TikTok remains a favorite among Gen Z, but meta platforms like Instagram and Facebook are slowly making strides in the social media landscape. Piper Sandler’s Taking Stock With Teens Survey from the spring reveals that 37% use TikTok as their favorite social app, with its share declining marginally from 38% in the fall survey. Meanwhile, Meta’s Instagram improved by three percentage points to 23%, while its Facebook app rose to 3% from 2%, surpassing BeReal. Snap’s Snapchat was still the second favorite app at 27%, but its usage dropped from 30% in the fall.
These changes are likely due in part to the efforts of Meta Platforms to win over younger users from TikTok. Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said this month that better catering to younger people is their “North Star”, since its own Instagram Reels would be a natural replacement for the Chinese-owned app.
The survey included 5,690 teenagers from 47 U.S. states, with an average respondent age at 16.2 years old. Of the teens surveyed, 53% were male, 45% were female, and 2% were nonbinary.
Piper Sandler analyst Tom Champion is encouraged by the slight decline in TikTok’s leadership, and sees improvements in Meta’s product and better rates for its advertising business as working together to drive up the company’s stock. He rates Meta’s stock at Overweight with a $215 price target, and Snap’s at Neutral with a $9 target. Additionally, the survey indicates that 35% of teens continue to use Pinterest on a monthly basis, which Champion attributes to positive signs in its advertising business, improving user trends and margins.
The Meta Company, formerly known as Facebook, Inc., is an American technology company whose main focus is on developing and producing services related to social media. It was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with the mission of giving people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. It operates several popular platforms including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
Mark Zuckerberg is the CEO and founder of the Meta Company, and one of the world’s youngest billionaires. He first created the social network, Facemash, in his Harvard dorm room, which he eventually turned into Facebook. In 2007, he and several investors took the company public, with Zuckerberg becoming one of the wealthiest people in the world. He has since invested in many startups, and is a major advocate for technological innovation.
