The following analysis discusses the demographic characteristics of each of the five social media platforms in the survey.
Facebook — 72% of adult internet users/62% of entire adult population
Fully 72% of online American adults use Facebook, a proportion unchanged from September 2014. Usage continues to be especially popular among online women, 77% of whom are users. In addition, 82% of online adults ages 18 to 29 use Facebook, along with 79% of those ages 30 to 49, 64% of those ages 50 to 64 and 48% of those 65 and older.
Pinterest — 31% of adult internet users/26% of entire adult population
Some 31% of online adults use Pinterest, a proportion that is unchanged from the 28% of online adults who did so in September 2014. Women continue to dominate Pinterest – 44% of online women use the site, compared with 16% of online men. Those under the age of 50 are also more likely to be Pinterest users – 37% do so, compared with 22% of those ages 50 and older.
Instagram — 28% of adult internet users/24% of entire adult population
Some 28% of online adults use Instagram, a proportion that is unchanged from the 26% of online adults who did so in September 2014. Instagram continues to be popular with non-whites and young adults: 55% of online adults ages 18 to 29 use Instagram, as do 47% of African Americans and 38% of Hispanics. Additionally, online women continue to be more likely than online men to be Instagram users (31% vs. 24%).
LinkedIn — 25% of adult internet users/22% of entire adult population
A quarter of online adults use LinkedIn, a proportion that is unchanged from the 28% of online adults who did so in September 2014. As was true in previous surveys of LinkedIn usage, the platform is especially popular among working-age adults as well as college graduates and those with relatively high household incomes. LinkedIn is the only major social media platform for which usage rates are higher among 30- to 49-year-olds than among 18- to 29-year-olds. Fully 46% of online adults who have graduated from college are LinkedIn users, compared with just 9% of online adults with a high school diploma or less. The site continues to be popular among the employed – 32% are LinkedIn users, compared with 14% of online adults who are not employed.
Twitter — 23% of all internet users/20% of entire adult population
Some 23% of all online adults use Twitter, a proportion that is identical to the 23% of online adults who did so in September 2014. Internet users living in urban areas are more likely than their suburban or rural counterparts to use Twitter. Three-in-ten online urban residents use the site, compared with 21% of suburbanites and 15% of those living in rural areas. Twitter is more popular among younger adults — 30% of online adults under 50 use Twitter, compared with 11% of online adults ages 50 and older.
Frequency of Use on Social Media Sites
While there were no changes in overall usership on any site when comparing data from the fall of 2014 and the spring of 2015, a few social media platforms did see an increase in user engagement. The proportion of daily users on Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn increased significantly from 2014.
Today, 59% of Instagram users are on the platform daily, including 35% who visit several times a day. This 59% figure reflects a 10-point increase from September 2014 when 49% of Instagram users reported visiting the site on a daily basis. Similarly, the proportion of Pinterest users who visit the platform daily rose from 17% in September 2014 to 27% in April 2015, while the proportion of daily users on LinkedIn increased from 13% to 22% over the same time period.
Twitter saw no significant changes in its proportion of daily users. Some 38% of those on Twitter use the site daily, a figure that is statistically unchanged from the 36% who did in 2014.
Facebook continues to have the most engaged users – 70% log on daily, including 43% who do so several times a day. This overall proportion of daily users, however, is unchanged from the 70% who used Facebook daily in 2014.
