Most American adults use YouTube. Pew Research Center's 2026 survey puts it at 84% of US adults, with Facebook second at 70%, and those two are still the platforms with the widest adult reach in the US by some distance.
Look past the US and the bigger story is news. The Reuters Institute's 2026 Digital News Report found social media and video networks were the most widely used way to reach online news across 48 markets (54% of respondents), just ahead of news organisations' own websites and apps at 51%. Below you'll find each figure with its original source and the year the data covers, so you can quote it with confidence.
Last checked 12 November 2026.
Five figures worth remembering
If you only have room for a handful of numbers in a slide or an article, these are the ones I'd pick. Each comes from an independent survey with a published method.
- 84% of US adults say they ever use YouTube (2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 54% of respondents across 48 markets use social media and video networks for news, the most widely used route to online news (2026 data). Source: Reuters Institute.
- 36% of US teens say they use at least one of five major social platforms almost constantly (2025 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 30% of people worldwide name social media and video networks as their main source of news, up from 22% five years earlier (2026 data). Source: Reuters Institute.
- 56% of US adults support banning anyone under 16 from social media, against 21% who oppose it (2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
Platform reach among American adults
Pew asks US adults whether they ever use each platform, so these are reach figures, not daily use. That matters when you compare them with company numbers, which count something else.
- 84% of US adults say they ever use YouTube (2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 70% of US adults say they ever use Facebook (2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 51% of US adults say they ever use Instagram (2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 31% of US adults say they ever use LinkedIn (2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 26% of US adults say they ever use Snapchat (2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 25% of US adults use Reddit and 18% use X, formerly Twitter (2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 91% of US adults own a smartphone, up from 35% in Pew's first smartphone survey in 2011 (2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
The averages hide wide gaps. Instagram is a young adult's platform and LinkedIn follows education and income closely, which is worth knowing before you decide where a B2B message should go.
- 79% of US adults aged 18 to 29 use Instagram, against 21% of those aged 65 and over (2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 51% of US college graduates use LinkedIn, against 13% of those with a high school education or less (2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 45% of US adults with household income of $100,000 or more use LinkedIn, against 18% of those earning under $30,000 (2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
If one of these platforms is your main channel, I keep more detail on the latest Instagram numbers and on who uses LinkedIn and how in separate pages.
Teenagers and the always-on habit
Pew's teen survey covers US teens aged 13 to 17 and was run in late September and early October 2025, so this is the latest year Pew gives for this group.
- 97% of US teens use the internet daily, and 40% (four in ten) say they're online almost constantly (2025 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 36% of US teens use at least one of YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook almost constantly (2025 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 55% of US teens say they use Instagram every day (2025 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 24% of US teens use WhatsApp, up from 17% in 2022 (2025 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 64% of US teens say they ever use an AI chatbot, roughly two-thirds (2025 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
Where social feeds meet the news
This is where social media has changed most. In the US, Pew's August 2026 survey shows Facebook and YouTube leading as regular news sources. One thing to watch when you quote the last line below: its base is the users of each site, not all adults.
- 40% of US adults regularly get news on Facebook and 34% on YouTube (August 2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 23% of US adults regularly get news on Instagram (August 2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 10% of US adults regularly get news on X and 9% on Reddit (August 2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
- 57% of both X users and Facebook users regularly get news on the site, as do 53% of TikTok users and 46% of Instagram users (August 2026 data, base is each site's users). Source: Pew Research Center.
The Reuters Institute surveys people across 48 markets, so its figures give the worldwide view. Its 2026 report was published on 16 June 2026.
- 43% of respondents worldwide use Facebook for news, the biggest platform for news (2026 data). Source: Reuters Institute.
- 53% of respondents worldwide use Instagram for any purpose, and 26% use it for news (2026 data). Source: Reuters Institute.
- 42% of 18 to 24 year olds use Instagram for news, making it the biggest social platform for news in that age group (2026 data). Source: Reuters Institute.
- 27% of respondents worldwide came across news from news influencers or creators in the past week (2026 data). Source: Reuters Institute.
- 22% trust news on social media, and 20% trust news from AI chatbots (2026 data). Source: Reuters Institute.
