Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and more.
The CyberSmile Foundation released their Social America report. As many people are anxiously waiting to hear if the ‘like‘ button will be removed on both Facebook and Instagram, over 20,000 young people (both Gen Z and Millennials) were surveyed about their favorite (and not so favorite) social media platforms.
The 20,000+ respondents between the ages of 13 and 34 a series of twenty questions in regards to their perspectives of various social media platforms with a focus on popularity, safety, relevance, growth and perceived decline.
Respondents were asked to provide their answers through multiple choice and open text questions, with the option to select different social media platforms including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube among others.
Instagram wins – Instagram loses
Instagram comes in as the front-runner overall as everyone’s favorite social media platform at 44 percent. Then why did I say it loses? Well if you are the most visited site, it’s likely it’s where people will say they have the biggest problem of online bullying and abuse. After-all they are spending the most time there. According to this report, Gen Z’s said that Instagram was the worst at 32 percent, whereas the older ‘young’ people said that they struggled with online hate and cyberbullying on Facebook at 35 percent.
The good news is, Instagram is taking steps to curb cyberbullying and online hate with their latest feature, Restrict. Restrict allows users to —restrict who can see comments posted to images. Facebook, over the past couple of years, has also taken steps to limit digital hate with new features and tools.
The social media platforms with the least amount of cyberbullying overall are Pinterest (30 percent), LinkedIn (13 percent) and interestingly SnapChat comes in third place at 12 percent.
Safety and cyberbullying
When asked what social media platform young people feel least safe using when it comes to cyberbullying, we finally see Twitter come into the top three tied with Instagram in second place. Facebook took first place, overall, as the social hot-spot for digital harassment.
Below are some of the key findings from the Social America report:
- TikTok was identified as the fastest growing social media platform in terms of popularity, along with Instagram in second place and Snapchat third by both Gen Z and Millennials.
- Facebook was identified as the social media platform that is becoming less popular, along with Tumblr in second place by both Gen Z and Millennials.
- Gen Z identified Facebook as the least relevant platform for young people in contrast to Millennials who identified LinkedIn as the least relevant.
- Instagram was identified as the favorite social media platform by both Gen Z and Millennials.
- Gen Z identified Snapchat as the platform they feel safest using when it comes to cyberbullying, with Millennials identifying Pinterest.
- Instagram was recognized as the platform that both Gen Z and Millennials feel least safe using when it comes to cyberbullying.
- Snapchat was identified as the second favorite social media platform for Gen Z after Instagram.
- Over three quarters of respondents indicated that they did not want governments to regulate social media companies more.
- Facebook was identified as the platform with the biggest cyberbullying and abuse problem by Millennials, with Gen Z identifying Instagram as the platform with the biggest problem.
- Instagram was identified first, and Snapchat second by both Gen Z and Millennials as the social media platform most relevant to young people.
