The social network landscape is always in a state of flux, however certain sites seem to have stabilized as clear user favorites over the years. As of 2017, many of the top social media sites have been around for several years (Instagram, Snapchat), and many have been around for a decade or more (Facebook, Youtube, Twitter). So who reigns supreme in terms of popularity in 2017?

The Pew Research Center conducted a comprehensive survey of social media site use, and found that Facebook was the most popular social media site for online Americans overall at 79% (it is also the most popular social media network worldwide). Facebook was followed distantly by Instagram and Pinterest at around 30% each. LinkedIn and Twitter reached 29% and 24% respectively. However, there are some differences in social media site use among different age groups, as you might expect. Pew found that Facebook use was high among all demographics that had internet access, but had reached the highest level of use among the youngest age group (88% of 18-29 year-olds). However, even the 65+ age group had 62% Facebook users (among those who were online).

Sprout Social surveyed a cross-section of study of 1,000 Millennials, Gen-Xers and Baby Boomers, and the results are telling. In terms of most popular social networks, Facebook came out on top for all 3 demographics, though, Facebook was not favored as strongly by millennials (33% chose Facebook as top pick), followed by Instagram (22.2%) and Snapchat (15.8%). It is also interesting to note that even within demographics, there was a divergence in opinions. Younger millennials - those aged 18-24 - favored Instagram over Facebook.

Of course, use of multiple networks is the norm, and Pew found that a majority of internet users are on at least one social media network, a finding corroborated by Tracx. Do these statistics ring true with your experience? Do you think Facebook still reigns supreme?

Social media is a dominant force in American life - and as of the beginning of 2017 - a full 30% of time spent online is dedicated to social media use. But which social media networks are the most engaging? First things first, what is engagement when it comes to social media? Engagement is a metric that measures how involved users are with the content on a site, and it can be defined in a number of ways. For the purpose of this blog post, we define engagement as time spent on the social media network/app and frequency of use. Other definitions of engagement may include the frequency of likes, comments or shares, or engagement between a company and its customers.

So where does that put the most popular social media networks? In December of 2016, Global Web Index found that WhatsApp and Facebook lead the pack in terms of average frequency of use (see below). Over half of those surveyed used both WhatsApp and Facebook more than once a day. This finding of Facebook's relative dominance in use frequency is replicated in other studies. According to Statista, as of December 2016, it was found that 44 percent of U.S. online users accessed Facebook several times a day. In both the US and UK, Facebook is the most popular mobile app, and is accessed 8 times per day on average, according to Forrester (seen at bottom of the post). In a previous blog post, we saw that Facebook ranked first in active users worldwide.

However, when you factor in how long users are on the network, another site comes to the fore. Social Media Today shows that users spent the most time on YouTube at 40 minutes, and 35 minutes on Facebook. ComScore corroborates this time roughly, showing that users spent an average of 1,000 minutes per month on Facebook. Overall, it seems that Facebook is still the most engaging social media network, according to the outlined metrics.

Even though its organic reach is declining, Facebook is still a vital part of most US consumers' social media routines, and is a key part of any social media strategy. To see how Facebook fits into your social media campaign, check out our blog post on how to choose the right social media networks for your goals.