New polling shows the percentage of Americans using social media sites is staggering: 62% of Americans use Facebook daily or weekly, while YouTube gets 59%. Instagram is third, with 39% daily or weekly users; Twitter has 24%; TikTok has 21%.
Younger Americans, most of whom grew up with social media, are more inclined to use these sites than older adults, including to post their own material. Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube are the most popular social media sites for younger adults 18 to 34, according to a recent Gallup poll, while Facebook and YouTube are the most visited sites for older adults.
Fifty-six percent of those 18 to 34 say they use Instagram daily or weekly, compared with 21% of Americans 55 and older. Additionally, young adults (66%) are more than twice as likely as the oldest adults (27%) to have an Instagram account and are five times more likely to post content at least occasionally on Instagram (33% to 6%).
Older Americans who are active on social media platforms are more likely to use social media for information and entertainment rather than to post their own content.
About half of Facebook account holders say they post content to that platform at least occasionally, according to the Gallup survey.
Relatively few YouTube members (11%) post their own content either frequently or occasionally. Far fewer Americans are on Twitter, but a full third of Twitter account holders post content.
Overall, 3% of U.S. adults say they previously had a Twitter account but no longer do after Elon Musk's controversial takeover. But 9% of U.S. adults say they are using Twitter more often, 36% say they are using it less often, and 51% about the same as before.
Fifty-eight percent of college graduates and 51% of upper-income respondents (those whose annual household income is $90,000 or greater) have LinkedIn accounts, compared with 26% of college nongraduates and 22% of lower-income respondents (those whose annual household income is less than $48,000).
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to hold social media accounts and to report being more active on social media, according to Gallup. For example, 37% of Democrats and 29% of Republicans have a Twitter account, and 14% of Democrats versus 8% of Republicans say they frequently or occasionally post content to Twitter.
The results are based on Gallup's Dec. 5-19 survey with more than 1,800 members of Gallup's probability-based U.S. panel who are aged 18 and older. The sample is designed to be representative of the U.S. adult population.
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