Republicans and Democrats on X differ over the site’s politics and their experiences
Most X users say their recent experiences using the platform have been mostly positive or neutral.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Social Media
Topic Spotlight
- Most-Used Platforms: YouTube (85%) and Facebook (70%) are the most widely used online platforms among U.S. adults. (Read the fact sheet)
- News on Social Media: Just over half of U.S. adults (54%) say they at least sometimes get news from social media. (Read the fact sheet)
- Teens & Social Media: Many teens are on social media daily – if not constantly – but daily use varies by platform. (Read the fact sheet)
Bluesky has caught on with many news influencers, but X remains popular
The share of news influencers in our sample with a Bluesky account roughly doubled in the four months after Election Day 2024, from 21% beforehand to 43% by March.
Fewer Americans now support TikTok ban, see the platform as a national security threat than in spring 2023
The share of Americans who perceive TikTok as a national security threat has also dipped – from 59% in 2023 to 49% now.
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Social Media
Publications
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Americans’ Social Media Use
YouTube and Facebook are by far the most used online platforms among U.S. adults. But TikTok’s user base has grown significantly in recent years: 33% of U.S. adults now say they use it, up from 21% in 2021.
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A declining share of adults, and few teens, support a U.S. TikTok ban
38% of U.S. adults say they would support the U.S. government banning TikTok, compared with 18% of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17.
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Teens, Social Media and Technology 2023
YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram remain the most widely used online platforms among U.S. teens. And teens are less likely to be using Facebook and Twitter (recently renamed X) than they were a decade ago.
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Striking findings from 2023
Here’s a look back at 2023 through some of our most striking research findings.
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81% of U.S. adults – versus 46% of teens – favor parental consent for minors to use social media
U.S. adults and teens are more likely to support than oppose requiring parental consent for minors to create a social media account.
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Key findings about Americans and data privacy
71% of adults say they are very or somewhat concerned about how the government uses the data it collects about them, up from 64% in 2019.
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How Americans View Data Privacy
The share of Americans who say they are very or somewhat concerned about government use of people’s data has increased from 64% in 2019 to 71% today. Two-thirds (67%) of adults say they understand little to nothing about what companies are doing with their personal data, up from 59%.
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8 facts about Americans and Twitter as it rebrands to X
As Elon Musk rebrands Twitter to “X,” here are eight facts about Americans’ use of the social media platform.
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Majority of Americans say TikTok is a threat to national security
About six-in-ten Americans (59%) see TikTok as a major or minor threat to national security in the United States.
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#BlackLivesMatter Turns 10
More than 44 million #BlackLivesMatter tweets from nearly 10 million distinct users currently exist on Twitter today. Over half of all existing tweets that include the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag were posted from May to September 2020.
