News flash, teens are using social media. Oh you already know that? Is it hard to believe that 92% of teens go online at least once a day? Surprisingly not, especially now that nearly three out of every four teens have access to a smartphone. It seems nowadays teens all have their hands glued to their phones as if their phone has morphed into some high-tech growth on their palms; flashing social media news feeds and memes every five seconds. So what social media sites are teens addicted to and using day in and day out? According to a new study by Pew Research Center :
Facebook remains the most used social media site among American teens ages 13 to 17 with 71% of all teens using the site, even as half of teens use Instagram and four-in-ten use Snapchat. Teens are diversifying their social network site use. A majority of teens — 71% — report using more than one social network site out of the seven platform options they were asked about. Among the 22% of teens who only use one site, 66% use Facebook, 13% use Google+, 13% use Instagram and 3% use Snapchat.
It’s not surprising that Facebook reigns king when it comes to social media engagement among teens. For years Facebook has been the place to go for people of all ages. What’s surprising (or not surprising) is the percentage of teens that also use other forms of social media. According to the graph provided by Pew Research Center, 52% of teens use Instagram, and 41% of teens use Snapchat in addition to Facebook.
Pew also gave us some insight into what platform is being used most often. Again, Facebook comes out on top:
When asked which platforms they used most often, the overall population of teens in this sample (ages 13 to 17) reported that Facebook was the site they used most frequently (41% said that), followed by Instagram (20%) and Snapchat (11%).
With Instagram and Snapchat becoming more popular, we are left asking ourselves, “will Facebook ever lose the number one spot.” While it seems unlikely, online giants have fallen from grace before. (Think Myspace, AIM, and AOL.) As more teens move to other social media platforms, that reality continues to seem a bit more plausible.
Twitter and Google+ took me by surprise. If you were to ask me two years ago what would be the most popular social media platforms, I never would have put Twitter or Google+ below Instagram and Snapchat based on my experience of others using the services. It appears teens enjoy simple and unique ways to communicate with their friends; which Instagram and Snapchat offer.
It will be interesting to see the results five years from now. Will Facebook continue to dominate in sheer numbers? Or will Instagram or Snapchat take the number one spot? Let us know who you think will take the lead in the comment section below.