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In 2015, 90% of US young adults with Internet access used social media. Digital and social media are highly prevalent modalities through which young adults explore identity formation, and by extension, learn and transmit norms about health and risk behaviors during this developmental life stage.
The purpose of this study was to provide updated estimates of social media use from 2014 to 2016 and correlates of social media use and access to digital technology in data collected from a national sample of US young adults in 2016.
Young adult participants aged 18-24 years in Wave 7 (October 2014, N=1259) and Wave 9 (February 2016, N=989) of the Truth Initiative Young Adult Cohort Study were asked about use frequency for 11 social media sites and access to digital devices, in addition to sociodemographic characteristics. Regular use was defined as using a given social media site at least weekly. Weighted analyses estimated the prevalence of use of each social media site, overlap between regular use of specific sites, and correlates of using a greater number of social media sites regularly. Bivariate analyses identified sociodemographic correlates of access to specific digital devices.
In 2014, 89.42% (weighted n, 1126/1298) of young adults reported regular use of at least one social media site. This increased to 97.5% (weighted n, 965/989) of young adults in 2016. Among regular users of social media sites in 2016, the top five sites were Tumblr (85.5%), Vine (84.7%), Snapchat (81.7%), Instagram (80.7%), and LinkedIn (78.9%). Respondents reported regularly using an average of 7.6 social media sites, with 85% using 6 or more sites regularly. Overall, 87% of young adults reported access or use of a smartphone with Internet access, 74% a desktop or laptop computer with Internet access, 41% a tablet with Internet access, 29% a smart TV or video game console with Internet access, 11% a cell phone without Internet access, and 3% none of these. Access to all digital devices with Internet was lower in those reporting a lower subjective financial situation; there were also significant differences in access to specific digital devices with Internet by race, ethnicity, and education.
The high mean number of social media sites used regularly and the substantial overlap in use of multiple social media sites reflect the rapidly changing social media environment. Mobile devices are a primary channel for social media, and our study highlights disparities in access to digital technologies with Internet access among US young adults by race/ethnicity, education, and subjective financial status. Findings from this study may guide the development and implementation of future health interventions for young adults delivered via the Internet or social media sites.
Young adulthood, frequently defined as the period from the late teens through the 20s, is a critical time for self-identity construction [
Behavior change theories that address social norms, including social cognitive theory, provide a theoretical framework in which to understand the influence of social media on identity formation [
Annual data from the Pew Research Center on Internet, Science & Tech provide the only national benchmarks of the uptake and prevalence of social media and technology use among US teenagers and adults. These reports frequently present a breakdown of the demographic characteristics associated with use of digital technologies, including by age. However, there is limited detail on the characteristics of technology users within a specific age group, except for teens. Young adults have been characterized as hard-to-reach with regard to health promotion and disease prevention, but are widely accessing social media. Given young adults’ unique relationship with technology [
The Truth Initiative Young Adult Cohort Study was designed to understand the trajectories of tobacco use in a young adult population using a longitudinal cohort sample. Details of the cohort have been described elsewhere [
This study used data from responses of participants aged 18-24 years to the Wave 7 survey (October 2014, N=1259) and the Wave 9 survey (February 2016, N=1023), as these two waves included the relevant items on social media use. In Wave 9, 34 participants (3.3%, 34/1023) were missing data on covariates and excluded, yielding an analytic sample of N=989. For the full sample of respondents of ages 18-34 years, the panel recruitment rate was 13.9% in Wave 7 and 13.2% in Wave 9 [
Participants were asked about frequency of use for 10 social media sites: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other sites not otherwise specified. Response options were “never,” “less than 1 time per month,” “monthly,” “weekly,” “daily,” or “multiple times per day.” Participants who reported that they used a social media site at least weekly were defined as regular users of that site. Participants who reported regular use of at least one social media site were classified as regular social media users. In 2014, participants were also asked to enumerate, in an open-ended response, approximate counts of their Facebook friends, Twitter followers, people they follow on Twitter, Instagram followers, and people they follow on Instagram.
All participants were asked about their access to digital devices, using the following item: “Which of the following types of digital devices do you have access to or use? Select all that apply” with the following response choices: “A smartphone with Internet access (for example, iPhone, Android, Blackberry etc)”; “A tablet with Internet access (for example, iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab etc)”; “A desktop or laptop computer with Internet access”; “A Smart TV or video game console that has Internet access”; “A cell phone without Internet access (to talk and text).” Participants could also endorse the single response choice, “None of these.”
