Tik Tok is the preference for Youth - Where are you Marketing your Products

According to Canadian statistics, 91% of youth aged 15 to 24 use social media: 94% use YouTube, 91% use Instagram, and 65% use TikTok. A Media in Canada study reported that youth aged 7 to 17 use social media as follows: 53% use TikTok, 42% use Snapchat, 40% use Instagram and 37% use Facebook.  

A Study by Mia, Saiphoo, Soares and Gruzd found that young social media users aged 18 to 24 like to follow influencers on video-based platforms such as TikTok, Twitch, and YouTube. Food and How-tos are the most popular content consumed by this age group.

Social media endorsements of food can influence food consumption. A study conducted on 169 female students’ eating behaviour showed that they were influenced by the food images they saw posted on social media. (Hawkins, Farrow & Thomas).

Andrea Forte, et. al., studied what type of questions teens were asking on their social media platforms and they found that school, social activities, and entertainment, were the top questions asked. The highest number of questions were on Twitter and Facebook while Instagram received the least number of inquiries.

References

2024 Report: Social Media Use in Canada (Statistics).(2024). Melody McKinnon. Online Business Canada.Canadiansinternet.com

The Influence of Influencers. (2022). Mai, Saiphoo, Soares & Gruzd. Social Media Lab Toronto Metropolitan University, Version 2. DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.21586947

https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/19808/1/SMlabTO_Influencer_Report_nov30_2022-rev.pdf

The State of Social Media in Canada. (2025). Anatoliy Gruzd and Philip Mai, Social Media Lab Toronto Metropolitan University.

https://socialmedialab.ca/2025/05/05/new-report-the-state-of-generative-ai-use-in-canada-2025-exploring-public-attitudes-and-adoption-trends-2/

What Do Teens Ask Their Online Social Networks? Social Search Practices among High School Students (2014). Andrea Forte, Michael Dickard, Rachel Magee, Denise E. Agosto College of Computing and Informatics Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA https://www.researchgate.net

Does Exposure To Socially Endorsed Food Images On Social Media Influence Food Intake? (2021). Lily Hawkins, Claire Farrow, Jason M. Thomas.Appetite, Vol 165, 1, Oct 2021, 105424.