YouTube, not Facebook, is the most accessed social network by young people in the US.

Reporting by Jonas Valente on Agency Brazil.

Facebook has lost its popularity among young people, being overtaken by YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat. This is the conclusion of a study released this week by the Pew Research Center, a US-based and internationally renowned research group.

The survey polled 743 teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 and over a thousand American parents between March and April. The data is indicative but does not reflect the situation in other countries around the world, many of which have different rates of internet and social media access than the US.

According to the study, YouTube is the most popular platform, used by 85% of respondents. Next are Instagram (72%), Snapchat (69%), Facebook (51%), and Twitter (32%). Among frequent users, Snapchat leads (35%), followed by YouTube (32%), Instagram (15%), and Facebook (10%).

In the previous edition of the survey, conducted in 2015, Facebook was the preferred platform for teenagers, accessed by 71% of respondents. This was followed by Instagram (52%), Snapchat (41%), and Twitter (32%). In that round, YouTube was not considered in the interviews with boys and girls.

When broken down by income, Facebook is gaining popularity among the less affluent. Of all respondents, Facebook is part of the daily lives of 70% of those with an annual household income below US$30. Among those with a total family income above US$75, the rate drops to 36%.

In terms of gender distribution, Snapchat was more popular among girls (42%) than among boys (29%). YouTube, on the other hand, had more registrations among boys (39%) than girls (25%).

The effect of social networks

Regarding the effect of social media, the opinion is evenly divided. Of the survey participants, 31% rated them as positive, 24% as negative, and 45% took a more neutral stance, commenting that they do not see any predominant impacts, either beneficial or harmful.

Among those who view the presence of social networks positively, the greatest contribution would be enabling connection with friends and family members (40%), followed by ease of information retrieval (16%) and interaction with people with similar interests (15%).

Those most pessimistic about these platforms indicate the main problems as bullying and the spread of rumors (27%), harmful relationships and lack of human contact (17%), and the unrealistic portrayal of people's lives (15%).

Constant connection

The survey also sought to understand the online habits of teenagers. Among those interviewed, 95% said they owned a smartphone and almost half (45%) said they were connected practically all the time.