A recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center revealed that approximately half of Hispanic adults in the United States are active users of the popular social media platform TikTok. The research, conducted between May 19 and September 5, 2023, involved nearly 6,000 U.S. adults, exploring their social media usage patterns on platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Snapchat, X, Reddit, and BeReal.
YouTube emerged as the most widely used platform among all U.S. adults, with 83% of respondents reporting their usage, followed by Facebook (68%) and Instagram (47%). Similar trends were observed among Hispanic adults, where YouTube (86%), Facebook (66%), and Instagram (58%) dominated. Notably, Instagram’s popularity among Latinos exceeded that of the general population by 11 percentage points.
The survey also highlighted that Hispanic social media users were more likely than the general population to engage with TikTok and WhatsApp. Forty-nine percent of Hispanic adults reported using TikTok, demonstrating a significantly higher usage rate compared to Black adults (39%), Asian adults (29%), and White adults (28%).
Jeffrey Gottfried, the associate director of research at Pew and the report’s author, emphasized the persistent popularity of TikTok among Hispanic adults, aligning with the platform’s overall growth. Thirty-three percent of all U.S. adults surveyed indicated using TikTok, reflecting a noteworthy 12-percentage point increase from 2021.
Gottfried noted TikTok’s distinctive growth when compared to other social media platforms covered in the survey, which either experienced modest growth or none at all. The survey underscored a general stability in the social media landscape, with no indications of decreases in usage across the platforms examined.
Among the surveyed adults, 54% of Hispanics and 51% of Asians reported using WhatsApp, surpassing usage rates among Black adults (31%) and White adults (20%).
As social media platforms continue to grapple with challenges related to misinformation and data privacy, Pew’s research aims to provide insights into the salience of these issues within the U.S. population and its diverse subgroups.
