Facebook’s the Common Ground for Adults on Social Media

Despite its waning popularity among teenagers in the United States, Facebook remains the number 1 social media platform for those aged 18 and above. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 68 percent of U.S. adults use the world’s largest social network, putting it miles ahead of second-placed Instagram in terms of reach.

Social media usage among U.S. adults has increased slightly over the past two years with Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter all improving their reach compared to a similar survey conducted in 2016. However, since the main purpose of social networking is to connect with other people, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Facebook is the common ground for adult social media users in the United States.

As the following chart illustrates, roughly 9 in 10 adult users of any other social network can also be found on Facebook while most other platforms share a much lower proportion of their respective audiences. Interestingly, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat appear to be particularly popular among social media enthusiasts as users of these three platforms tend to use several others as well.

Facebook Infographic

Smartphones Beat TV for Young Adults in the U.S.

Despite the rise of mobile devices in recent years, there has always been one undeniable truth: TV was always king of media consumption. According to Nielsen’s most recent Total Audience Report, that truth is now beginning to fade.

While American adults on average still spend twice as much time watching TV as they do using apps or browsing the web on their phones, that no longer holds true for all age groups. Those aged 18 to 24 now spend significantly more time on their smartphones than they do watching traditional TV (both live and timeshifted).

As our chart illustrates, TV remains the most important screen for everybody else, but it is the beginning of a paradigm shift that will likely see television lose the position it has held for decades. Smartphones, tablets and online services will gradually change people’s media consumption habits until eventually, the idea of having to sit down in front of the TV at a fixed time to watch anything but live sports will be nothing but a distant memory.

This chart shows average weekly smartphone and TV usage of adults in the United States.

Infographic: Smartphones Beat TV for Young Adults in the U.S. | Statista You will find more statistics at Statista