Pew Research Center has released its latest Social Media Fact Sheet, detailing usage of platforms by users’ age, income, geographic location, and other demographics.
The report, based on a survey of over 5,600 American adults from Feb. 1 to June 10, 2024, generally reflects the status quo—so it offers either reinforcement for your business’ efforts or inspiration to change them up.
According to Pew’s data, far and away the most popular social app—if you even call it that—is YouTube. Surprisingly, the age group using it the most isn’t the youngest: Those ages 35–49 have that lead, with 94% saying they use the platform. The 18–29 group is an extremely close second, with 93%.
The report doesn’t dive into the type of content viewed on YouTube, but it does tell us this: The demographic groups with highest usage are male (gender), Asian (race/ethnicity), suburban (type of community), $100,000+ (annual household income), college graduate (education), and Democrat-leaning (political party affiliation). The buying power alone of YouTube’s most frequent users makes it a relevant platform for jewelry businesses to consider advertising or creating content on.
Facebook is the second most widely used social media, with much higher usage than any other platform besides YouTube, according to Pew’s research. Again, the age group using it most seems surprising: Though Facebook has been perceived to have lost much of its cool factor when its gained popularity among older users—and became dominated by the rants of your distant Uncle Al and company—Pew’s data shows that people ages 30–49 are the most frequent users of Facebook (78% of them say they have used it), while the 65+ demographic holds the lowest percentage of use (59%).
Notably more women than men—78% versus 61%—say they’ve used Facebook, while by household income, there is a tie between the $30,000–$69,999 and $70,000–$99,999 brackets for top users (73% of people in both say they’ve used the app). The groups with the biggest percentage saying they use the app are: for race, Black (73%); per education, “some college” (71%); community where they live, rural (74%); and political party, Republican (72%, a slight edge over 69% for Democrat).
So what does this say for advertisers? It doesn’t appear that Facebook is the platform to reach your highest-dollar demographic, yet it accounts for a pretty well-rounded range of shoppers. If you haven’t yet tried advertising on Facebook, there’s an opportunity here to dip your toe (or a small portion of your marketing budget) in, particularly during the holiday season.
Instagram might be your and my favorite social media, but only half of those surveyed say they use it. The youngest demographic, 18–29, holds the highest usage (76%), and women dominate the app (55% versus 44% of men). By household income, Instagram is most popular with the highest bracket, $100,000+ (named by 58%); by education, college graduates have the highest usage (57%), and in terms of race and ethnicity, Asian (62% say they use it).
Other platforms show significant use among certain demographics even if overall they have less of an audience than YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. Pinterest, for example, is equally as popular with people 18–29 as it is with the 30–49 age group (43% in each demographic say they have used it) and considerably bigger with women (55% versus only 19% of men). It’s also the only app where the racial group that uses it the most is white (37%, followed closely by 36% for Black and 35% Hispanic). In the survey, 40% of those with household income of $100,000 and up say they ever use Pinterest, which is the top group by income.
TikTok and Snapchat have much larger age discrepancies than other apps, according to the Pew report, with people 18–29 accounting for the highest percentages using those platforms (59% and 65%, respectively).
(Image courtesy of Pew Research Center)
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