While other social media apps have seen their relative market shares remain stable over the past four years, TikTok has grown significantly. Social media is widely viewed as dynamic, innovative and driven by the ethos to “move fast and break things.” But new research from Northeastern University shows that the social media landscape has been relatively stable for the last four years, with one main exception — an exception that is about to be banned in the United States.
“For all the thinking about technological dynamism and so on, there’s been little change to the relative market shares of the platforms for the last four years, except mainly TikTok,” says David Lazer, Northeastern University distinguished professor of political science and computer science. “Now it sort of does feel like the one platform that is really challenging the big incumbents is being shut down.”
The research, as well as an interactive graphic allowing one to analyze the user demographics of different social media and instant messaging platforms, is the latest result of data gathered by the Civic Health and Institutions Project (CHIP50). This 50-state survey effort that polls Americans on opinions and behaviors has been asking large samples of Americans about their social media use — including both which apps they use and how frequently they use them — since late 2020.
