ECHOExploratory Compendium of Humanity Online

Pew Research Center: Social Media Platform Popularity

AggregateSmallFacebookInstagramRedditTwitter (X)YouTubeSurveyTime seriesUser behavior

A Pew Research Center dataset of 11 annual survey waves spanning 2012–2025, collected by Pew Research Center via annual US adult surveys. Each record contains survey year, platform-specific adoption percentages for US adults. Annual survey tracking US adult adoption rates across all major social media platforms from 2012 to the present. Suitable for social media adoption trends, platform popularity analysis, digital behavior research, longitudinal survey analysis.

#Annual survey#Longitudinal#Pew research center#Platform adoption#Us adult

Cite this dataset at pew-social-media.echo.directory

Download data BibTeX JSONSimilar datasets

Analytics

Data availability: Survey statistics — aggregate adoption rates

  • Aggregate or summary statistics — no individual responses
  • Time-series of survey-based percentages

US adult adoption rates across major social media platforms from 2012 to 2025. Survey-based aggregate percentages only — no individual respondent data.

YouTube
Top Platform (2025)
8400.0%
Top Adoption
15
Platforms Tracked
11
Years of Data
2012–2025
Time Span
Platform Adoption by Year — 2025
YouTube84
Facebook71
Instagram50
TikTok37
WhatsApp32
Reddit26
Snapchat25
X (formerly Twitter)21
Threads8
Bluesky4
Truth Social3
Platform Adoption Over Time (% of US adults)
0255075100201220142016201920232025Year% of US adultsYouTube, 2018: 73YouTube, 2019: 73YouTube, 2021: 81YouTube, 2023: 83YouTube, 2024: 85YouTube, 2025: 84Facebook, 2012: 55.5Facebook, 2013: 57Facebook, 2014: 58Facebook, 2015: 62Facebook, 2016: 68Facebook, 2018: 68Facebook, 2019: 69Facebook, 2021: 69Facebook, 2023: 68Facebook, 2024: 70Facebook, 2025: 71Instagram, 2012: 10Instagram, 2013: 14Instagram, 2014: 21Instagram, 2015: 24Instagram, 2016: 28Instagram, 2018: 35Instagram, 2019: 37Instagram, 2021: 40Instagram, 2023: 47Instagram, 2024: 50Instagram, 2025: 50TikTok, 2021: 21TikTok, 2023: 33TikTok, 2024: 33TikTok, 2025: 37Pinterest, 2012: 11.5Pinterest, 2013: 17Pinterest, 2014: 22Pinterest, 2015: 26Pinterest, 2016: 26Pinterest, 2018: 29Pinterest, 2019: 28Pinterest, 2021: 31Pinterest, 2023: 35Pinterest, 2024: 36LinkedIn, 2012: 16LinkedIn, 2013: 17LinkedIn, 2014: 23LinkedIn, 2015: 22LinkedIn, 2016: 25LinkedIn, 2018: 25LinkedIn, 2019: 27LinkedIn, 2021: 28LinkedIn, 2023: 30LinkedIn, 2024: 32
  • YouTube
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn

Showing 6 of 10 series.

Record

Catalog key
pew_social_media
Authors
Pew Research Center
Year
2025
Source paper
Which social media platforms are most popular
License
Pew Research Center open data policy
Records
11
Languages
en
Collected
2012–2025 (2010s, 2020s)
Region
Global (inferred: the platform is used worldwide)

Provenance

Originally published at
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/ link checked
Hosted copy
Mirrored on echo.directory on 2026-10-09, 1.7 KB across 1 files. Checksums in MANIFEST.json.

How to cite

BibTeX

@misc{echo2026,
  title  = {ECHO: Exploratory Compendium of Humanity Online},
  author = {Switzer, Braden and Zafarani, Reza},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://echo.directory},
  note   = {Syracuse University}
}

@misc{pew2025social,
  title        = {Which social media platforms are most popular},
  author       = {Pew Research Center},
  year         = {2025},
  howpublished = {\url{https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/}}
}

APA

Switzer, B., & Zafarani, R. (2026). ECHO: Exploratory Compendium of Humanity Online [Data repository]. Syracuse University. https://echo.directory

Pew Research Center (2025). Pew Research Center: Social Media Platform Popularity [Data set]. https://pew-social-media.echo.directory/

MLA

Switzer, Braden, and Reza Zafarani. ECHO: Exploratory Compendium of Humanity Online. Syracuse University, 2026, echo.directory.

Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center: Social Media Platform Popularity. 2025, pew-social-media.echo.directory/.

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON

Similar datasets 9 all with scores →