Facebook Still the Top Social Site [Infographic]

Laura Donovan — January 12, 2017 Follow @thewordpro

— January 12, 2017

Pew Research Center has released their latest findings on Social Media usage. They report that, today around seven-in-ten Americans use social media to connect with one another, engage with news content, share information, and entertain themselves.

Pew Research Center began tracking Social Media data in 2005. At that time, only 5% of Americans were using Social Networks. Six years later, in 2011, the number rose to 50% and today they report that 69% of the public uses some type of Social Media.

Breaking down usage by age groups, the study found:

• 86% of adults aged 18 to 29 use Social Media.
• 80% of adults aged 30 to 49 use Social Media.
• 64% of adults aged 50 to 64 use Social Media.
• 34% of adults aged 65 and older use Social Media.

To break it down, the majority of any targeted demographics are using Social Media to connect, research and get information. Even though the 65 plus crowd is not huge, it is still worthwhile to use the sites to target this group.

The Pew report also broke down the usage by site, delineating the percentage of people using each platform. Facebook is still the top site, by a lot. The top five platforms include:

1. Facebook – 68%.
2. Instagram – 28%.
3. Pinterest – 26%.
4. LinkedIn – 25%.
5. Twitter – 21%.

Facebook’s popularity has remained consistent through the years. It has always been the most used Social site and still is, by quite a large margin.

Additionally, breaking it down by gender, age group, education level, income level and living area the top used site is Facebook. (See the full breakdown here.)

These users are also using Facebook more often than the other sites, 76% of the Facebook users check the site daily, compared to only 51% checking Instagram daily and 18% checking Pinterest daily.

The takeaway – people of all ages, locations, incomes, educational level, and areas are using Social Media and the Social Platform of choice is Facebook. If you plan to increase your marketing efforts (or start) on Social Media, you may want to make sure Facebook is at the top of your plan.

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