The Most Popular Social Platform for Each Generation

The kind of content people like and the goals they seek to attain from online interactions are connected to how generations use social media networks. Users of all ages are drawn to visual content on social media, such as photographs and videos, which has led to the growth of aesthetically focused platforms.

What age group uses social media?

The demographics of the social media user base are becoming increasingly reflective of the whole population as more Americans utilize social media. Young people were among the first to use social media, and they continue to do so in large numbers. Here are the most popular social media platforms for each generation broken down.

Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2006)

Generation Z—roughly those born between 1995 and 2010—are true digital natives, having grown up with the internet, social media, and mobile gadgets at their fingertips.

According to Pew Research Center, “A majority of Americans say they use YouTube and Facebook, while use of Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok is especially common among adults under 30.”

TikTok, which was launched in September 2016, has skyrocketed in popularity in the last five years.

According to the most recent TikTok data, the site has 689 million monthly active users globally as of January 2021. (DataReportal, 2021).

Snapchat surpassed Facebook as the most popular social network among US teens in 2016. Snapchat will continue to add users aged 12 to 17, whereas Facebook will lose members in that age group. In fact, Snapchat is expected to gain 1.2 million new users by 2022, while Facebook will lose 2.2 million.

“Snapchat and Instagram are the top social apps for teens, and this year they’ll add nearly the same number of new teen users,” eMarketer senior forecasting analyst Christopher Beerntsen said.

Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996)

People born between 1980 and 1995 are known as millennials. They were the first generation to access and communicate through social media. Millennials were also the first to recognize the hazards of oversharing as well as the fact that the internet is written in ink rather than pencil.

Facebook is the most popular social network among millennials in the United States, with 58.5 million anticipated to use it this year. According to Oberlo's research, approximately 90.4 percent of millennials use Facebook. With this statistic, it's apparent that Facebook is the most popular digital platform among millennials. Companies now know how to commercialize thousands of years as part of their sales plans and, because of its vast community and user targeting, Facebook is without a doubt the best choice for millennials.

Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980)

Gen Xers are the children of the Silent Generation (the generation preceding the baby boomers) and the early baby boomers. In the past, the phrase Generation X was used in a number of situations, but it is currently most often used to refer to the generation that followed the Baby Boomers. The variable "x" was used to represent the idea that the generation refused to be described by referring to another characteristic rather than the variable "x."

With 45.1 million members this year, Generation X is the most active on Facebook. This figure will fluctuate slightly during the projection period, but it will eventually decline to 43.8 million by 2022.

This year, Instagram, the second most popular social media platform among Generation X, will have around half as many users as last year (23.5 million). This number will grow somewhat in 2019, but we expect it to stabilize in the next few years.

Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964)

The baby boomers are the post-World War II generation. They are also known as "boomers" because of the enormous postwar increase in birth rates known as the baby boom.

For the past 50 years, every media innovation was "new" to today's baby boomers! In other words, because of previous exposure to technology, baby boomers are more adaptable to change. This was a generation that realized that calling long distance was costly and not something most people did on a daily basis!

Particularly in their 50s and 60s, 68 percent of people aged between 50 and 64 have reported spending the most time on Facebook.In addition to any other social media site, Facebook is still favored among baby boomers to maintain contact with friends and families. This year the platform will be used by 31,9 million users, and the forecast is projected to be pretty constant.

The findings revealed numerous generational differences in social media usage. Despite the fact that patterns vary by age, one thing is certain: every generation has increased their usage of social media in the previous year.