Social Networking Stats: Teens Prefer Instagram Over Facebook, #RLTM Scoreboard

The #RLTM Scoreboard: Social Networking Stats for the Week

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Teens Prefer Instagram Over Facebook, Twitter

Instagram is on the rise as the favorite social network for teens, but this increased popularity is coming at Facebook and Twitter’s expense, according to new data from Piper Jaffray. This was the first time in the survey’s history that Instagram outranked Facebook and Twitter as the most important social network for this demographic.

One year ago, Facebook was the preferred social network for teens, listed as the most important social platform by 33% of those surveyed. Then six months ago, Twitter moved into first place as the favored social network of 31% of teens, while Facebook dropped to 27%.

Now, Instagram has moved into first place, with 30% of teens choosing the photo-sharing mobile social network as most important. Twitter dropped to 27% and Facebook fell to 23% over the last six months.

This data provides further evidence that Facebook is losing its appeal among teens – but given that Instagram is a Facebook-owned property, looks like the social networking giant will maintain a strong presence with this demographic.

One other interesting fact from the study: a whopping 85% of teen gamers play mobile games (that’s a lot of gaming.)

Piper Jaffray’s semi-annual survey, Taking Stock With Teens, was published Tuesday (April 9th). It should be noted that respondents consisted of upper-income and average-income teens in the US (lower-income teens were not included). Around 5,000 teens (average age: 16.4) were surveyed about fashion, video games, Apple products, and social networks.