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Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS)

Use of Social Media

Reference Number: MTAS-1602
Reviewed Date: 11/08/2018

Social media is a way for people to share information. An account can generally represent an individual, a company, municipality, or a group. While the three primary uses for social media are networking, socializing, and marketing, social media is also used to provide the public with information about city events, schools, traffic, new businesses, weather-related incidents, and new initiatives.

Social Media Statistics
Social media growth has appeared to level off somewhat since 2016 statistics were reviewed. Facebook is still the most popular site. In the United States, Facebook reaches 68 percent of the adult population with three-quarters of those users access Facebook on a daily basis.[1] The newest site to see a surge is YouTube which is not a traditional social site but does have many social element. YouTube is now used by 73 percent of U.S. adults and 94 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds. The 18- to 24-year-old segment stands out for using multiple Social Media platforms with 78 percent using Snapchat, 71 percent using Instagram and 45 percent using Twitter multiple times per day.[2] Other popular Social Media sites in the United States are Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest each with a respective adult internet users proportion of 24 percent, 25 percent, 35 percent, and 29 percent.[3]

As of February 2018, 69 percent of the U.S. public uses some type of social media platform.[4] We are in an age where grandparents, while sitting in the comfort of their homes, are able to visit their grandchildren who live 500 miles away over FaceTime or Skype. Children today do not think twice about sending a video of themselves doing a hand stand to all their friends at school using SnapChat. Our workforce is adapting to the changes brought about by social media in their personal lives and we must help them adapt professionally in our workplaces and our communities.


[1] http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/