1 in 5 teens on YouTube, TikTok almost all the time

Social media sites such as YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram remain extremely popular with teenagers. Around nine in 10 teenagers use YouTube, making it the most widely used platform among young people, according to a new US survey.

According to the “Teens, Social Media and Technology 2023” report from the Pew Research Center,* conducted among more than 1,400 US teens aged 13 to 17, adolescents maintain a high level of social media use, with some claiming that their use of these sites is “almost constant.”

Some 93% of teens surveyed cited YouTube as the platform they use most, followed by TikTok for 63%, Snapchat for 60% and Instagram for 59%.

However, frequency of use varies by platform. For example, around 70% of teens visit YouTube daily, and 16% say they’re on the site almost constantly. TikTok follows with 58% of daily users, 17% of whom use it almost constantly. Snapchat and Instagram also see daily use from around 50% of teens, but Snapchat has slightly more “almost constant” users than Instagram (14% vs. 8%). Facebook, meanwhile, is used daily by just 19% of teens.

“The share of teens using these platforms has remained relatively stable since spring 2022, when the Center last surveyed on these topics. For example, the percentage of teens who use TikTok is statistically unchanged since last year,” reads the report.

“Older teens are more likely than younger teens to use many of the platforms asked about, including Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Reddit. For example, while 68% of teens ages 15 to 17 say they use Instagram, this share drops to 45% among teens ages 13 and 14.”

TikTok: more popular with girls?

The study highlights significant differences in social media use between teen boys and girls. Girls are more likely to use platforms like TikTok (22%) and Snapchat (17%) almost constantly compared to boys (12% for TikTok and Snapchat). These trends suggest that platforms like TikTok and Snapchat may offer experiences or content that resonate more with teenage girls.

However, there is little difference between boys and girls when it comes to almost constant use of YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. There’s a slight lead for boys (18%) over girls (15%) on the YouTube platform, and conversely a small predominance of girls on Instagram, with 10% versus 7% for boys, and on Facebook, with 4% versus 1%.

Overall, girls are more likely to say they use Instagram than boys, at 66% versus 53%. Plus, BeReal, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook are more commonly used by teen girls. In contrast, teenage boys are more likely to use Discord (34% vs. 22%) and Twitch (22% vs. 11%). In addition, a higher proportion of boys use Reddit and YouTube than girls.

Ethnic background

The teens’ responses also reveal some interesting trends based on their ethnic background. Higher percentages of Black and Hispanic teens report “almost constant” use of YouTube, Instagram and TikTok compared to White teens. In particular, TikTok use is significantly higher among Hispanic teens, with 32% reporting almost constant use, compared to 20% for Black teens and 10% for White teens. These differences may reflect variations in cultural preferences or communication patterns within these communities.

Among Black teens, 80% report using TikTok, compared to 70% of Hispanic teens and 57% of White teens. Twitter also shows racial disparities, with more frequent use among Black teens compared to their Hispanic and White counterparts.

As for WhatsApp, the figures show a marked preference among Hispanic teens, surpassing use by Black and White teens. On the other hand, BeReal stands out as a platform preferred by White teens, compared to Black or Hispanic teens.

*Pew Research Center conducted an online survey of 1,453 US teenagers from September 26 to October 23, 2023, via Ipsos.