In a fall 2023 survey, it was found that TikTok was the most important social network for 38 percent of U.S. teens. Snapchat ranked second, with 28 percent of teenagers in the United States stating it to be their favorite, ahead of Instagram. Teens and the internet in the United States It is no secret that the young really know what’s what when it comes to new technologies these days. Especially those born in the internet era and who only know of analog telephones and cameras from stories of their elders seem to be constantly online and always following the latest tech trends. In fact, a recent survey shows that some 92 percent of American teens accessed the internet on a daily basis, where 56 claim to connect several times a day, and 24 percent are connected almost constantly to the internet. Furthermore, the move from desktop computers to mobile devices insured that teenagers would be some of the most fervent users of mobile internet, anytime, anywhere.

The most-used social media site among teenagers and young adults in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2020 was YouTube. A survey carried out by AudienceProject revealed that 82 percent of 15 to 25-year-olds said they used the video-sharing platform, making it more popular than Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.

YouTube stars

The leading celebrity YouTube channel in the UK in terms of the number of subscribers is Ed Sheeran. The pop singer had a 42.8 million subscribers as of December 2019. Other popular celebrity channels were One Direction and Adele, although Ed Sheeran had more subscribers than both of these combined.

Social media and generational differences

Comparing the social media sites most used by other age groups reveals some interesting differences. In the 26 to 35 age group, Facebook was the most popular social media platform with 82.5 percent. Of those aged 36 to 45, less than 30 percent used Facebook, and just 13.2 percent used YouTube.

This statistic gives information on the most popular social media sites used by teenage and young adult internet users in the United States as of the third quarter of 2020. During the survey period, it was found that 63 percent of responding internet users aged 15 to 25 years used social photo sharing app Instagram.

Despite Snapchat's dominance, Facebook continues to be the more widely used social networking site used by teenagers and young adults7. A total of 50 percent of respondents currently use Facebook, compared to 48 percent of respondents who stated that they used Snapchat. Yet when teens, whose average age was 16, rated their most important social network, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter where given more important ratings than Facebook. These social networks are being increasingly visited via mobile devices.

As of September 2023, 29 percent of Facebook users in the United States were aged 30 to 39 years, while a further 29 percent of users were aged 50 to 64 years, making these demographics the biggest audiences of the online network in the country. Meta’s Instagram was also popular among users aged 30 to 39 years, who accounted for 32 percent of the audience of the photo-based platform, while those aged 18 to 29 years accounted for another third of the network’s U.S. users. Overall, TikTok and Snapchat were the most popular social media platforms amongst younger audiences, while LinkedIn was the least used platform by those aged 18 to 29 in the United States as of 2023.

The social media market in the United States

The number of social media users in the United States has shown continuous growth in the past years, and it is forecast to continue increasing to reach 342 million users in 2029. As of 2023, the social network user penetration in the United States amounted to an impressive 91.56 percent, meaning that more than nine in ten people in the country engaged with online platforms. Furthermore, Facebook was by far the most popular social media platform in the United States, accounting for 45 percent of all social media visits in 2023, followed by Pinterest with 21.2 percent of visits.

The global social media landscape

As of April 2024, 5.07 billion people were social media users, accounting for 62.6 percent of the world’s population. Northern Europe was the region with the highest social media penetration rate with a reach of 80.2 percent, followed by Western Europe with 78.2 percent and Eastern Asia 74.9 percent. In contrast, less than one in ten people in Middle Africa used social networks. Facebook’s popularity is not limited to the United States: this network leads the market on a global scale, and it accumulated more than three billion monthly active users (MAU) as of 2024, which is far more any other social media platform. 272014 YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp followed, all with two billion or more MAU.

As of November 2023, TikTok was the most popular online platforms among children and teens aged between three and 17 years in the United Kingdom. Snapchat followed, with 36 percent of respondents reporting to use the chat app. Instagram ranked third, with around 30 percent of young users engaging with the popular social video platform as of November 2022. What do UK kids do on their mobiles? Apart from homework, research, and conducting school projects, kids look for entertainment on their phones. In 2022, YouTube was the most popular video app for younger audiences, with almost seven in 10 kids in the UK engaging with the popular social video platform. Despite YouTube’s popularity, downloads of the YouTube Kids app have experienced a decrease recently, going from 1.99 million downloads in 2020 to approximately 1.5 million downloads in 2022. Gaming was also a popular activity for the younger app usage generation, with seven in 10 UK kids reporting to use Roblox on their smartphones. Tech for parents: helping children using apps in the best way While institutions agree that kids’ online safety cannot be left to individuals alone, UK parents have been deeply concerned with what can be done with their personal forces to ensure online safety and privacy are respected. As of November 2022, 55 percent of parents of boys and 57 percent of parents of girls were aware of the possibility of asking their mobile phone networks to block access to adult or inappropriate content. Over two in 10 parents of kids aged between eight and 11 used parental control apps, but only about one in 10 parents of kids between three and 17 years of age reported doing the same.

