Teens deserting Facebook for TikTok and YouTube
YouTube’s dominance, Facebook’s fading popularity and TikTok’s growth among teenagers are confirmed in a new survey of social media in the US. Alphabet-owned YouTube is used by 95% of teens, TikTok is number 2 with 67% followed by Instagram and Snapchat while Facebook has fallen to 32%. After that follows Twitter, Twitch, WhatsApp, Reddit and Tumblr with smaller shares, according to the study by Pew Research Center.
The survey of American teenagers ages 13 to 17 shows TikTok has rocketed in popularity and now is a top social media platform for teens. Some 67% of teens say they ever use TikTok, with 16% of all teens saying they use it almost constantly. Meanwhile, the share of teens who say they use Facebook, a dominant social media platform among teens 2014-15, has plummeted from 71% then to 32% today. YouTube tops the 2022 teen online as it is used by 95% of teens.
“Changes in the social media landscape since 2014-15 extend beyond TikTok’s rise and Facebook’s fall. Growing shares of teens say they are using Instagram and Snapchat since then. Conversely, Twitter and Tumblr saw declining shares of teens who report using their platforms. And two of the platforms the Center tracked in the earlier survey – Vine and Google+ – no longer exist”, the survey says.
“There are some notable demographic differences in teens’ social media choices. For example, teen boys are more likely than teen girls to say they use YouTube, Twitch and Reddit, whereas teen girls are more likely than teen boys to use TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. In addition, higher shares of Black and Hispanic teens report using TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp compared with White teens.”
35% of teens say they are using at least one of YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook “almost constantly.” Teen TikTok and Snapchat users are particularly engaged with these platforms, followed by teen YouTube users in close pursuit. A quarter of teens who use Snapchat or TikTok say they use these apps almost constantly, and a fifth of teen YouTube users say the same.
When looking at teens overall, 19% say they use YouTube almost constantly, 16% say this about TikTok, and 15% about Snapchat.
55% say they spend about the right amount of time on these apps and sites, while 36% say they spend too much time on social media. 8% think they should spend more time on these platforms.
54% say it would be at least somewhat hard to give it up using the social media, while 46% say it would be at least somewhat easy. Teen girls are more likely than teen boys to express it would be difficult to give up social media (58% vs. 49%).
The share of teens who say they are online almost constantly has roughly doubled since 2014-15 (46% now and 24% then).
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