Put the 54% reach figure next to the 22% trust figure and you have the tension in one line: more people get news through social feeds than anywhere else online, yet only around one in five trust what they find there.
Hours online, wellbeing and an age limit
Ofcom's own report page didn't open to a normal fetch, so the three UK figures below were confirmed through BBC News coverage of Ofcom's 2025 Online Nation report. Ofcom is the source; BBC News is where the figures were read.
- 4h 30m: UK adults spent an average of four hours and 30 minutes online every day, 31 minutes longer than in 2021 (2025 data). Source: Ofcom, as reported by BBC News.
- 33% of UK adults say the internet is good for society, down from 40% in 2024 (2025 data). Source: Ofcom, as reported by BBC News.
- 69% of UK children aged 13 to 17 used online services to help with their wellbeing, to relax or improve their mood (2025 data). Source: Ofcom, as reported by BBC News.
- 56% of US adults support banning anyone under 16 from using social media, 21% oppose it and 23% aren't sure (May and June 2026 data). Source: Pew Research Center.
Audience sizes the companies report
These two come from company filings, not independent surveys. They're named here but not linked, and they count different things: Meta counts daily active people across all its apps, Pinterest counts monthly active users.
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- 3.64 billion family daily active people across Meta's apps on average for September 2026, up 3% year on year (2026 data). Source: Meta third quarter 2026 results (company data).
- 661 million monthly active users on Pinterest at 30 September 2026, up 10% on a year earlier (2026 data). Source: Pinterest quarterly filing with the SEC (company data).
Here's every headline figure side by side, in a format that's easy to copy into a report.
| Measure | Figure | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| US adults who use YouTube | 84% | Pew Research Center | 2026 |
| US adults who use Facebook | 70% | Pew Research Center | 2026 |
| US adults who use Instagram | 51% | Pew Research Center | 2026 |
| US adults who use LinkedIn | 31% | Pew Research Center | 2026 |
| US adults who use Snapchat | 26% | Pew Research Center | 2026 |
| US adults who use Reddit | 25% | Pew Research Center | 2026 |
| US adults who use X | 18% | Pew Research Center | 2026 |
| Meta family daily active people | 3.64 billion | Meta | 2026 |
| Pinterest monthly active users | 661 million | 2026 | |
| UK adults' average daily time online | 4h 30m | Ofcom (via BBC News) | 2025 |
Social media questions, briefly answered
Which social platform do most US adults use?
YouTube. In 2026, 84% of US adults said they ever use it, ahead of Facebook at 70% (Pew Research Center).
How many teens are online almost constantly?
In 2025, 40% of US teens said they're online almost constantly, and 36% said they use at least one of five major social platforms almost constantly (Pew Research Center).
Do people get their news from social media?
Yes. In the US, 40% of adults regularly get news on Facebook and 34% on YouTube, and across 48 markets 54% use social media and video networks for news (Pew Research Center; Reuters Institute, 2026).
How long do UK adults spend online each day?
Four hours and 30 minutes on average in 2025, 31 minutes more than in 2021 (Ofcom, as reported by BBC News).
How many people use Meta's apps?
Meta reported 3.64 billion family daily active people for September 2026. That's a company figure, not an independent survey.
Do Americans support a social media age limit?
Most do. In 2026, 56% of US adults supported banning under-16s from social media and 21% opposed it (Pew Research Center).
Quoting and checking these numbers
How to cite this page
You're welcome to use any figure here. Please name the original source beside the number and link to this page so readers can trace it.
Page URL: https://www.lilachbullock.com/social-media-statistics/
Suggested citation: Bullock, Lilach. "Social Media Statistics". lilachbullock.com/social-media-statistics, 2026. Cite the original source named beside each figure.
How this page was checked
An original source here means the body that ran the survey or published the filing: Pew Research Center, the Reuters Institute, Ofcom, Meta and Pinterest. Every figure was read from the original page, and survey figures are linked to it. Company-published figures from Meta and Pinterest are named but not linked. Pew chart tables were read by column header, with blank cells left out rather than guessed. Where a source couldn't be opened directly, as with Ofcom, the page says which coverage the figure was confirmed through. Last checked 12 November 2026.