Facebook and YouTube are still the most used social media platforms today.

The results of which gender uses which platforms are in.

In 2022, YouTube was the most used online platform by teens in the United States, with 89.4 percent of respondents reporting using the platform at least once per month. Overall, TikTok was the second most used social media platform by teens in the U.S., with over 66 percent of respondents using the service. By 2026, it is estimated that 73 percent of teens in the U.S. will be using the popular video app.

Gen Z and Millennials are the biggest social media users of all age groups.

90% of people aged 18-29 use social media in some form. 15% of people aged 23-38 admit that they are addicted to social media.

The average person has 8-9 social media accounts. This has doubled since 2013, when the average person just had 4-5 accounts.

Regional use of social media has a significant effect on the male and female social media statistics.

In France in 2021, 81.5 percent of French teenagers aged 11 to 18 years old declared in a survey conducted to analyze the social media behaviors of children, that they used Snapchat the most, while 73.5 percent used mainly Instagram. The same survey mentioned a difference between 11 to 14 year olds and 14 to 18 year olds, where a significant difference in the usage of Instagram could be observed. Only 58 percent of 11 to 14 year olds were using the social media service compared to 75 percent of 14 to 18 year olds.  

Social media preferences among French young adults  

According to another survey from 2021, Instagram ranked as one of the preferred social media among French young adults: 83 percent of respondents declared using it, before Snapchat, who was the forerunner in 2018. More generally, although social networks as Facebook were used regularly by a majority of surveyed, 55 percent of French also declared, based on Statista’s Global Consumer Survey, to use media sharing platforms like Instagram and Snapchat regularly.  

Social media usage in France  

Still according to the Statista Global Consumer Survey conducted in 2020, 70 percent of responding French people said to use social media as Facebook or Instagram daily. But, what do French adults and children do on social media? For adults, the most employed feature of social media was sending private messages, which correlates with the fact that Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp were the two first used services before Snapchat. For children, the activities were similar: most children responded to be communicating with their friends and family as well as watch videos. However, some children responded with having fears of using social media platforms. Most were afraid of being harassed, but what these children had already encountered were arguments with strangers.

56.8% of the world’s total population is active on social media.

Over 210 million people worldwide suffer from social media addiction.

TikTok comes in 6th position in a list of the world’s most-used social media sites today.

I’ve compiled a list of the latest social media user statistics showing just how big social media has become and where it’s likely to go in the future.

This survey represents the top social media platforms in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2020 according to the 15-25 age group (Gen Z). The most popular app for them is Instagram with 27 percent of respondents claiming it is one of the social media platforms they can least do without. It is followed by WhatApp and Messenger, which are essential for 19 percent and 13 percent of respondents respectively.

Audience reach

Its ability to engage users and serve highly relevant advertisements based on visitor habits and interaction on a platform makes social media a highly effective marketing tool. Facebook, the leading app amongst Gen Z has roughly 2.7 billion active users globally and is able to reach a large audience at relatively low cost. According to a 2019 survey, it is also the preferred way 18-24 year-olds in the UK want to hear from brands.

Gen Z and social media marketing

According to a survey conducted in 2019, whilst different age groups followed brands on social media for varying reasons, Gen Z and Millennials mainly did so in order to receive discounts as well as product updates. This makes them ideally positioned for social media advertising. Despite this, opinion still varies when it comes to influencer led marketing, with a majority of UK consumers believing brands should be more transparent in disclosing their use of influencers and 88 percent believing they should be informed in such a case.

38.5% of Twitter users are aged 25-34 and make up the biggest age group on the platform. Only 6.6% of Twitter users are aged 13-17.

As of May 2022, media and instant messaging app Snapchat was the most visited social media for France users aged 15 to 24 years. Overall, 6.1 million young users accessed Snapchat daily. Instagram followed, with 5.1 million daily active users belonging to this age group. TikTok, although very popular with Gen Z audiences worldwide, ranked third in France with over three million daily active users aged between 15 and 24 years.