As independent specialty retailers work to build their social media outreach along a variety of platforms, Facebook continues to be the place to go to reach the most consumers. According to the latest surveys from the Pew Research Center, even with Facebook’s recent scandals, Americans are using the social media site in droves.

Here is a primer on some of the latest statistics:

• Around two-thirds of U.S. adults (68 percent) use Facebook, and only YouTube, the video-sharing social media platform, surpasses that with 73 percent of adults tapping into the silly cat videos available on that site.
• Among U.S. adults who use Facebook, around three-quarters say they visit the site at least once a day. About 60 percent report visiting Instagram that often.
• Facebook is popular among all demographic groups, though some adults are more likely to use it than others. Nearly 74 percent of women in the U.S. use the platform compared to 62 percent of men. Adults in urban areas are more likely to use it than those in suburban or rural areas, as are those with a college degree.
• Facebook is used by half of American teens but is slipping among the 13-to-7 year-old age group, 51 percent report using the platform down from 71 percent in 2015.
• Lower-income teens are more likely to use Facebook than those in higher-income teens.
• Four-in-10 U.S. adults get their news from Facebook, mostly women (61 percent) versus 39 percent of men.
• Many users have altered their use of the platform. According to the Pew survey, about half of adult Facebook users in the U.S. have adjusted their privacy settings in the past year.
• Many adult Facebook users in the U.S. lack a clear understanding of how the platform’s newsfeed works, which means they don’t understand why certain posts are included in their feeds.
• Most Facebook users (74 percent) are not aware that the site collects information on ad preferences and lists their traits and interests for advertisers.
• However, once consumers realize that Facebook collects information on ad preferences, 51 percent of adult users told the Pew researchers that they were uncomfortable with Facebook keeping tabs on their interests and preferences.

Source: Pew Research Center

For more info on social media, read Desperately Chasing Social Media.