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The most popular social media platform for your age group

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The most popular social media platform for your age group

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TV-connected devices: DVD players, VCRs, game consoles and digital streaming devices

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Millennials in Sweden & Norway use FB as their main news source (Deloitte)

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Gen Y are the first generation to have spent their entire lives in the digital environment; information technology profoundly affects how they live and work. They actively contributes, shares, searches for and consumes content – plus works and plays – on social media platforms.

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Average Time spent online on social media

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Average Time spent online on social media

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Average amount of hours spent per day on social media worldwide as of November 2021, by generation (in hours). Gen Y spends approx 2.25hrs per day.

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“Please list your current top five favorite celebrities.”

Male Millennials have a higher opinion of trending social media stars than they do for sports stars, pop stars, actors and actresses.

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Millennials mostly use Facebook. An explanation may be that this age group grew up with Facebook, which has become an integral part of their lives (Deloitte).

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Gen Y choose social media as their preferred news source more than older generations.

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Millennials had the lowest program engagement and lowest ad memorability scores.

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"I'm okay with ads - as long as content is free."

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"I'm okay with ads - as long as content is free."

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Are Gen Y's prime outlet to engage with social media.

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Millennials on Millennials: A Look at Viewing Behavior, Distraction and Social Media Stars

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Millennials have grown alongside advancements in technology and media platforms, placing them in intriguing territory with regard to media habits. When it comes to television, their eyes are glued to the screen. With commercials, they’re still tuned in—but their eyes are on their cell phones.

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Look at this Instagram (Nickelback Parody)

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What comes to mind when thinking about Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube? Being updated on the most recent news? This is something that we need to get used to. Our survey shows that Scandinavians - especially the younger generations − rely increasingly on social media sources for news.

Gen Z and millennials get their 'news fix' through social media

Nowadays, young people use their smartphone for almost everything - from ensuring that they get up in the morning and staying connected with friends to monitoring their health and checking their finances. The applications and possibilities are endless. Social media platforms have become an integral part of their everyday lives, to share, like and engage with all sorts of content.

When it comes to news, the younger generation turns to social media. According to our survey, 65% of 18- to 24-year olds (Gen Z) and 61% of 25- to 34-year olds (millennials) list one or more social media as their preferred source of news. These figures support a trend that has been underway for some time, namely a shift away from traditional news sources such as print versions of newspapers, radio, and TV news.

Social media as one of the top three most preferred news sources

Our survey also indicates that the preferred way of getting news varies between age groups. In comparison with younger age groups most 45- to 75-year olds do prefer using the more traditional news sources: 72% of the 45- to 54-year olds and 77% of the 55- to 75-year olds prefer TV news or other TV programmes as their news sources. Among 18- to 24-year olds, this figure is only 39%.

This difference raises a question of whether the preference among younger people for social media as a source of news is only an age effect, or whether it will continue as they grow older.

TV as one of the three most preferred news sources

A preference for Facebook

Facebook and YouTube stand out as the most popular social media for news. One-quarter of our survey respondents include Facebook among their top three most preferred news sources. For YouTube, this number is 11%.

However, in general social media channels are used as supplementing news sources and are not the most popular. For example, only 8% of respondents regard Facebook as their number one preferred source for getting news. This picture changes when zooming in on the 18- to 24-year olds: 39% have list a social media channel as their preferred source of news, compared to 17% among the entire population.

While the youngest age group is the main user of all other social media platforms, 25- to 34-year olds (31%) mostly use Facebook. An explanation may be that this age group grew up with Facebook, which has become an integral part of their lives. While it may be argued that more recent social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok have replaced Facebook in overall popularity, Facebook still manages to retain its popularity when it comes to news.

Among our survey respondents, 27% of 18- to 24-year olds and 26% of 35- to 44-year olds use Facebook as a source of news. Even 20% of the 65- to 75-year olds list Facebook as one of their preferred news sources. These figures indicate that Facebook is a preferred news source across all age groups, even though the use of social media for news declines with age.

