Young and social online

More teens than kids use social media: 

• 34% of online kids (aged 8 to 13) 
• 82% of online teens (aged 14 to 17) 

Focusing on kids and teens who use social media (base: social media users — 53% of kids and teens):

Top five social media services used

Kids:

• Youtube: 66%
• Facebook: 56%
• Instagram: 53%
• Snapchat: 30%
• Skype: 25%

Teens:

• Facebook: 90%
• Youtube: 70%
• Instagram: 58%
• Snapchat: 57%
• Skype: 34%.

Active social media accounts 

On average: 

• kids have two accounts
• teens have three accounts

Main social media account:

• Facebook: kids 38%, teens 56%
• Instagram: kids 27%, teens 11%
• Youtube: kids 16%, teens 9%
• Snapchat: kids 8%, teens 17%
• Skype: kids 3%, teens 2%
• Other: kids 9%, teens 6.

Privacy and personal information

Privacy settings on their main social media account: 

• 61% private
• 21% partially private
• 9% public
• 10% not sure

More teens than kids share personal information on their main social media account:

• Photo of face: kids 47%, teens 58%
• Last name: kids 27%, teens 45%
• Real age: kids 21%, teens 38%
• School / photo of uniform: kids 19%, teens 27%
• Phone number / address: kids 6%, teens 9%

The upside of social media

• Keeping connnected to friends and family: 76%
• Entertainment: 69%. Keeping up to date: 45%
• Planning social life: 30%. Self-expression: 26%

The downside of social media

• Nasty comments: 45%
• Inappropriate or hurtful content: 36%
• Nothing: 30%
• Feeling they have to keep checking it: 23%
• Fear of missing out: 18%

Source: Survey commissioned by the eSafety, June 2016. 2,278 children aged 8 to 17 years with access to the internet. Base of 1,210 children who use social media.