Use of Social Media Platforms among Adults in the United States—Behavior on Social Media

Jan Hruska and Petra Maresova
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Jan Hruska: Department of Economics, University of Hradec Kralove, 500 03 Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic
Petra Maresova: Department of Economics, University of Hradec Kralove, 500 03 Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic

Societies, 2020, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Social media has evolved over the last decade to become an important driver for acquiring and spreading information in different domains such as business, entertainment, crisis management, and politics. The increasing popularity of social media raises a number of questions regarding why we use it so much and what aspects influence this activity. What about gender? What about education, income, age or social status? This paper answers some of these questions using statistical analyses and by dividing overall social media use into selected social media, i.e., Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and Twitter. The analysis used a dataset that contains information related to 2002 respondents from the U.S. and their social media activity. The results show that people with high household incomes and high education use social media the most. As age increases, social media use decreases, while bigger household income means that social media are used more. Overall, understanding where and at what frequency users are on social media can be a key competitive advantage. When using social networks correctly for marketing, companies can significantly improve their brand awareness, customer satisfaction, quality, reach, and profit.

Keywords: social media; behavior; adults; United States; digital societies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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