• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, February 17, 2016

Online adults have 6.3 social media accounts on average, but only use 3.5 of these regularly, according to new figures from GlobalWebIndex, which surveyed online adults around the world. The survey also revealed that social media has become virtually universal, as 93% of online adults have at least one social media account, while 79% are actually active on at least one social platform.

No surprise, Facebook was the clear leader and even more dominant when its various apps and properties are included: 84% of all online adults around the world engage with Facebook, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or Instagram, with 47% of online adults qualifying as active users. By contrast just 48% of online adults are on Twitter, and just 22% are active users, while the comparable figures are 23% and 14% for LinkedIn, and 12% in both categories for Pinterest.

The one standout when it came to membership and visitation was YouTube, with 60% of online adults claiming a YouTube membership but 80% visiting at least occasionally (reversing the usual proportions of membership and usage).

Facebook also led in frequency of visitation, with 54% of Facebook members visiting more than once a day, compared to 31% of Instagram users, 27% of Twitter users, 18% of Tumblr users, 16% of Pinterest users, and 13% of LinkedIn users.

The most popular activities on Facebook were clicking the “like” button, with 64% of active users doing so in the past month; watching a video, at 50%; one-on-one messaging, at 48%; commenting on a friend’s photo or video or reading an article, both at 46%. On Twitter, the most popular activities were reading a news story, cited by 36% of active users; logging on to see what’s happening but not posting or commenting, at 31%; and watching a video, tweeting to friends, or retweeting friends, all at 28%.

In terms of age breakdown, Tumblr and Instagram skewed youngest: 41% of Tumblr users are ages 16-24 and another and 37% are ages 25-34, while the comparable figures for Instagram are 37% and 33%, respectively. That compares to Facebook, where 24% of users fall in this age cohort, while 28% are ages 25-34, 22% are ages 35-44, and 26% are 45 and up.