May 31 (UPI) — Facebook is no longer the dominant player on the social media scene among American teenagers, a new poll showed Thursday — with Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat gaining ground.
YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram were the top three most popular, according to the survey by Pew Center Research.
Of 743 teens who participated in the poll, 85 percent said they use YouTube, 72 percent Instagram and 69 percent Snapchat.
Facebook was fourth with 51 percent.
“Until recently, Facebook had dominated the social media landscape among America’s youth – but it is no longer the most popular online platform among teens,” the report said.
More than a third of teens said they used SnapChat most often, followed by YouTube (32 percent) and Instagram (15 percent). Just 10 percent use Facebook the most.
“The social media environment among teens is quite different from what it was just three years ago,” lead author Monica Anderson said. “Back then, teens’ social media use mostly revolved around Facebook. Today, their habits revolve less around a single platform.”
The social media landscape is also changing with more teens having smartphones — 95 percent, compared to about 75 percent in the last survey in 2015. More access to smartphones has fueled more persistent online activities, researchers said.
Forty-five percent of teens said they are online “almost constantly,” the poll noted.
Researchers said, though, it’s unclear whether the impact of social media use is more positive or negative — as 31 percent of respondents said mostly positive, while nearly a quarter said mostly negative.
