Cybersmile Publish National Millenial and Gen Z Study of Attitudes toward Social Media Platforms in US

Author: SCD Team
October 9, 2019

Cybersmile are excited to announce the launch of Social America, our 2019 nationwide study of Gen Z and Millennial attitudes toward social media in the U.S.

We asked more than 20,000 respondents between the ages of 13 and 34 a series of 20 questions in regards to their perspectives of various social media platforms with a focus on popularity, safety, relevance, growth and perceived decline. Respondents were asked to provide their answers through multiple choice and open text questions, with the option to select different social media platforms including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube among others.

Each participant was also asked to share their view on what they think should be done to solve the problem of cyberbullying and what their thoughts were on further government regulation of social media. The study was conducted across the U.S. between 9-27th September, 2019.

“EVERYBODY AT CYBERSMILE IS VERY PROUD OF OUR SOCIAL AMERICA REPORT. FOR US AS AN ORGANIZATION, UNDERSTANDING THE MOST CURRENT PERSPECTIVES AND CONCERNS OF MULTI-GENERATIONAL INTERNET USERS WILL MEAN THAT WE ARE ABLE TO FOCUS OUR RESOURCES IN AREAS THAT ENSURE WE CONTINUE TO HELP PEOPLE IN THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAYS, AND IN THE PLACES THAT THEY NEED IT MOST.”

Laura Lewandowski, Chief Policy Officer, The Cybersmile Foundation

To undertake the study, Cybersmile partnered with Perksy which powers real-time research with Millennial and Gen Z audiences through mobile, incorporating behavioral science to deliver an engaging experience to respondents. The intelligence research platform enabled Cybersmile to develop questions that could be answered in a variety of ways including multiple choice and open response options. Respondents were also able to share their thoughts by writing answers to questions in full and were given the option to choose not to reply to questions.

“WE COULDN’T THINK OF A BETTER ORGANIZATION TO WORK WITH THAN CYBERSMILE. WE FEEL IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ALL INFLUENCERS, BRANDS, AND SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS TO ENSURE SAFE COMMUNITIES AND CONTENT FOR ALL USERS AROUND THE WORLD. PERKSY STANDS BY THEIR MISSION TO PUT AN END TO DIGITAL ABUSE, HARASSMENT, AND PROMOTING SAFER COMMUNITIES.”

Nadia Masri, Founder & CEO, Perksy

The platform’s analytics tools allowed the keywords and emotional sentiment of each response to be measured, helping us to understand how the study impacted each participant. The comprehensive datasets recorded by the platform also provided Cybersmile with a detailed overview of the different age groups, allowing us to isolate key findings by state, salary, gender, religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation such as heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual, asexual, non-binary or other.

KEY FINDINGS

Below are some of the key findings from our Social America report:

• TikTok was identified as the fastest growing social media platform in terms of popularity, along with Instagram in second place and Snapchat third by both Gen Z and Millennials.
• Facebook was identified as the social media platform that is becoming less popular, along with Tumblr in second place by both Gen Z and Millennials.
• Gen Z identified Facebook as the least relevant platform for young people in contrast to Millennials who identified LinkedIn as the least relevant.
• Instagram was identified as the favorite social media platform by both Gen Z and Millennials.
• Gen Z identified Snapchat as the platform they feel safest using when it comes to cyberbullying, with Millennials identifying Pinterest.
• Instagram was recognized as the platform that both Gen Z and Millennials feel least safe using when it comes to cyberbullying.
• Snapchat was identified as the second favorite social media platform for Gen Z after Instagram.
• Over three quarters of respondents indicated that they did not want governments to regulate social media companies more.
• Facebook was identified as the platform with the biggest cyberbullying and abuse problem by Millennials, with Gen Z identifying Instagram as the platform with the biggest problem.
• Instagram was identified first, and Snapchat second by both Gen Z and Millennials as the social media platform most relevant to young people.

You can view the full study by downloading and exploring the Social America report here. For more in-depth data or further information about the report please contact us.