Pew Study: Blacks Over-Index On Twitter; Whites On Pinterest
26% of Black Internet Users Surveyed Use Twitter, Compared to 14% of White Users
By Cotton Delo
Consumers have an ever-expanding set of choices for social-networking, and Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest are finding a niche among different demographic subsets, according to new research from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.
The study, an expansion of a similar study on Twitter in 2010, queried 1,802 people on their cell phones and land lines over the course of a month late last year.
Here are seven takeaways.
Black users over-index on Twitter. Twenty-six percent of black internet users surveyed said they used Twitter, compared to 14% of white users and 19% of Hispanics. (In 2010, Pew reported that 13% of black internet users, 5% of white users and 18% of Hispanics were using on Twitter.)
Blacks and Latinos also over-index on Instagram. Twenty-three and 18% of black and Latino internet users respectively use Instagram, compared to 11% of whites.
Pinterest is the whitest social platform. Eighteen percent of white internet users are on Pinterest, compared to 8% of blacks and 10% of Hispanics.
Twitter is most popular among urban-dwellers. Twenty percent of people living in urban areas use Twitter, compared to 14% in the suburbs and 12% in rural areas.
Pinterest is more popular among better-off people. Twenty-three percent of people with household income between $50,000 and $74,999 use Pinterest, as well as 18% of people who make more than that. Just 10% of people who make under $30,000 use it.
Instagram has become much more popular than Tumblr. Tumblr has been around since 2007, but just 6% of people surveyed use it. Thirteen percent use Instagram.
Facebook is used by everyone everywhere—even senior citizens. Thirty-five percent of people 65 and older use Facebook.
