YouTube, TikTok top list of teens’ most used social platforms

Despite growing concerns about the impact of social media on the nation’s youth, teens continue to use these platforms at high, “almost constant” rates.

YouTube ranked as the most widely used (93%) online platform among U.S. teens for the second consecutive year in Pew Research Center’s annual survey of U.S. teens. TikTok ranked second (63%), followed by Snapchat (60%) and Instagram (59%). 

Rounding out the top five was Facebook, which once dominated the social media landscape among youth. The platform’s share of teens who use the site has plunged  from 71% in 2014-2015 to 33% in the recent survey. Taken together, a third of teens use at least one of the top five sites almost constantly, according to the study.

Other online platforms cited in the survey included Discord (28%),WhatsApp (21%),  X, previously called Twitter (20%), Twitch (17%), Reddit (14%) and BeReal (13%).

The survey — conducted Sept. 26-Oct. 23 among 1,453 13- to 17-year-olds – covered social media, internet use and device ownership among teens, with some describing their social media use as “almost constant.”

When it comes to going online, nearly half of teens say they use the internet “almost constantly,” up from 24% in the 2014-2015 survey.

Here are some of the other the key findings from the Pew study:

•YouTube, the most widely used platform measured in the survey, is also frequently visited by its users. About seven-in-ten teens say they visit the video-sharing platform daily, including 16% who report being on the site almost constantly.

•At the same time, 58% of teens are daily users of TikTok. This includes 17% who describe their TikTok use as almost constant.

•About half of teens use Snapchat and Instagram daily. Far fewer teens say they use Facebook on a daily basis (19%), with only 3% saying they are on the site almost constantly

•Teen girls are more likely than boys to say they almost constantly use TikTok (22% vs. 12%) and Snapchat (17% vs. 12%).

•Older teens are more likely than younger teens to use many of the platforms asked about, including Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Reddit. For example, while 68% of teens ages 15 to 17 say they use Instagram, this share drops to 45% among teens ages 13 and 14.

•Smartphone ownership is nearly universal among teens of different genders, ages, races and ethnicities, and economic backgrounds. 

For the full study, click here.