Overview

A late 2012 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project shows that young adults are more likely than others to use major social media. At the same time, other groups are interested in different sites and services.

Internet users under 50 are particularly likely to use a social networking site of any kind, and those 18-29 are the most likely of any demographic cohort to do so (83%). Women are more likely than men to be on these sites. Those living in urban settings are also significantly more likely than rural internet users to use social networking.

Read on for a demographic portrait of various social media services.

To view a breakdown of social networking site use by age group, over time, please visit our social networking summary page.

About the Survey

These readings come from a national survey conducted between November 14 and December 9, 2012 on landline and cell phones and in English and in Spanish. The results reported here come from the 1,802 respondents who are internet users and the margin of error is +/- 2.6 percentage points.

Figures on Facebook usage are taken from a separate Pew Research Center survey conducted in December 2012. For more in-depth information about Americans’ Facebook habits, see our recent report “Coming and Going on Facebook.”