Social media use is widespread among Seattle metro-area adults. The latest survey data from market-research giant Nielsen shows around 92% of adults, or roughly 3 million people, have visited at least one of the 10 major social media platforms in the past 30 days.
The 10 platforms included in the Nielsen survey are: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Reddit, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest, Threads and Tumblr.
Of course, some of these platforms are far more popular than others.
Facebook was the leader, well before the rest of the pack. Around 2.35 million Seattle-area residents ages 18 and older visited Facebook in the past 30 days. That amounts to 72% of the metro's roughly 3.28 million adults.
Note that Nielsen only surveys people 18 and older, so it doesn't capture social-media use by kids.
As popular as Facebook is in Seattle, usage here was a little below the 76% national average for metro areas.
Facebook is also the oldest-skewing platform in the spreadsheet: The median age of adult Facebook visitors in the Seattle area was 47. The median is the midpoint, meaning half the adult Facebook users were older and half were younger.
Nielsen surveyed more than 2,900 adults in our metro area from July 2024 to October 2025. Nationally, the survey had more than 211,000 respondents.
Instagram ranked second locally, and unlike Facebook, it was more popular in the Seattle area than nationwide. About 1.99 million adults used Instagram at least once in the past 30 days, or about 61%. That's about seven percentage points higher than the U.S. metro-area average of 54%.
I'm guessing the popularity of Instagram has something to do with our area's spectacular natural scenery. We can't resist the urge to share photos and videos showing it off.
Two other platforms also stood out for high levels of usage in the Seattle area: LinkedIn and Reddit.
LinkedIn, a professional networking site, reached about 1.17 million adults in the past 30 days, or 36% of the adult population. That’s around 8 percentage points above the U.S. metro average of 28%. No shocker that in our highly educated, largely white-collar metro, a lot of folks are using this site to polish their résumés and explore their next career move.
Reddit is right alongside it, with about 1.14 million adult visitors, or 35% — seven points higher than the U.S. metro average of 28%. Our metro's nerdy, opinionated side loves all those topical subreddits, and with a median age of 39, it's one of the younger-leaning platforms for adults.
The popularity of the remaining platforms was closer to average or well below average in the Seattle area.
TikTok reached about 832,000 adults locally, or 25%. That’s significantly lower than the U.S. metro average of 30%. TikTok is known to appeal to a younger audience, and the median age of adult TikTok visitors in Seattle was 40, younger than Facebook, certainly, but not the youngest among the social media platforms included in the survey.
X (formerly Twitter) slightly underperforms here. About 769,000 Seattle-area adults, or 24%, visited X in the past 30 days, a bit below the 25% U.S. metro average. It's possible the site's 2022 acquisition by Elon Musk turned off some users in our highly progressive metro area.
Pinterest was used by about 683,000 adults, or 21%, also a little below the U.S. metro average of 23%.
Snapchat is the youngest-skewing platform, with a median adult user age of 33 in the Seattle area. About 440,000 adults, or 13%, visited Snapchat in the past 30 days, around 5 percentage points below the U.S. metro average of 18%.
Two smaller platforms were included in the survey — Threads and Tumblr — neither of which hit the 10% mark.
Threads, often thought of as an alternative to X, reached about 292,000 adults, or 9%, a little higher than the U.S. metro average of 8%. Tumblr, whose popularity peaked in the mid-2010s, was even smaller, with about 110,000 adults (3%) visiting, in line with the U.S. metro average.
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