TikTok Expands Lead As Teens’ Favorite

TikTok continues its ascent. Fresh off becoming teens’ favorite social media platform earlier this year, it has built on its lead in this latest edition of Piper Sandler’s semi-annual Taking Stock with Teens survey.

In this Fall 2022 survey almost 4 in 10 (38% share of) US teens surveyed named TikTok their favorite social media platform, up from 33% in the previous survey conducted during the Spring. Snapchat, the last leader prior to TikTok’s ascendance, remained the second-most preferred platform, but lost a percentage point to 30% share. Instagram, which last led the teen social media popularity sweepstakes in 2015, also lost ground, cited by 20% of surveyed teens as their favorite (from 22% in the Spring).

The only other platforms highlighted in the survey’s findings are afterthoughts: Discord (4% share, down from 5% in the Spring); Facebook (2% share, down from 3%); and Twitter (2% share, flat).

Instagram Remains the Most-Used Platform

Although TikTok is the favorite platform for the largest share of respondents, Instagram retains its lead as the most widely used. Some 87% of respondents in this latest edition of the survey said they use it at least monthly, down slightly from 89% in the previous survey, but up from 81% in the Fall of 2021.

Snapchat and TikTok are tied, with 83% of teens using each monthly, but the platforms experienced differing fates. Snapchat, like Instagram, was down slightly in usage from the survey earlier this year (84%), while up from the same time last year (77%).

TikTok, for its part, continues to grow, with its 83% adoption rate up from 80% in the Spring and 73% in the Fall of 2021.

Recent research indicates that on a global scale, the percentage of active installs with daily app opens is higher for Instagram than TikTok app owners, but that TikTok users spend more time on the app than Instagram users spend on the Meta-owned platform.

That time could grow: additional studies are finding that people are increasingly using TikTok to search for and purchase products. Moreover, 1 in 10 American adults are now regularly getting news on the platform.

Meanwhile, returning to the Piper Sandler results, teens average an estimated 4.4 hours per day using social media, up from roughly 4.2 hours in previous surveys.