As part of KnowledgePanel routine baseline data collection, participants provided information on age at study entry, gender, race/ethnicity (white, non-Hispanic; black, non-Hispanic; other, non-Hispanic; and Hispanic), and highest education completed (less than high school, high school, and some college or greater). GfK conducted hot deck imputation to handle missing data on age, gender, race/ethnicity, and education level. A measure of subjective financial status, developed and validated in the Truth Initiative Young Adult Cohort Study [
All analyses were performed using Stata/SE 14.0 (StataCorp, 2014) in August 2016. Poststratification weights were used to offset any nonresponse or noncoverage bias and produce nationally representative estimates specific to each wave of data collection. Missing data were handled with list-wise deletion per Stata’s survey procedures as there was a low proportion of missing data on relevant covariates.
Bivariate analyses were conducted using the survey commands in Stata to provide the estimates of use of each social media site and overlap between use of sites, and to assess the correlates of using a greater number of social media sites regularly. Differences in prevalence estimates were assessed using
In 2014, 89.42% (1126/1298) of young adults aged 18-24 years reported regular use of at least one social media site (
Percentage of US young adults aged 18-24 years who regularly use social media sites.
Social media sites | Percentage among all young adults (18-24 years of age) | Percentage among young adults who regularlya use social media | |||||||
Wave 7; |
Wave 9; |
Relative percent difference compared with Wave 7 | Absolute percent difference compared with Wave 7 | Wave 7; |
Wave 9; N=965; 97.57% | Relative percent difference compared with Wave 7 | Absolute percent difference compared with Wave 7 | ||
947 (75.24) | 758 (76.6) | 102 | 1 | 947 (84.15) | 758 (78.5) | 93 | −6 | ||
YouTube | 814 (64.68) | 541 (54.6) | 84 | −10 | 814 (72.33) | 541 (56.0) | 77 | −16 | |
465 (36.89) | 779 (78.7) | 213 | 42 | 465 (41.26) | 779 (80.7) | 196 | 39 | ||
Snapchat | 387 (30.75) | 789 (79.7) | 259 | 49 | 387 (34.39) | 789 (81.7) | 238 | 47 | |
347 (27.58) | 754 (76.2) | 276 | 49 | 347 (30.85) | 754 (78.1) | 253 | 47 | ||
Google+ | 278 (22.06) | 757 (76.5) | 347 | 54 | 278 (24.67) | 757 (78.5) | 318 | 54 | |
220 (17.51) | 700 (70.8) | 404 | 53 | 220 (19.58) | 700 (72.6) | 371 | 53 | ||
Tumblr | 140 (11.08) | 825 (83.4) | 752 | 72 | 140 (12.39) | 825 (85.5) | 690 | 73 | |
Vine | 108 (8.56) | 818 (82.7) | 966 | 74 | 108 (9.57) | 818 (84.8) | 885 | 75 | |
106 (8.44) | 761 (76.9) | 911 | 68 | 106 (9.44) | 761 (78.9) | 836 | 69 | ||
Other sites | 49 (3.86) | 808 (81.7) | 2119 | 78 | 49 (4.31) | 808 (83.7) | 1942 | 79 |
aRegular use is defined as using a site multiple times a day, daily, or weekly.
In 2014, respondents listed the greatest number of friends/followers on Facebook (n=292), followed by Instagram (followers: n=167; people you follow on Instagram: n=160) and Twitter (followers: n=111; people you follow on Twitter: n=128).
Correlates of regular use among the top 5 social media sites in 2016 are presented in
Respondents reported regularly using an average of 7.6 social media sites (range 0-11 sites), with 3.0% (30/989) reporting regular use of 0-1 social media sites, 2.8% (27/989) using 2 or 3 sites, 9.1% (90/989) using 4 or 5 sites, and 85.1% (843/989) using 6 or more sites regularly.
Percentages and correlates of regular social media use, by site, among US young adults aged 18-24 years (weighted n=989).
