Pew Internet & American Life Releases “Social Media Update 2013”, New Adoption and Usage Findings Available

The Pew Internet & American Life Project Social Media Update 2013 was just released and is available here. A PDF version (17 pages) of the report is also available.

Selected Findings

Overall Usage

Some 73% of online adults now use a social networking site of some kind. Facebook is the dominant social networking platform in the number of users, but a striking number of users are now diversifying onto other platforms.
Some 42% of online adults now use multiple social networking sites. In addition, Instagram users are nearly as likely as Facebook users to check in to the site on a daily basis.

More than Facebook

While Facebook is popular across a diverse mix of demographic groups, other sites have developed their own unique demographic user profiles. For example,

Pinterest holds particular appeal to female users (women are four times as likely as men to be Pinterest users).

LinkedIn is especially popular among college graduates and internet users in higher income households.

Twitter and Instagram have particular appeal to younger adults, urban dwellers, and non-whites.

There is substantial overlap between Twitter and Instagram user bases.

Only One Platform

Among those who only use one major social networking platform, 84% say that Facebook is the single site that they frequent. However, other “single platform” social networking site users have adopted a site other than Facebook as their platform of choice. Among those who use just one social networking site, 8% use LinkedIn, 4% use Pinterest, and 2% each say that Instagram or Twitter is their sole social networking site.

More than One Platform

Full Text of Report is Available Here.
A PDF version (17 pages) of the Report is Also Available.

How Often?

Demographic Breakdowns

Instagram adoption by internet users ages 18-29 has increased from 28% in late 2012 to 37% in 2013, and adoption by African American internet users has increased from 23% to 34% over the same time period. Instagram was acquired by Facebook in April 2013.

Some 21% of online adults use Pinterest, up from the 15% who did so in December 2012. Women continue to dominate the site: fully 33% of online women are Pinterest users, compared to just 8% of men.

Specifically, LinkedIn usage is especially high among people with a college degree or higher, and among those with an annual household income of $75,000 or more. It is also the only social networking site we measured for which usage among 50-64 year olds is higher than usage among those ages 18-29.

Full Text of Report is Available Here.
A PDF version (17 pages) of the Report is Also Available.

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