Social media’s high penetration rate among Gen Z reflects the fact that the group grew up when social networking was already entrenched. Younger age demographics are also responsible for the shift away from Facebook and the growth in Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.
A broader array of social networks that cultivate specific audiences will lead to more fragmented social network usage in the years ahead.
Daily usage of Facebook among adults dropped significantly in the four years leading up to 2021, according to Abacus Data polling from this January. In 2017, 61% said they were daily Facebook users, but that dropped to 37% in 2021. In contrast, the shares of respondents who reported using Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn daily increased over the same period.
The dividing line of adulthood is where the largest usage differences appear within platforms. While 90% of adults said they had used Facebook in the past month, only 48% of teens reported doing so, according to March 2020 polling by Ad Hoc Research for MTM Junior. Teens’ usage of Snapchat (57%) was more than double that of adults.