Variable | Total | Tumblr | Vine | Snapchat | ||||||||
(Na=989) | (Na=825) | (Na=818) | (Na=789) | (Na=779) | (Na=761) | |||||||
% | % | PRb |
% | PR |
% | PR |
% | PR |
% | PR |
||
Overall | 83.4 | 82.7 | 79.7 | 78.7 | 76.9 | |||||||
Male | 49.8 | 86.6 | Refc | 84.2 | Ref | 77.7 | Ref | 78.7 | Ref | 78.9 | Ref | |
Female | 50.3 | 80.2 | 0.93 |
81.2 | 0.96 |
81.8 | 1.05 |
78.7 | 1.00 |
75.0 | 0.95 |
|
White, NHe | 52.3 | 84.3 | Ref | 81.0 | Ref | 79.9 | Ref | 79.9 | Ref | 75.3 | Ref | |
Black, NH | 12.9 | 87.2 | 1.03 |
84.6 | 1.04 |
79.3 | 0.99 |
79.9 | 1.00 |
84.6 | 1.12 |
|
Other, NH | 8.8 | 83.6 | 0.99 (0.89-1.11) | 82.9 | 1.02 (0.90-1.17) | 77.9 | 0.97 |
76.8 | 0.96 |
70.4 | 0.93 |
|
Hispanic | 26.0 | 79.6 | 0.94 |
85.0 | 1.05 |
80.2 | 1.00 |
76.3 | 0.96 |
78.6 | 1.04 |
|
Less than high school | 12.1 | 83.1 | 1.00 |
86.0 | 1.06 |
85.1 | 1.09 |
80.5 | 1.03 |
87.5 | 1.25 |
|
High school | 29.8 | 84.4 | 1.02 |
84.0 | 1.03 |
80.6 | 1.03 |
78.5 | 1.00 |
86.4 | 1.24 |
|
Some college | 58.1 | 82.9 | Ref | 81.3 | Ref | 78.2 | Ref | 78.4 | Ref | 69.9 | Ref | |
Don't meet basic needs | 6.6 | 80.0 | 0.91 |
88.0 | 1.07 |
90.6 | 1.12 |
77.2 | 0.96 |
80.6 | 1.03 |
|
Just meet basic needs | 30.0 | 80.1 | 0.91 |
83.0 | 1.00 |
75.9 | 0.94 |
74.5 | 0.92 |
76.1 | 0.97 |
|
Meet needs with a little left | 38.0 | 87.9 | Ref | 82.6 | Ref | 80.6 | Ref | 80.6 | Ref | 78.5 | Ref | |
Live comfortably | 25.5 | 81.5 | 0.93 |
81.0 | 0.98 |
80.1 | 0.99 |
81.3 | 1.01 |
74.5 | 0.95 |
|
No | 94.0 | 83.6 | Ref | 82.7 | Ref | 79.5 | Ref | 79.0 | Ref | 76.5 | Ref | |
Yes | 6.0 | 79.2 | 0.95 |
82.1 | 0.99 |
82.6 | 1.04 |
73.7 | 0.93 |
82.8 | 1.08 |
|
No | 93.0 | 83.4 | Ref | 83.5 | Ref | 79.7 | Ref | 79.0 | Ref | 76.9 | Ref | |
Yes | 7.0 | 82.8 | 0.99 |
71.9 | 0.86 |
80.5 | 1.01 |
74.9 | 0.95 |
77.8 | 1.01 |
|
No | 53.0 | 83.2 | Ref | 85.0 | Ref | 84.5 | Ref | 81.2 | Ref | 79.8 | Ref | |
Yes | 47.0 | 83.6 | 1.00 |
80.1 | 0.94 |
74.3 | 0.88 |
75.9 | 0.93 |
73.7 | 0.92 |
|
No | 88.0 | 83.2 | Ref | 82.8 | Ref | 80.0 | Ref | 79.0 | Ref | 77.1 | Ref | |
Yes | 12.0 | 85.0 | 1.02 |
81.4 | 0.98 |
77.9 | 0.97 |
76.3 | 0.96 |
75.3 | 0.98 |
aWeighted.
bPR: prevalence ratio.
cRef: Reference category.
dDenote statistical significance at
eNH: non-Hispanic.
