More people like Facebook than other social media sites, but other sites are growing at a faster rate, according to new data.
A new survey by the Pew Research Center determined that Facebook still reigns as the top social media platform, but Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Twitter are seeing greater increases.
The survey found 71% of online adults use Facebook, far exceeding the 28% using LinkedIn and Pinterest, 26% on Instagram and 23% on Twitter. However, when it comes to growth, Facebook has seen only a modest gain since 2012.
Facebook grew by 4% in the past two years, compared with 13% for Pinterest and Instagram, 8% for LinkedIn and 7% for Twitter.
However, older adults were the exception for growth among Facebook users. Fifty-six percent of Internet users who are 65 years old and up now use Facebook, increasing from 45% in 2013. That represents nearly one-third of all seniors.
People are going to multiple sites more than ever before. The survey found more than half (52%) of online adults use two or more social media sites, up from 2013 when 42% of people used multiple platforms.
Instagram and LinkedIn saw some milestones in 2014. For the first time, more than half (53%) of young adults online ages 18 to 29 said they use Instagram, while 50% of Internet users with college educations said they used LinkedIn.
Facebook’s members continue to interact frequently with the site, more so than other social media platforms. About 70% engage with Facebook daily, up from 63% in 2013. Forty-five percent check the site multiple times throughout a day.
Seventeen percent of Pinterest users and about half of people on Instagram engage with the sites daily, figures that held steady from 2013. For Twitter, 36% visit the site every day, a decrease of 10% from 2013. Thirteen percent of people on LinkedIn log in every day, unchanged from last year.
The survey results were based on 2,003 telephones interviews conducted in English and Spanish by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between Sept. 11-14 and Sept. 18-21. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
The results come from the 81% of adults in the U.S. who use the Internet.
