YouTube Is U.S. Teens' Number One Online Platform

YouTube is the social media platform gaining the most traction among American teens. Nearly 85 percent of teens surveyed by Pew reported using the site last year.

While YouTube just barely inches ahead of Facebook when it comes to adult usage, Facebook struggles with teen users much more than YouTube. While nearly all teens report using YouTube, only half of the teens interviewed by Pew reported using Facebook. Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, is the younger offshoot of the brand, with the photo-first site attracting nearly three-quarters of the teens in this study.

Teens are fickle users. Back in 2015, when this study was first conducted, over seven in ten teens reported using Facebook. While teen use of Facebook dropped by nearly 20 percentage points, even after smartphone access shot up by that same amount over the same period.