X, formerly Twitter, experienced a decline in its U.S. user base, dropping to an 18% share by August 2023. Conversely, Meta’s user engagement broadened from 73% to 77% between 2021 and 2023, with their new offering, Instagram Threads, securing 11% of users. While most platforms, including Reddit and LinkedIn, maintained their rankings with minor growth, user loyalty metrics highlighted Facebook and Instagram’s consistent user retention. In demographic insights, LinkedIn and Nextdoor attract highly educated users, while generational data indicates Gen Z favors Twitch and Discord. These user behavior trends are crucial for technology marketers crafting targeted strategies. This TUPdate reports on the percentage of online Americans who have visited each of the major social networking sites in 2021 through 2023 and profiles each site’s users by key demographics.
Highlights: User Profile
Sociodemographically distinct groups vary in composition, technology devices and services, and how they use what they have. Most advantaged groups have bolstered their technology collection during the pandemic and increased their usage levels. Most disadvantaged segments, meanwhile, have used what they have at hand more so than acquiring newer technology. Older millennials have the wealthiest collection of technology devices, well above that of every other age group. This TUP Highlights report includes the following sections: usage segments, segments, and trends in segments.
Highlights: Activities
What we do paints a richer picture than what we carry or own. All computers are not used the same and nor are smartphones or tablets. Each user has their preference about how they spend their time. Also, each user expresses their choices about which connected devices they turn to for each type of activity. While some see their tablets as passive movie screens, others rely on them as communication hubs. Some users prefer to shop on a computer, while others rely more on their smartphones.
This TUP Highlights report includes the following sections: main activities across all tech devices, major activities for each device type, activities unique to which device type, cross-device activities, the profile of activity type users, major activities for a market segment, home entertainment activities, the profile by key activities, and listening activities.
Profile of Americans using Instagram
Meta’s active reach has declined over time and has been bolstered by its active Instagram base. Instagram users are different from active Facebook or WhatsApp users, complementing shortfalls in Meta’s other two platforms. Thirty-nine percent of online Americans actively use Instagram. This MetaFAQs profiles active Instagram users by their age, age within gender, employment status, household size, life stage, and mix of technology ecosystems.
Profile of Americans using Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp
Meta engages nearly three-fourths of online Americans with its Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp platform. This MetaFAQs profiles American users of any of the three, Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp, by several critical demographic and behavioral factors distinctive from the average American online adult: age, age within gender, employment status, household size, life stage, number of home PCs used, and mix of technology ecosystems.
Active American social networkers by age
Facebook [Meta] has announced a move towards a metaverse. The current age profile of Facebook’s current active users is much older than most other leading networks. This TUP analysis profiles the age distribution of active users of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, these three netted together, SnapChat, Pinterest, and Nextdoor.
The decline of Meta among younger adults
Meta’s three main properties—Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp—have been waning in popularity from 2016 to 2021 among online adults. A major contributor to this is the younger generation, especially when it comes to use of Meta’s former namesake, Facebook.
This TUPdate reports on Meta’s active American users of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and any of the three (net) from 2016 to 2021. This report also considers younger online adults (aged 18-24) in the US and Germany.
Active use of social networks Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp by country [MetaFAQs]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, December 28, 2020
How many adults actively use Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp? How does this vary by country? How has their share shifted over time? This MetaFAQs shows the number of online adults who reported using these social networks in the previous 30 days in the US, Germany, and the UK.
How many social networks do Americans actively use? [MetaFAQs]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, December 23, 2020 The power of social networks comes alive with its connections, so people want to be where their friends and contacts are. However, not all networks are the same and some people choose different ones. How many social networking platforms do Americans actively use? Are they broadly connected…
Active use of Instagram by age group and country [MetaFAQs]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, December 18, 2020 How many adults regularly use Instagram? Is there an age skew? How does any age skew vary by country? This MetaFAQs reports on the active use of Instagram by age group and country. About MetaFAQs MetaFAQs are answers to frequently asked questions about technology users. The research…