Social Media Usage Statistics by Age
Given the increasing number of social media users year after year, there’s no question that it should form part of every business’s growth strategy.
But before jumping into creating a social media marketing strategy, it’s important to understand the demographics, starting with the amount of social media usage by age.
What age group uses social media the most?
According to recent research studying social media usage statistics by age, as of 2021, US adults from 18 to 29 are the biggest users of social media. As many as 84% of them say they use at least one social network.
This is actually a slight dip from 2019, when social media usage among users of this age group peaked at 90%. In other words, just one in 10 US adults between the ages of 18 and 29 did not use social media.
Having this data on what age group uses social media the most isn’t enough. It also helps to know just what networks these different age groups are active on.
Recent statistics on social media usage by age show that nearly all (95%) of US adults aged 18 to 29 use the video-sharing platform YouTube. This is followed by Instagram, which is used by 71% of them. Facebook ranks third, with 70%, ahead of Snapchat, with 65%. Incidentally, they also rank among the most popular social media platforms.
The data analyzing social media usage by age also shows that the second-largest age group active on social sites is 30 to 49. Eighty-one percent of them use one or more social media platforms.
The favorite social network of this group of users is YouTube, which 91% of them use. This is followed by Facebook, with 77%, and Instagram, with 48%
The third-largest age group using social media in the US is adults between 50 and 64, at 73%. The majority of them are frequent users of YouTube and Facebook, both of which are used by more than 70%.
Finally, statistics on social media usage by age show that people who use social media the least are 65 and older. Fewer than half of these users (45%) use at least one social network. Those that do prefer Facebook and YouTube, which are frequented by around half of the users in this age group.