Edison: Social Media Preferences Vary By Age

There are now approximately 223 million social media users age 12+ in the U.S., and their original social media platform of choice, Facebook, is losing ground among users of all ages, for various reasons.

The Social Habit 2019 is a new study from Edison Research designed to dig deeper after a finding from The Infinite Dial®2019 (fromEdison Research and Triton Digital® ) showed that Facebook has 15 million fewer users overall in the U.S. in 2019 than 2017.

The latest study shows that around one-third of Facebook users are using the platform less often than when they joined, regardless of age, but the reasons for using Facebook less vary widely with age. Those age 13-34 say they are using Facebook less because they enjoy other social media sites more, their friends don’t post much on Facebook, and because they are trying to avoid parents and relatives on the site. Those age 35+ say they are using Facebook less because they don’t like rants and have privacy concerns.

“Not only have millions of Americans stopped using Facebook entirely, nearly a third of Facebook users tell us they are using the service less. While Facebook remains the leading social media brand in America, it is being wounded on multiple fronts, as every demographic has their own reasons for spending less time there,” said Tom Webster, Senior Vice President at Edison Research.

Other findings include:

• The “core users” of the different social media brands, (those who use that one ‘most often’) have different demographic profiles.  Those who use  LinkedIn and Twitter most are more likely to be male. Pinterest and Facebook users are more likely to be female. Snapchat is evenly split.
• WhatsApp differentiates itself from other social media brands in the U.S. by having the most ethnically diverse user base. Thirty-eight percent of WhatsApp users are Hispanic, 28% are white, 27% are other ethnicity, and 7% are African American.
• Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter have the highest composition of U.S. users age 12-34. Facebook and Pinterest have the highest composition of U.S. users age 55+. LinkedIn claims the highest percentage of those age 35-54.

In qualitative interviews, Edison Research spoke with social media users age 18-29 who report using Facebook less recently or have stopped altogether. Those users describe some of the reasons they are using Facebook less, including avoiding family members on Facebook, experiencing discomfort with some of the “attention-seeking” they see on social media, and gravitating to other, more photo-heavy platforms. Paradoxically, though, the same users articulate FOMO, or Fear Of Missing Out, as they scan social media platforms, and feel compelled to participate in social media.