Access to specific types of digital technologies among young adults was as follows: a smartphone with Internet access, 86.9% (860/989); a desktop or laptop computer with Internet access, 74.3% (736/989); a tablet with Internet access, 40.6% (401/989); a smart TV or video game console with Internet access, 29.0% (287/989); a cell phone without Internet access, 11.5% (114/989); none of these, 3.0% (30/989;
Correlates of number of social media sites regularly used (defined as using a site multiple times a day, daily, or weekly) among US young adults aged 18-24 years (weighted n=989).
Variable | Mean (SE)a | LRb | 95% CI | aLRb | 95% CI | ||
Male | 7.74 (0.13) | Ref | Ref | ||||
Female | 7.38 (0.10) | −0.05 | −0.09 to 0.00 | −0.04 | −0.09 to 0.00 | ||
White, non-Hispanic | 7.53 (0.10) | Ref | Ref | ||||
Black, non-Hispanic | 7.80 (0.26) | 0.04 | −0.03 to 0.11 | 0.02 | −0.05 to 0.09 | ||
Other, non-Hispanic | 7.37 (0.32) | −0.02 | −0.11 to 0.07 | −0.04 | −0.13 to 0.05 | ||
Hispanic | 7.57 (0.18) | 0.01 | −0.05 to 0.06 | 0.00 | −0.06 to 0.05 | ||
Less than high school | 7.99 (0.34) | 0.08 | 0.00-0.17 | 0.07 | −0.01 to 0.16 | ||
High school | 7.80 (0.16) | 0.06 | 0.01-0.11c | 0.05 | 0.00-0.10c | ||
Some college | 7.35 (0.09) | Ref | Ref | ||||
Don't meet basic needs | 7.83 (0.26) | 0.03 | −0.04 to 0.10 | 0.01 | −0.06 to 0.08 | ||
Just meet basic needs | 7.40 (0.17) | −0.03 | −0.08 to 0.02 | −0.04 | −0.09 to 0.02 | ||
Meet needs with a little left | 7.62 (0.12) | Ref | Ref | ||||
Live comfortably | 7.59 (0.17) | 0.00 | −0.06 to 0.05 | −0.01 | −0.06 to 0.04 | ||
No | 7.57 (0.09) | Ref | Ref | ||||
Yes | 7.41 (0.33) | −0.02 | −0.11 to 0.07 | −0.02 | −0.16 to 0.12 | ||
No | 7.57 (0.08) | Ref | Ref | ||||
Yes | 7.38 (0.38) | −0.03 | −0.13 to 0.08 | −0.02 | −0.17 to 0.13 | ||
No | 7.80 (0.11) | Ref | Ref | ||||
Yes | 7.30 (0.12) | −0.07 | −0.11 to −0.02c | −0.06 | −0.10 to −0.01c | ||
No | 7.57 (0.09) | Ref | Ref | ||||
Yes | 7.48 (0.27) | −0.01 | −0.09 to 0.06 | 0.00 | −0.07 to 0.08 |
aSE: standard error.
bCrude (LR) and adjusted linear regressions (aLR) with significance at
cDenote statistical significance at
Use of multiple social media sites among regular (defined as using a site multiple times a day, daily, or weekly) users (US young adults aged 18-24 years, weighted n=989). The table presents the % of regular users (ages 18-24 years) of each particular site who use another particular site (eg, 89% of regular users of Tumblr also regularly use Vine).
Other social media use | Use Tumblr, n (%) | Use Vine, n (%) | Use Snapchat, n (%) | Use Instagram, n (%) | Use LinkedIn, n (%) |
% of Tumblr users (n=825) who… | - | 734 (89) | 691 (84) | 679 (82) | 678 (82) |
% of Vine users (n=818) who… | 734 (90) | - | 697 (85) | 687 (84) | 666 (81) |
% of Snapchat users (n=789) who… | 691 (88) | 697 (88) | - | 684 (87) | 647 (82) |
% of Instagram users (n=779) who… | 679 (87) | 687 (88) | 684 (88) | - | 631 (81) |
% of LinkedIn users (n=761) who… | 678 (89) | 666 (88) | 647 (85) | 631 (83) | - |
Correlates of access to specific types of digital technologies among US young adults aged 18-24 years (weighted n=989).
