Horowitz: Social Media Use Remains Robust Despite Negative Publicity

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Tuesday, May 07, 2019

Rob Horowitz, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

Despite a persistent spate of negative publicity over issues such as the proliferation of so-called fake news, invasions of privacy, and stepped-up  censorship,  there has been no decline in social media use by American adults over the past year or so, according to a recently released Pew Research Center survey.

Even Facebook, which has received the lion’s share of negative media coverage, has retained its usership with nearly 7-in-10 adults using the site.  Facebook and YouTube continue to attract the most users--far exceeding the numbers of people that use the other social media sites.   And Facebook’s use cuts across all demographic groups with nearly half of  Americans 65 and over using it.

Just as importantly,  Facebook users do not appear to be heeding the drumbeat of  advice to take breaks in social media use, remaining just as active now as they were a year ago.  As the Pew Research Center poll report states, “Facebook users as a whole are just as active on the site today as they were a year ago. Roughly three-quarters of Facebook users (74%) visit the site daily, including about half who do so several times a day. These shares are identical to those reported by Facebook  users in the Center’s 2018 social media use survey.”

The next most widely used social media site is Instagram with 37% of adults using the site, followed by Pinterest at 28%, Linkedin at 27%, Snapchat at 24%, Twitter at 22%, Whatsapp at 20% and Reddit at 11%.  Instagram and Snapchat are particularly possible with young adults, those age 18 to 24.   Nearly 3-out-of-4 people in this age group use those sites.

It is the case that with the exception of Instagram, the growth in social media use has slowed. But the use remains robust--so far mainly unaffected by the saturation level bad publicity. As a result,  social media continues to be an essential method of communications and information sharing for political actors, media, and businesses and the public at large and will continue to attract a large share of advertising dollars. And despite a brutal year of public pillorying, Facebook continues to lead the social media pack.

Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.

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