Americans’ Use of Social Media in 2026
Today YouTube and Facebook are the most-widely used online platforms. Explore the demographic patterns and trends shaping the social media landscape.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Read our research on:
Social Media
What Do Health and Wellness Influencers Post About?
Just over half of health and wellness content on social media focuses on healthy living, while about a third discusses medical topics. And 38% of posts have a product or service promotion.
Online Community and Connection in America
Nearly four-in-ten U.S. adults are in an online community. These virtual third spaces can take many forms, like Facebook groups, online video games or fandom forums on Reddit.
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Social Media Update 2014
While Facebook remains the most popular social media site, other platforms — like LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter — saw higher rates of growth over the past year. In 2014, 52% of online adults used two or more social media sites, up from 42% in 2013.
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Technology’s Impact on Workers
Online American workers say the internet and email are very important tools for doing their jobs, rating them higher in importance than landline phones, mobile phones, and social networking sites. Just 7% say the internet makes them less productive at work.
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What Internet Users Know about Technology and the Web
Three-quarters of online Americans know which is bigger, a megabyte or a kilobyte, but only 9% are able to correctly identify the first widely popular graphical web browser. How much do you know about the web and digital technology?
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About 1 in 5 victims of online harassment say it happened in the comments section
While social media sites were the most common place noted for online harassment in a recent Pew Research Center survey, about a fifth of internet users cited website comments sections as places where they had that experience.
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What Americans Think About Privacy
The majority of Americans feel their privacy is being challenged in some fundamental ways, our new report finds. See the variety of perspectives our focus group respondents shared about privacy. Their answers are real, but they have been assigned a pseudonym.
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Public Perceptions of Privacy and Security in the Post-Snowden Era
A majority of Americans feel that their privacy is being challenged along such core dimensions as the security of their personal information and their ability to retain confidentiality.
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Facebook and Twitter as political forums: Two different dynamics
Social media users who are interested in politics have different experiences on Facebook and Twitter, with four-in-ten Twitter users saying that at least half of the posts that they see are political, compared with about a quarter of Facebook users who say the same.
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Religion and Electronic Media
One-in-five Americans report sharing their religious faith on social networks like Facebook and Twitter in an average week, about the same percentage that tune in to religious talk radio, watch religious TV programs or listen to Christian rock music.
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Cell Phones, Social Media and Campaign 2014
28% of registered voters use their cell phone to follow political news, and 16% follow political figures on social media.
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5 facts about online harassment
A look at the prevalence of harassment online, its various forms, where it occurs, and how people respond.
