According to a Pew Research Center study, about 71% of 18- to 29-year-olds say they handle Instagram, compared to 65% for Snapchat and about 48% for TikTok. The results published on Wednesday are from a recent phone survey of more than 1,500 Americans conducted from Jan. 25 to Feb.8.
- Karen North, a professor at the University of Southern California, said these apps’ ongoing fascination is that users can not only send texts and direct messages but also express themselves through videos and photos. She related the experience to going to nightclubs. “In some ways, we expect young people to find the hot new nightclub. And right now, the young crowd are going to these apps and will stay there for a little while and party until they find something new”, she said.
- Another expert, Helen Wang, an associate communication professor at the University of Buffalo said that Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok have specialties better tailored for this demographic. “They grew up drenched in rich media and they are naturally equipped with better digital media literacy skills to navigate across different platforms proficiently and nimbly,” Wang said.
- Pew’s latest social media conclusions came despite continued calls for more analysis and tougher supervision from the U.S. government to make major tech companies reinforce moderation on their floors by curbing hate speech, extremism, misinformation, election resistance, and other prevarications.
- Overall, YouTube (81%) and Facebook (69%) remain the most broadly used social media platforms as YouTube grew in reputation by 8% when a similar Pew survey was last conducted in 2019. The survey said Reddit also saw a 7 percentage point growth from two years ago.
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