reddit it's a giant leftist echo chamber. I'll.stick to Quora it's better

Reddit would be great, would it not be for their snowflake moderation "principles" (lack of). And I say this as a mostly progressive person.

If you say anything that's a hot take that offends too many people, you _will_ end up being banned, it's only a matter of time. Of course it's always something utterly ridiculous. Like some dude said about something extremely annoying that "oh man, what an *****... but maybe I wouldn't punch him in the face" to which I replied: "I would".

That, in their book was a "violent" comment. Ok?

But what I don't understand is, why do they ban me GLOBALLY on the whole of reddit, just for some random jerk reporting me on some random sub, let alone perpetually? I tried to appeal, they rejected it. Then sometime later I realized I had another several years old acc, logged in, and the next day they banned it too, perpetually, for ban evasion.

Alright, you can suck it then I guess.

 

[MonicaPython2]

YouTube does a good job! I like it!

 

[PurpaFur]

I'll keep using iFunny. Most reliable news source I've ever found

 

[Bamda]

The main thing I learned from this is that TikTok is the only social media platform that appeals to stupid people.

X is up there too.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

X is up there too.

Wrong. Look at the chart from the article. 40% of people who didn’t go to college use TikTok while just 29% of college educated users use it. For X, 16% of people who didn’t go to college use it, while 24% of college educated users use it.

TikTok is the only social media platform that has an inverted relationship between education level and market penetration.

 

[ilovetohateyou]

Wrong. Look at the chart from the article. 40% of people who didn’t go to college use TikTok while just 29% of college educated users use it. For X, 16% of people who didn’t go to college use it, while 24% of college educated users use it.

TikTok is the only social media platform that has an inverted relationship between education level and market penetration.

Correlation is not causation.

TikTok has a clear advantage with the youth. You know, people who have yet to finish their education? Before it became popular Snapchat had the reputation as the social media platform preferred by young people.

WhileTikTok doesn't have the strongest relationship with youths vs. seniors, it has a strong one.

While we have lots of data that shows that generally speaking college educated individuals rate as more intelligent in a myriad of evaluations compared to individuals who only have a high school education--you can't actually determine from the above data that TikTok has the stupidest users.

P.S. Not since 2006. Rightfully so.