The Most Popular Social Platforms in the US Are …
February 14, 2024—Attention social media usage nerds! When it comes to the platforms people prefer, the big are staying strong and everyone else is battling for smaller scraps. This new chart from Pew Research Center shows that trend perfectly.
🎦 83% of US adults ever use YouTube (vs 81% in 2021)
👍🏻 68% use Facebook (that hasn't really changed since 2016, but I think holding steady is a remarkable accomplishment for a 20-year-old platform)
📸 47% use Instagram (vs 40% in 2021)
As for the rest of the platforms? Although some are growing, they are all clustered between 22% and 35% (except BeReal, in the lowly 3% spot).
A few notable gainers in that pack include:
💪🏻 TikTok (33% vs 21% in 2021)
💪🏻 WhatsApp (29%, up from 23% in 2021)
💪🏻 Pinterest (35% vs 31% in 2021)
💪🏻 Reddit (22% vs 18% in 2021)
It's important to note that Pew made a major change in how it does its surveys (switching from telephone to web- and mail-based), which means assessing trends is more challenging.
The TikTok growth is certainly real, and WhatsApp's may be as well. It's harder to know if the gains for Pinterest and Reddit are noteworthy. The next Pew study will help.
Check out the full factsheet for more. It has a ton of usage data broken down by demographic, and it's interactive so you can play around with the views.