Social media use across age groups

In a comparison between countries, people in Denmark use Facebook for news (31%) more than those in Norway (26%) and Sweden (21%). The main users are 18- to 24-year olds (45%) in Denmark and 25- to 34-year olds in Sweden and Norway.

The new popular kid on the block

While Facebook and YouTube have existed for some time, TikTok is a relatively new kid on the block - and a very popular one among the young people. Among the 18- to-24-year olds, 6% choose it as their number one preference for news, and another 15% list it in their top three.

The idea behind TikTok is to film and share short videos, and currently, TikTok takes the position as one of the fastest-growing social media platforms. Especially, young Norwegians like to get their news from TikTok - 21% of Norwegian 18- to 24-year olds choose TikTok as one of their preferred news sources. In both Denmark and Sweden, this number is 13%.

Our survey therefore shows that there are differences between Scandinavian countries in which social media platforms are the preferred news sources: TikTok and Twitter are the main social media news sources in Norway, and Facebook and YouTube are used much more in Sweden and Denmark.

Danes are more interested in news

In general, Scandinavians want to keep updated with news and only 8% say that they are not interested in news. On the other hand, interest in the news and current events is least (16%) among 18- to 24-year olds (Gen Z).

Although only 7% of 18- to 24-year olds in Denmark say that they are not interested in staying updated on news and current events, the figure is much higher in Sweden (18%) and in Norway (23%).

Interest in news

Among the entire population of each country, 7% in Denmark, 9% in Sweden and 8% in Norway are not interested in news and current affairs. This indicates that interest in the news is much the same across all age groups in Denmark.

However, 18- to 24-year olds in Sweden and Norway are much less interested in the news than the rest of the population. In Norway, there is strong correlation between age and interest in the news. Similar correlation is evident in Sweden, although there is less interest among the 65- to 75-year olds.

Is it a problem to have social media as preferred news sources?

Since a significant portion of younger people prefer to get their news through social media such as Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, it is interesting to reflect on what kind of news they are exposed to - and the quality of the news they encounter on these platforms.

The 'traditional' news channels are also present on social media. However, online news often appears in a 'lighter' format and might have a catchy headline to attract attention; or an article may be kept short in length in order to keep the attention of users. In addition, algorithms play an important role in deciding what news the users are exposed to.

Social media also allow people without a journalistic background to create or engage with news in a way that was not possible in the past. As a consequence, it can also be used intentionally to spread fake news and misinformation. Despite efforts to identify and remove fake news, false stories are often spread through social media channels.

Curious to learn more? Download the full report

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Are younger generations moving away from traditional news sources?

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Younger generations turn to social media for news. This trend marks a shift away from traditional news sources and sheds light on a major generational difference.

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Gen Y have experienced long periods of economic prosperity (until the past few years) and a rapid advance in instant communication technologies, social networking, and globalization. They are now experiencing

an era of economic uncertainty and violence and the worst global recession since 1929.

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Gen Y rely heavily on technology for entertainment, to interact with others -- and even for emotion regulation.

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Internet access and consumer expenditure on hardware and services varies considerably between low- and

high-income economies. DD largely mirrors inequalities on the basis of education, income, occupation, social class and

neighborhood.

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The word cloud of key terms in this article gives you the more general sensibility: “gentle,” “enticing,” “placid,” “friendly,” and “knowing.” The “millennial aesthetic” favors “chatty positivity”; it likes “blank, clean surfaces” and soft lines; it is “casual, friendly, and impersonal.” It’s offbeat but not weird.

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An American neologism coined in 2013 as a pejorative description of lifestyle trends associated with the early 2010s.

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College students in collectivistic Korea tend to emphasize obtaining social support from

existing social relationships, whereas their counterparts in individualistic USA focus more on seeking entertainment.

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Y uses social media for the same purposes as other cohorts:

for information, leisure or entertainment

socializing and experiencing a sense of community

staying in touch with friends

Most time is spent consuming content.

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Global average time spent per day on social media by generation 2021 | Statista

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According to a global survey conducted in 2021, respondents who belonged to Generation Z reported spending on average three hours per day on social media.