The Pew report is based on telephone interviews conducted from March 17 to April 12 among a national sample of 1,907 adults, including 1,612 Internet users, with a margin of error between 2.6 and 4.6 percentage points, depending on the subgroup.
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Facebook remains the dominant social network for US Internet users, while Twitter has failed to keep apace with rivals like Instagram and Pinterest, a study showed Wednesday.
As it turns out, 36 percent of smartphone owners use programs like WhatsApp, Kik, or iMessage; 17 percent use ephemeral messaging services such as Snapchat or Wickr.
“The results in this report reflect the noteworthy and rapid emergence of different kinds of communications tools serving different social needs”, the study said. “The data also show how swiftly an already complex terrain of interaction is becoming more varied”.
More established sites recorded less growth.
Now, 31 percent of people use Pinterest (up from 15 percent in 2012), while 28 percent use Instagram (up from 13 percent in 2012).
Facebook is still the favored social network for adults. But its growth over the past year has been fairly flat, the study showed. The percentage of US users who said they used each social network grew much more slowly between fall 2014 and spring 2015 than it did between previous years since Pew started asking the question. That compared with six percent the last time Pew asked in December 2012.
Social-media stocks have been on a bumpy road lately. LinkedIn shares fell in late July even as it beat earnings expectations, as analysts expressed concern about slowing user growth and ad sales. Only 38 percent of Twitter users said they check the site daily.
Only 23 percent of all online adults use Twitter, a proportion identical to that in September 2014, the report said.
Large portions of every demographic use Facebook, regardless of income, education or location.
Messaging apps like Snapchat that automatically deleted messages have become increasingly popular and utilized on the campaign trail.
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According to a recent Pew Research Center report, Pinterest and Instagram continue to attract new users while services like Facebook and Twitter plateau.
