According to a new Pew research survey about social media for adults in the US in January 2018, Youtube is the most used social media platform (Smith, 2018). Keep in mind this survey is of only 2,002 adults, so take that into consideration before you decide this survey is the definitive end-all-be-all result of social media usage. Another detail which I found odd was that no Asians were included in this survey for whatever reason. The platforms by usage where in this order: Youtube (73%), Facebook (68%), Instagram (35%), Pinterest (29%), Snapchat (27%), LinkedIn (25%), Twitter (24%) and WhatsApp (22%). Another interesting detail that Kevin Murnane of Forbes points out of this survey is that at least 87% of the users of each of the other platforms also use YouTube (Murnane, 2018). So which social media sites do you use most? Youtube makes logical sense to me, especially from a passive perspective. While I know plenty of folks that don’t have a facebook, twitter, or snapchat account… I’m talking to you Mom! Many people have checked out a funny video or a DIY video on Youtube at some point, so the popularity of Youtube isn’t surprising. Over the last year Youtube has taken strides to change the algorithm, and YouTube says it reserves the right to strip a channel of its ability to serve ads and its access to premium monetization programs like Google Preferred and its YouTube Partner Program, as well as the right to cease recommending a channel’s videos across its network, if that channel proves harmful to the broader YouTube community. Some view these moves as censorship. Will that impact the overall popularity of Youtube in the future? Only time will tell.
References:
Smith, A., & Anderson, M. (2018, March 01). Social Media Use in 2018. Retrieved March 04, 2018, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/
Murnane, K. (2018, March 03). Which Social Media Platform Is The Most Popular In The US? Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurnane/2018/03/03/which-social-media-platform-is-the-most-popular-in-the-us/#1e9502b81e4e