NEW DELHI: The researchers found Facebook remains the dominant social media network for young Americans despite the rise of new platforms.
Among the teens surveyed, 71% said they used Facebook, with Instagram owned by Facebook the number two social media service used by 52%.
Asked about other social media, 41% of teens said they use Snapchat, 33% named Twitter and Google Plus, 24% were on Twitter-owned Vine and 14% used Yahoo-owned Tumblr.
The figures appear to allay concerns that Facebook is being abandoned by youth as older Internet users join the world’s biggest social network.
“Even as Facebook remains an important platform for a majority of teens, Instagram is commanding the attention of half of teens, and Snapchat nearly that number,” said Lenhart.
“There are some interesting differentials in the most frequently used social platforms, with lower income teens using Facebook more often, while wealthier teens while still using Facebook are more likely than less wealthy teens to report that they use Snapchat or Twitter most often.”
More than two-thirds of the teens surveyed said they use more than one social network. But of those who use only one, 66% said they opted for Facebook, with Google Plus and Instagram tied for second place with 13% each.
The report was based on an online survey of 1,060 teens from September 25 to October 9, 2014 and February 10 to March 16, 2015. The margin of error was estimated at 3.7 percentage points.
