Subscribe

Most US adults use social media

By Reuters
US, 09 Oct 2015

Social media usage among US adults has ballooned in the past decade, with about two-thirds now on social networking sites, Pew Research Centre said yesterday.

The 65% of adults in the United States using social media is up from 46% in 2010 and 7% in 2005, the year Pew began tracking usage.

Since the early 2000s, social media sites on the Internet have surged in popularity, from Friendster and Myspace to Facebook and Twitter, among others.

Social networking has evolved from people "poking" each other and connecting with one another, to law enforcement agencies and national leaders using the sites to disseminate information.

For its findings, Pew analysed 27 national surveys of Americans, about 47 000 interviews among adult Internet users, and about 62 000 interviews among all adults conducted from March 2005 to July 2015. Margins of error were up to around 3.9%.

Pew said the overall number of users of social networks has levelled off but there continues to be growth among some groups who were not early adopters, such as older Americans.

Social media use among those 65 and older has more than tripled to 35% since 2010, when only 11% used social media.

Those 18- to 29-year-olds are most likely to use social media and 90% of them use it today, compared to 78% in 2010, Pew said. In addition, Pew said usage among those aged 30 to 49 is up from 53% in 2010 to 77% this year.

Women began using social media more than men in 2009, but the difference has shrunk in recent years, Pew said, with 68% of women using social media in 2015, compared to 62% of men. These figures are up since 2010, when 50% of women and 42% of men used social media.

Those in higher-income households and those with at least some college experience have been more likely to use social media, according to Pew.

Historically, adults who live in rural communities have been the least likely to use social media, Pew said.

There are no notable differences in social media use among racial or ethnic groups - 65% of both white and Hispanic people and 56% of African American people currently use social media, said the centre.

Share