YouTube Wins: Pew Research on Teens and Social Media

In October 2024, Pew Research Center conducted a survey of teens ages 13-17 and their use of social media. That they should discover that most teens have a smartphone and use social media almost constantly wasn’t a surprise. Instead, what was surprising to me is that the platform they use the most by 90% is YouTube.

The use of YouTube did decline from 95% a couple of years earlier, though that can easily be explained by the meteoric rise of TikTok. With TikTok in limbo and potentially nearing extinction for U.S. audiences, it’s likely the 90% may increase again. But even if it doesn’t…90% is a LOT of teens on YouTube.

I think this is important for heart-centered professionals to keep in mind as you plan your social media strategy. YouTube has been around a while, but it is not solely the domain of middle to upper-aged people. It still holds strong use by younger people and far eclipses TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat.

If you are offering any services of benefit to teens you may want to consider how you can begin engaging them on YouTube, because clearly it’s where they are hanging out.

Here is the graph provided by Pew:

You can read the full article here.