Facebook’s Popularity Plummets As YouTube Takes Top Spot With Teens

A Pew Research Center survey of American teenagers ages 13 to 17 finds Facebook usage is down as they gravitate toward video-centric social media apps.

The percentage of US teens who say they use Facebook dropped from 71%, recorded in a similar survey in 2015, to 32% in 2022.

TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat all eclipse Facebook in terms of popularity with US teens, though neither is at the top of the list.

The top spot belongs to YouTube, which is used by 95% of American teens.

Results of the survey conducted by Pew Research Center can assist businesses and marketers with reaching today’s generation of web users.

You’ll learn what social media apps they use, how much time they spend with each, and the devices they prefer to use when engaging with the apps.

Here are the highlights from Pew Research Center’s study on social media usage among US teens.

More US Teens Use YouTube Than Any Other Social Media App

Pew Research Center’s survey asks whether US teens use 10 specific online platforms.

These are the rankings, along with the percentage of respondents who say they use each app:

1. YouTube (95%)
2. TikTok (67%)
3. Instagram (62%)
4. Snapchat (59%)
5. Facebook (32%)
6. Twitter (23%)
7. Twitch (20%)
8. WhatsApp (17%)
9. Reddit (14%)
10. Tumblr (5%)

Facebook isn’t the only app to decline in usage. Twitter and Tumblr are also down from when this survey was conducted in 2015.

TikTok, Twitch, WhatsApp, and Reddit are newcomers to the list with no historical survey data to compare.

Pew Research Center points out that usage differs slightly based on gender:

“Teen girls are more likely than teen boys to say they ever use TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, while boys are more likely to use Twitch and Reddit. Boys also report using YouTube at higher rates than girls, although the vast majority of teens use this platform regardless of gender.”

Breakdown Of Social Media Usage Among US Teens

When asked about the frequency that teens use the top five social media platforms, the survey finds:

• Nearly 75% visit YouTube daily, and 41% say they visit several times daily.
• 58% visit TikTok daily, and 32% say they visit several times daily.
• 51% visit Snapchat daily, including 29% who visit several times daily.
• 50% visit Instagram daily, including 27% who visit several times daily.

When asked if it would be hard to give up using social media, 58% said it would be at least somewhat challenging to do.

Breakdown Of Social Media Usage By Device

Nearly all US teens (95%) have access to a smartphone in 2022, which is up from 73% in 2015.

Teens’ access to other internet-connected devices, such as desktop or laptop computers or gaming consoles, has remained statistically unchanged.

Today, 97% of teens say they use the internet daily on at least one device, compared with 92% of teens in 2015 who said the same.

More significant is the increase in respondents who say they use the internet “almost constantly,” which is 46% in 2022 compared to 24% in 2015.

Other Notes About The Survey

Data presented in this article is based on findings from an online survey of 1,316 teens conducted by the Pew Research Center from April 14 to May 4, 2022.

This article contains a small sample of data available in the complete study. More details about the use of digital technologies by teens are available from Pew Research Center.

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