Pew: The Demographics of Social Media Users

Social Media

According to the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, as of December 2012, 67% of online adults use social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.
 

Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project

A breakdown of site popularity for the general online population:
 

• 67% of online adults say they use Facebook

• 20% of online adults say they use LinkedIn (as of August 2012)

• 16% of online adults say they use Twitter

• 15% of online adults say they use Pinterest

• 13% of online adults say they use Instagram
• 6% of online adults say they use Tumblr.

Pew goes further with their analysis by breaking down the different social media networks and what groups they most appeal to:
 

• Facebook especially appeals to Millennial females

• Twitter and Instagram are most popular with young, urban residents

• Pinterest is especially appealing to women

• Tumblr is popular with Millennials of both genders.

Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project

In the case of Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr, these are the first reportable survey readings by Pew Research allowing comparison of whites, African-Americans, and Latinos.


About: The data is derived from Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project Post-Election Survey, November 14 – December 09, 2012. N=1,802 internet users. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish and on landline and cell phones. Margin of error is +/- 2.6% points for results based on internet users. Facebook figures are based on Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project Omnibus Survey, December 13-16, 2012. Margin of error for Facebook data is +/- 2.9 percentage points for results based on internet users (n=860).

Source:  Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project , The Demographics of Social Media Users — 2012, accessed March 27, 2013.