Participant characteristics | A smartphone with Internet access |
A tablet with Internet access |
A desktop or laptop with Internet access |
A smart TV or video game console with Internet access |
A cell phone without Internet access |
|
PRa |
PR |
PR |
PR |
PR |
||
Male | Refb | Ref | Ref | Ref | Ref | |
Female | 1.07 |
1.11 |
0.98 |
0.76 |
0.67 |
|
White, NHd | Ref | Ref | Ref | Ref | Ref | |
Black, NH | 0.86 |
0.74 |
0.74 |
0.54 |
1.57 |
|
Other, NH | 0.96 |
1.19 |
0.96 |
0.60 |
0.37 |
|
Hispanic | 0.97 |
1.07 |
0.85 |
1.21 |
1.02 |
|
Less than high school | 0.81 |
0.65 |
0.65 |
1.01 |
1.47 |
|
High school | 0.91 |
0.77 |
0.86 |
1.04 |
1.44 |
|
Some college | Ref | Ref | Ref | Ref | Ref | |
Don’t meet basic expenses | 0.74 |
0.67 |
0.71 |
0.42 |
1.27 |
|
Just meet basic expenses | 0.87 |
0.65 |
0.90 |
0.84 |
1.38 |
|
Meet needs with a little left | Ref | Ref | Ref | Ref | Ref | |
Live comfortably | 1.00 |
1.12 |
1.05 |
1.11 |
1.22 |
|
No | Ref | Ref | Ref | Ref | Ref | |
Yes | 0.97 |
0.91 |
0.87 |
0.90 |
1.74 |
|
No | Ref | Ref | Ref | Ref | Ref | |
Yes | 0.97 |
1.04 |
0.89 |
0.97 |
1.41 |
|
No | Ref | Ref | Ref | Ref | Ref | |
Yes | 1.12 |
1.01 |
1.09 |
1.31 |
0.78 |
|
No | Ref | Ref | Ref | Ref | Ref | |
Yes | 1.02 |
0.88 |
0.97 |
1.52 |
0.81 |
aPR: prevalence ratio.
bRef: Reference category.
cDenote statistical significance at
dNH: non-Hispanic.
Access to all Internet-enabled devices varied by subjective financial situation was as follows. Those who reported meeting needs comfortably or meeting needs with a little left reported greater access to a smartphone, a tablet with Internet access, a desktop or laptop with Internet access, and a smart TV or video game console with Internet access than those who “don’t meet” or “just meet” basic expenses (
According to Pew Research, 99% of US young adults aged 18-29 years in 2016 used the Internet [
In addition to providing updated estimates of social media use, this study found that while there were no consistent correlates of use of particular social media sites, there were a few relationships that deserve further exploration. First, there was a higher prevalence of LinkedIn use by black young adults and those with less than a college education. LinkedIn is an employment-oriented social media site that offers professional networking opportunities; higher LinkedIn use among young adults with lower education may reflect job-seeking among young people not enrolled in college. Given the professional focus of this site, it is unlikely to yield much information about the health behaviors of young people. Two other sites may provide more insight into the depiction of health behaviors on the Internet: Snapchat and Tumblr. Our study found there was a higher prevalence of Snapchat use among young adults reporting the greatest socioeconomic disadvantage. There was also a lower prevalence of Tumblr use among females and those who “just meet basic needs.” Tumblr, a social blogging platform, allows users to share and discuss multimedia content (text, photos, quotes, links, music, videos) and customize their blog using embedded tools. Approximately 32% of Tumblr bloggers are 18-24 years of age, and 67% are under age 35 [
Mobile devices are a primary channel for social media: Pew data indicate that in 2015, 85% of young adults aged 18-29 years had a smartphone and 91% of these individuals use a social networking site on the phone [
Limitations of this study include the self-reported nature of social media use and the social media sites identified in the survey. We may have missed other popular social media sites and data on some of the sites used may be erroneous; for example, the high prevalence of use of Google+ likely reflects use of Google’s search engine given the failure of the Google+ social networking site [
There are several mechanisms through which social media interventions can influence health behavior; however, few studies to date have used social media to facilitate health behavior change in young adults [
generalized anxiety disorder
Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (Society for Consumer Research)
patient health questionnaire
standard error
This study was funded by Truth Initiative. Dr Villanti was supported in part by Truth Initiative and the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence P20GM103644 award from the National Institute on General Medical Sciences. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
None declared.