CarterJMRN has been tracking daily social media usage among the general public aged 16-69 via our Japan Consumer Sentiment Survey since 2017. Our latest wave in 2022 has found that the most used daily platform is LINE- Japan’s leading messaging app, at 52%, followed by YouTube at 49% and Twitter at 42%.
A major social network in the United States, Facebook’s popularity has been gradually eroding in Japan over the past six years (15% in 2017 vs. 11% in 2022), in contrast with Twitter (17% in 2017 vs. 42% in 2022) and Instagram (9% in 2017 vs. 26% in 2022) which have witnessed significant growth in daily users.
Video-sharing platforms such as YouTube and TikTok Japan have been consolidating their position, reflecting the broader global shift from static to dynamic – and primarily short – video-type content that has characterized social media usage in the past few years.
When looking at daily social media usage from a gender perspective, YouTube (55% males vs. 44% females), Twitter (47% males vs. 37% females), and Facebook (14% males vs. 9% females) continue to show a male skew. Conversely, female users outnumber male users on LINE (48% males vs. 55% females) and Instagram (23% males vs. 29% females). A slightly more balanced scenario emerged for TikTok (10% male vs. 8% female) and the blogging site Ameba, where the number of female and male users now matches at 4% each.
SNS platform usage is evident among Seniors. LINE remains the most daily used app by people in their 60s (38%), followed by YouTube and Twitter, reaching 31% and 20% among senior users, respectively.
With 16 to 25-year-olds driving new video trends in Japan, TikTok’s fastest growing social media platform should not be overlooked, as the platform has been engaging an increasing number of younger users. As might be expected, Tik Tok’s highest usage is in the 16-19-year-old age group, among whom 31% use it daily. With the exception of Facebook, Tik Tok still trails the major SNS brands among young people but represents an increasing challenge. Facebook’s usage data by age unveils the social network’s struggle in involving younger generations on the platform.
