There’s no denying that social media has redefined the way people connect with each other and the world around them. According to a report by Pew Research Center (PRC), the e-social landscape is shifting among major outlets that PRC tracks, especially how varying age groups engage with them.
Overall, the survey behind the report found that 85 percent of American adults are internet users—all figures that follow relate to those respondents who identified as such.
Facebook is still on top, with 72 percent of online adults saying they use Mark Zuckerberg’s goliath social media service. While that number is impressive, it’s also fairly stagnant, as surveys in 2013 and 2014 showed a similar figure of 71 percent.
Breaking it down by age group, 82 percent of those aged 18-29 use the service, as do 79 percent of 30-49-year-olds. Numbers drop a bit from there, with 64 percent of respondents aged 50-64 and just 48 percent of those 65 and older use Facebook. Among all of them, 70 percent check Facebook every day.
Pinterest has seen a jump in users since 2013, with 31 percent saying they’re on it compared to just 21 percent two years ago. However, only 27 percent of users say they log in every day, with 44 percent checking out pins less than once a week.
Instagram stayed fairly steady, with 28 percent of online adults saying they use the photo-centric service, up 2 percent from 2014. More people are logging in daily, though, with 59 percent on every day—and 35 percent who visit several times a day.
Instagram shows the biggest divide among age groups. Among 18-29-year-olds, 55 percent are onboard. That drops to 28 percent of those aged 30-49, 11 percent of 50-64-year-olds and just 4 percent aged 65 and older.
Among those polled who identifies as internet users, only 23 percent are on Twitter, with 38 percent of those looking at or sending tweets every day. Twitter shows another large divide, with only 11 percent of respondents aged 50 using the 140-character social media platform.
