Pew Research just released their newest report on Social Media – there’s some really interesting stats!
Here’s a very brief overview:
What social media platforms do Americans use the most? You can probably correctly guess this one:
- YouTube (83%)
- Facebook (68%)
- Instagram (47%)
They also included BeReal (and removed NextDoor). BeReal has a whopping 3% use.
TikTok is steadily growing in use. It’s up to 33% (from 21% in 2021).
Also … younger adults are still the primary users of social media. Adults under 30 are far more likely to use social media than are older adults. Especially for the newer platforms. TikTok for example – 62% of US adults under 30 use it, while just 4% of adults age 65+ use it. Same thing with Instagram – 78% of adults under 30 use it; 15% of adults over 65 use it.
YouTube and Facebook are the only two platforms that a majority of all age groups use.
Adults age 30 – 49 use LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Facebook the most. This makes sense to me. The LinkedIn use are young to middle-aged professionals working on networking with a more professional or industry-specific crowd. Facebook – everyone’s on it. WhatsApp? There is a lot of use with minority groups. I also know that a lot of small groups use these types of apps, like little league ball teams, to communicate about games and practices. That type of use definitely hits that 30-49 age group.
Twitter? Holding pretty steady at 22%. At this point, people who got uncomfortable with all the weirdness of Twitter/X/Elon have moved on, the people/orgs still finding some value there are still there.
What should libraries be thinking about for social media in 2024?
- Social media is visual. Don’t be afraid to use video and photos! The top three social media platforms are all highly visual, and have a strong focus on video of all types.
- Be on the Top Three Platforms. As an organization, you should probably be active on Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram.
- Think about TikTok. Go ahead and experiment with TikTok, at least as an individual! Also, don’t think of it as a teen platform. 62% of young adults (under age 30) use TikTok. I’m guessing you can easily create content for them!
- Tools for staff. If you haven’t, you might think about either purchasing tools for staff to make posting to social media easier. For example – do you need to purchase a mobile phone with solid video/photo features for your staff that post to social media?
- Twitter and Snapchat? You can ignore those, I think. If you’re already there, and it’s working for your organization … great! Continue using them. With Twitter/X, that might be longer or shorter, depending on what happens. I don’t necessarily think “it’s time to dump Twitter” like some people are saying. See if you have a large, active audience there. If you do, and you still get traction, then keep using it. If it’s something your organization either hasn’t used in awhile, or you haven’t been consistent there … then feel free to move on!