If you thought Instagram, Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) are the most popular social networks, think again.
According to a Piper Jaffray 2016 national survey of 10,000 high school students and their consumption trends, photo sharing app Snapchat is now the most engaged and most preferred social network among the teen demographic.
Piper’s semi-annual study “Taking Stock With Teens” asked survey takers about fashion and beauty, restaurants and media and device preference. A massive 80% said they used Snapchat at least once per month and 35% said it was their favorite platform. Instagram came in second place with 27%, followed by Twitter and Facebook. The survey also showed that monthly engagement on Twitter among surveyed teens declined to 56% from last year’s 58%, while preference for Twitter fell by 5 points to 13%. Facebook engagement also experienced a drop with engagement in the Fall survey coming in at 52% versus 60% in Spring.
Piper said that excluding shifts in the group surveyed, core Facebook usage likely declined by three basis points, which indicates the social networking giant is slowly becoming less relevant versus Instagram and Snapchat. Objectively speaking though, the new data shouldn’t come as big surprise. The reality is teenagers tend to be more interested in video and image-based online media rather than text-focused media seen on Twitter and Facebook. That said, it’s not all bad news for Facebook. The survey showed that Instagram teen usage increased five points in the Fall survey, slightly faster than Snapchat’s four points.
The survey had also some good news for Apple, Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) diehards. It showed ownership of iPhones reached its highest ever at 74%. Additionally, 79% of teens said they expect their next phone to be an iPhone.
The survey also indicated streaming giant Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) as the most popular daily video service among teens with 37 percent – 34% above its competitors Hulu and Amazon Prime – followed by Alphabet‘s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) YouTube and cable TV with 26 percent and 25 percent, respectively.
Piper said it was the first time its national survey had shown YouTube ahead of cable TV.
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