That’s in keeping with the most recent knowledge from Pew Analysis, which surveyed over 1,300 US teenagers and their dad and mom between April and Might this yr, with a purpose to glean extra perception into which platforms are the principle focus for younger audiences, and the way a lot time they’re spending in every app.

As defined by Pew:

“[The survey] of American youngsters ages 13 to 17 finds TikTok is now a high social media platform for teenagers, with some 67% of teenagers saying they ever use TikTok, and 16% of all teenagers saying they use it virtually consistently. In the meantime, the share of teenagers who say they use Fb, a dominant social media platform amongst teenagers within the Heart’s 2014-15 survey, has plummeted from 71% then to 32% right now.”

As you possibly can see on this chart, YouTube nonetheless leads the way in which amongst teen customers, with 95% of all teenagers often utilizing the app. However TikTok is now the clear second in line, whereas Fb’s reputation has fallen off within the teen reputation stakes.

That’s no massive shock. Meta’s personal inside analysis has proven that each Fb and Instagram have seen declines amongst youthful audiences of late, which has seen Meta put extra of a concentrate on creating instruments for youthful audiences particularly. That’s why we’re now seeing a much bigger push on Reels and Tales, which has positively seen Reels utilization enhance, however it’s additionally seen the corporate go too exhausting on some components, which it not too long ago scaled again after poor person response.

There’s little doubt that TikTok is including new ranges of stress on Meta’s improvement groups, and these stats additional underline simply how important the platform has turn out to be, and spotlight the scope of the problem that Meta now has in conserving Fb related, as youthful customers proceed to show away from the app in massive numbers.

As a result of whereas older customers will certainly maintain Fb going, it is youthful audiences that dictate the subsequent massive tendencies and shifts. And whereas Meta doesn’t essentially want Fb to be a high precedence on this respect, it does want its metaverse push to take maintain with the youth, with a purpose to maximize adoption and resonance.

A part of the corporate’s ‘Meta’ re-brand is about distancing these two components, in order that even when Fb itself isn’t fashionable anymore, its VR instruments will be considered as separate. However inevitably, they are going to be linked, and it’s in Meta’s finest pursuits to keep up Fb’s youth enchantment, as finest it could, to assist usher within the subsequent stage.

Which might be a problem, based mostly on these new figures.

The identical development can be mirrored within the utilization stats, with YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat seeing way more common engagement than Fb.

After all, Instagram remains to be up there, and it’s nonetheless a preferred platform in lots of respects. However the numbers for Fb are fairly bleak:

Then once more, Twitter can be fairly far down this chart, and actually, it does appear that these ‘legacy’ social media networks are shedding their enchantment with youthful audiences, as video platforms acquire extra consideration, and alter person consideration spans and routine behaviors in totally new methods.

That’s why we now see a lot replication between apps, as a result of it’s not simply that children are spending extra time on TikTok, it’s that the rapid-fire nature of media consumption within the app is altering expectations and approaches totally, which renders different, extra conventional content material codecs out of date in some respects   

In different phrases, the recognition of TikTok is actually forcing different apps to play catch-up, as a result of it’s evolving how folks view what content material ought to be. Those who don’t look to maneuver into line with these tendencies will ultimately lose out – so actually, it’s probably much less of a aware alternative to repeat TikTok and different fashionable apps, as it’s a vital shift to maintain up with altering person behaviors.

When it comes to gender cut up, Pew’s knowledge additionally reveals that feminine customers are extra aligned with TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, whereas male teenagers are extra related to Twitch, Reddit and YouTube.

These are some essential demographic insights on your advertising and marketing planning, which might assist to dictate your vacation campaigns and experiments to see what outcomes you get.

Additionally, social media is now seen as a necessity for a lot of:

That, in itself, is probably going trigger for concern, however the knowledge underlines the essential, connective function that social media now performs in our trendy interactive course of, and conversely, why it’s now such a robust medium for promotion and connection.

It’s an fascinating snapshot of the present market, and the way younger customers align themselves with totally different social media apps. Which, once more, might be nice on your planning, and in case you are trying to attain younger audiences, you need to positively be being attentive to these stats.

You’ll be able to try Pew Analysis’s full ‘Teenagers, Social Media and Know-how 2022’ report right here.