what social media is used for today
social media platforms are often divided into six categories social networking social bookmarking social news media sharing microblogging and online forums these diverse platforms serve a vast range of purposes and user interests some appeal to hobbyists others to people in their work lives people use them to find others around the globe who share their political or other views entertainers use social media to engage with fans politicians with voters and charities with donors governments often turn to social media to convey vital information during emergencies for businesses social media has become a key marketing tool companies use it to find and engage with customers drive sales through advertising and promotion identify fast moving consumer trends provide customer service or support and collect data on users sometimes surreptitiously percentage of internet users ages 16 to 64 who visited a social networking site in the past month 1pros and cons of social mediasocial media platforms allow people to access information in real time to connect with others and to find niche communities at its best it makes the world more interconnected on the other hand social media is also very good at spreading disinformation creating polarization and even causing harmful psychological effects still according to a 2019 survey by the pew research center people s use of social media is correlated with having more friends and more diverse personal networks especially within emerging economies 5 some 80 of teenagers say social media allows them to feel more connected to their peers according to a 2022 pew research center survey of u s teens ages 13 to 17 overall one in three said that social media has had a mostly positive effect on them while 59 said it had neither a positive nor a negative effect 6at the same time many teens use and overuse of social media has raised questions about its effect on their physical and mental health by distracting them disrupting their sleep and exposing them to bullying rumor spreading unrealistic views of other people s lives and peer pressure as the mayo clinic notes 7businesses meanwhile have found social media to be an often effective and relatively inexpensive way to reach consumers and build an image for their brands according to facebook more than 200 million small businesses use its service for various purposes 8 separately close to 90 of marketers say they use facebook for promotion 9in 2022 social media and search advertising spending made up roughly 55 of overall ad spending globally it is also the fastest growing category across advertising channels 10the top 10 social media platforms worldwidethese were the most widely used social media providers as of january 2023 according to datareportal interestingly two that are especially well known in the united states x and pinterest didn t make the top 10 list globally x was 14th with 556 million users worldwide while pinterest was 15th with 445 million 11