Pew Internet Survey: Teens, Social Media and Technology Overview, 2015

[engine]

I was surprised how many use G+, and it shows that, despite its reputation amongst many, Facebook still holds 71 pct of the market for teens.

If you're marketing to teens, you really ought to read the full report in the link.

24% of teens go online “almost constantly,” facilitated by the widespread availability of smartphones.

Aided by the convenience and constant access provided by mobile devices, especially smartphones, 92% of teens report going online daily — including 24% who say they go online “almost constantly,” according to a new study from Pew Research Center. More than half (56%) of teens — defined in this report as those ages 13 to 17 — go online several times a day, and 12% report once-a-day use. Just 6% of teens report going online weekly, and 2% go online less often.

Much of this frenzy of access is facilitated by mobile devices. Pew Internet Survey: Teens, Social Media and Technology Overview, 2015 [pewinternet.org]

Teens are diversifying their social network site use. A majority of teens — 71% — report using more than one social network site out of the seven platform options they were asked about. Among the 22% of teens who only use one site, 66% use Facebook, 13% use Google+, 13% use Instagram and 3% use Snapchat.

[RedBar]

This is a US survey about US teens, are they "surprised" about the figures because of US online costs?

I'm surprised about the US high usage of both Instagram and Snapchat, these are hardly ever mentioned by many of the people I know whereas Whatsapp is only mentioned the once and is used by hundreds of millions.

Are we witnessing different national usages?

[Nutterum]

@RedBar - YES.

The short story :
1) US - SnapChat for up to 21yrs // Whatsapp 25-45yrs
2) Western Europe and South America - Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger used by all age groups
3) Eastern Europe and Russia(including all ex Soviet Union Countries) Viber and Facebook Messenger used predominantly
4) China - QQ Chat most widely used as well as 2-3 other chat apps (can't recall their names at this moment due to caffeine deprivation)

Hope you find the info useful.

[fom2001uk]

I'd like to see a similar UK survey; I think the results could look very different. I'm not aware of teenagers using G+ but they are heavy users of Instagram (maybe even overtaking Facebook). Snapchat is also popular. Whatsapp is not that popular with under 21s.

[EditorialGuy]

My American son (who's in his late 20s) started using Whatsapp when he began grad school in Germany a couple of years ago, simply because that was how the students in his university program kept (and still keep) in touch with each other.

[bill]

Personal observations of teens in Japan:

LINE

Twitter

Facebook
Everyone has LINE. Although I dislike the app, I need it to contact a lot of people.

[adder]

I find it sooooo hard to believe that as many teens use Twitter as do Google+
When was the last time you saw an American teenager on Google+? I've (reluctantly) managed several G+ accounts and I don't recall ever to have seen a teenager using G+...

@fom2001uk, there's scarce data on social media usage in the UK. These two reports might be of interest:
[rosemcgrory.co.uk...]
[ukyouth.org...]
The fact that Facebook is being abandoned for YouTube makes sense. It has been reported before.

[fom2001uk]

Thanks for those links, adder. Yes of course how could I forget to mention YouTube. My teenage daughter and her friends are never off YouTube, and I have the mobile phone bills to prove it :-(

[toidi]

My 14 yr old grandson informed me that fb is for the 9 yr olds crowd. His friends all live on instagram with a little bit of snapchat.

[Nutterum]

@toidi - just like 18 yr old are telling that FB is for the 14 yr old crowd, and the 22 yr old are telling its about 18 yr old...etc.etc. IN the end they are all on Facebook, trying to look older/younger than they really are. Its how the network evolved.

[toidi]

@nutterum

no, even though they have fb accounts they do not use them anymore. That fad came and went. I do not know about the 18 year olds.

[engine]

Many social networks are "fads" depending upon who's using it. Many young people crave a new network as the next big thing, whereas, adults tend to stick with what they feel comfortable with. Children tend not to don't a social network with their parents on it as cool.