Most Teens Aren't Going to Social Media for Politics

Teens turn to social media for multiple purposes: to catch up with friends, for entertainment and to connect with others over similar interests. A possible misconception, however, is that many are going to platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok for politics. According to a recent survey of 1,458 teenagers in the United States, conducted between September 25 and October 9, under one in three respondents said that keeping up with politics or political issues was a main personal draw towards each of the respective social media platforms.

While most teens said that politics was not one of the main reasons for using the apps, U.S. teens were most likely to turn to TikTok and Instagram for political content (29 percent and 28 percent, respectively, said they would), followed by Snapchat (19 percent). More popular reasons to use TikTok were entertainment (96 percent) and to know what’s going on with family and friends (86 percent).

When it comes to social media platforms as a source for news, then TikTok was also more commonly chosen over the other two. Still, under half of respondents (45 percent) picked it as a main reason for using the platform, followed by 39 percent for Instagram and 26 percent for Snapchat.

Pew analysts found that Black teens were more likely than white and Hispanic teens to turn to TikTok for news, product recommendations and keeping up with athletes or celebrities and connecting with others. Meanwhile, white teens on Snapchat were most likely to message people every day.