It’s no surprise teenagers love to use social media, they were basically born into it. But what differentiates the channels? Most people know that teens Facebook usage is declining. Piper Jaffray Companies recently completed its 32nd semi-annual “Taking Stock With Teens” research survey. This survey highlights spending trends and brand preferences amongst 10,000 teens across 46 U.S. states.

In this study, Piper Jaffray discovered that Snapchat is quickly surpassing competing channels and cutting into Facebook’s usage. Snapchat is becoming THE preferred social network for teens.

10,000 Teens Surveyed

Some key stats AdWeek compiled about the survey give us a snapshot of what teens are thinking.

• 80% of teens use Snapchat once a month, up 74% from the fall of 2015
• 79% use Instagram once a month, up from 76% last year
• Facebook usage declined from 56% to 52%
• 35% (of 10,000) chose Snapchat as their favorite platform, up from 17% last year

So why is Snapchat winning the social game with teens? As someone just a few years older than the surveyed demographic even I agree. Snapchat is just fun. It’s quick, easy, and adaptive. Between stories, memories, filters, and discover there is always something fun to do on Snapchat.

Why do they use Snapchat so much?

Popularity aside, Snapchat’s nature just calls for higher usage frequency. Snapchat encourages conversation and multiple postings a day. This is very different than Facebook or Instagram where most users aren’t posting more than once a day. Secondly, there’s very little social pressure on Snapchat. It’s for sharing fun moments not picturesque photos and there’s no likes or comments. Thirdly, Snapchat is super user friendly with captions, stickers, and filters that allow users to be on it all day and never get bored.

These reasons combined with “older, less cool” demographics crowding up Facebook and Instagram make it no surprise that Snapchat is king with teens.