By Michaela Gordoni
Most Americans love YouTube, a new study reveals.
According to the Pew Research Center’s latest social media report, 84% of Americans use YouTube, while 50% use Instagram and 71% use Facebook.
The least used social media site in the poll was Truth Social (3%). TikTok sat at 37%, WhatsApp at 32% and X at 21%. Though YouTube reigns supreme among adults, TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp and Reddit all have much higher usage rates than they did four years ago.
As TikTok growth inclines, so do its short-form videos, which can be dangerous when over-consumed. Short form videos are defined as “video content lasting from several seconds to several minutes in length.”
Related: YouTube Dominates Entertainment, But Where Does It Go From Here?
“Repeated exposure to highly stimulating, fast-paced content may contribute to habituation, in which users become desensitized to slower, more effortful cognitive tasks such as reading, problem solving or deep learning,” reported one study. “This process may gradually reduce cognitive endurance and weaken the brain’s ability to sustain attention on a single task.”
YouTube is also the most widely used social media among teens.
Among all sites, YouTube and Facebook are the only ones that share a majority in all age groups, though YouTube is more popular with younger adults, while Facebook is more used by older adults.
According to research from Data Reportal, people spend an average of 2 hours and 21 minutes on social media every day. The average user visits about 6.8 different social media platforms each month.
Over half (55%) of women use Instagram, while only 44% of men say they use it. Men used X and Reddit more frequently.
Hispanic (62%), Asian (58%) and Black adults (54%) reported higher usage of platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp and TikTok. Only 34% of White adults use the same apps.
When it comes to frequency of social media usage, about half of American adults say they visit Facebook and YouTube at least once a day. Only 24% say they use TikTok daily and only 10% use X.
Younger adults use YouTube and TikTok more daily than other adults.
Social Media Today writer Andrew Hutchison questioned the interpretation of Pew’s data, suggesting that readers shouldn’t assume these are the most popular apps based on how frequently people visit them.
“It’s an interesting indicator of overall trends, but…without an actual measure of time spent in each app, I don’t think this is highly indicative of actual popularity,” he explained.
Whether or not YouTube is popular in that measure, it’s certainly leading in the streaming sector. YouTube accounts for almost 13% of all TV viewing, which is more than Netflix (8%) and Disney+ (4.8%) combined, according to Nielsen data.
Read Next: The Surprising Way Most People Watch YouTube
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