Social media is a big part of our lives these days, but the Pew Research Center took an in-depth look at how much we trust these platforms. In a 2025 report that looks at social media usage among American adults, the data-driven think tank revealed some important details like year-over-year changes, age differences, and most importantly, frequency of use.
YouTube takes the lead, with 84 percent of the 5,022 adults surveyed saying they use Alphabet’s video-sharing platform. Meta earned silver and bronze medals as 71 percent of adults said they use Facebook, while 50 percent responded positively when it came to using Instagram. However, not all of Meta’s social media outlets are performing well. Threads may have hit 400 million monthly active users this summer, but only eight percent of adults surveyed said they use it. At the bottom of the list, only 21 percent of adults surveyed said they use X, while four percent of adults said they are on Bluesky and three percent are on Truth Social.
In addition to popularity, Pew Research Center also explored the frequency with which American adults use their favorite social media platforms. In a separate survey with 5,123 adults, the report showed that 52 percent of adults visit Facebook daily, with 37 percent of them logging in multiple times a day. Almost identically, 48 percent of adults use YouTube daily, with 33 percent of that demographic watching videos on the platform multiple times a day. When looking at frequency through the lens of age gaps, the biggest difference found is that 47 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 29 use TikTok at least once a day, while only five percent of those 65 years or older use the ByteDance-owned app every day.
Looking at annual trends, YouTube and Facebook have maintained largely stable usage since 2021 – and even experienced some growth. Even though it may feel like Facebook is starting to stagnate, reports show that it has a loyal user base that is still growing at a steady rate. Additionally, Meta is still continuing to update the social media platform, including recently revamping Facebook Marketplace.
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