90 Social Media | Social Media Audience Demographics
A different audience uses each social media tool. Think about your audiences identified when developing your communications plan, those same audiences may also use social media. However, audiences may differ across major social media platforms. The following basic demographics apply to US users of major platforms:
Table from Sprout Social Media’s 2021 report.
Twitter
- Number of daily active users: 187 million
- Largest age group: 30-49 (44%)
- Gender: 43% female, 54% male
- Time spent per day/week: 3.53 minutes per session
- 42% of Twitter users are degree-holders (compared to 31% of Americans). This means your academic colleagues are more likely to be on Twitter.
(Sprout Social Media’s 2021 report)
Facebook
- Number of monthly active users: 2.7 billion
- Largest age group: 25-34 (26.3%)
- Gender: 44% female, 56% male
- Time spent per day: 38 minutes
(Sprout Social Media’s 2021 report)
YouTube
- Number of monthly active users: 2 billion
- Largest age group: 15-25
- Gender: 72% of all female internet users and 72% of all male internet users
- Time spent per day: 41.9 minutes among viewers 18 and older
- Popularity is only increasing due to COVID lockdowns and growth of video content.
(Sprout Social Media’s 2021 report)
TikTok
- # of monthly active users: 100 million
- Largest age group: 18-24
- Gender: 59% female, 41% male
- Time spent per day: 45+ minutes
- TikTok is notably seeing growing use among adults, therefore the platform may change from its current focus on younger users.
(Sprout Social Media’s 2021 report)
Instagram
- Number of monthly active users: 1 billion
- Largest age group: 25-34 (33.1%)
- Gender: 57% female, 43% male
- Average time spent per day: 29 minutes
- Second largest network work (after Facebook) and the second most popular platform with teens.
(Sprout Social Media’s 2021 report)
LinkedIn
- Number of total users: 738 million
- Largest age group: 46-55
- Gender: 51% male, 49% female
- 63% of LinkedIn users access the network monthly, and 22% weekly.
(Sprout Social Media’s 2021 report)
Pinterest
- Number of monthly active users: 400+ million
- Largest age group: 30-49
- Gender: 78% female, 22% male
- Time spent per day: 14.2 minutes
(Sprout Social Media’s 2021 report)
