This week, the Pew Research Center released its recurring report on social media use among teens in the U.S. Among the survey's findings are some interesting insights on how young Latinos express themselves online.

The Pew survey on Teens and Social Media provides a valuable look at how young people in the U.S. are interacting with the wider world through social media -- if an infrequent one. As the introduction of the Pew Research Center's report, released late last week, puts it, "Much has changed in recent years... when the Center last surveyed teens, Snapchat did not exist..."

The Takeaway

Indeed, that is quite a change in the teen social media landscape. So what are the newest, broad trends that Pew found by asking over a thousand teens, aged 13-17 that took part in a web panel over the past few months?

Teens Love Mobile

  • 91 percent of all teens go online, at least occasionally, via mobile devices
  • 92 percent of all teens use the Internet "at least daily"
  • 80 percent access the Internet either "several times a day" or "almost constantly"
  • 73 percent of all teens have a smartphone

Teens Use Multiple Social Media Outlets

  • 71 percent of all teens are on Facebook
  • The typical teen has 145 Facebook friends
  • 52 percent of all teens are on Instagram
  • 41 percent of all teens use Snapchat
  • 33 percent of all teens use Twitter
  • 33 percent of all teens use Google Plus (!)
  • 57 percent of teens describe at least "some overlap" with friends and connections across different social media

Hispanic Teens, Technology, and Social Media

As we've previously reported, Latinos, especially Millennials, in the U.S. have been particularly noted for smartphone ownership and mobile use. The same goes for social media.

With that knowledge, the most surprising results regarding young Latinos -- when Pew broke down the demographic backgrounds of teens in its latest survey -- might be how closely Latino social media use followed along with White and Black teens, depending on the network.

For example, about a third of Latinos and Blacks both reported "almost constant" use of the Internet (32 and 34 percent, respectively), and the same goes for using messaging apps like WhatsApp -- with 47 and 48 percent of Latino and Black teens, respectively, outpacing White teens' messaging use (at 24 percent).

Meanwhile, 23 percent of White teens and 24 percent of Latinos reported using online pinboard sharing sites (like Pinterest), while only 17 percent of Black teens did the same.

What Sets Latino Teens Apart

However, with as many similarities between Latino social media use and other demographics, there are a couple of interesting cases that set young Latinos apart.

For one, Latinos are far less likely to play online video games than other teens. While the overall average was 72 percent, 83 percent of Black teens played video games online or on their phones, while 69 percent of Latinos reported the same.

Meanwhile, young Latinos over-indexed significantly beyond Black and White teens for use of the often-overlooked social network Google Plus.

Google hasn't been known for generating the most tech buzz for its social media offering, but 33 percent of all teens reported using it -- heavily swayed by the results of Hispanic teens, which reported use Google+ at an incredible 48 percent.

(Photo : Pew Research Center)

White and Black teens both reported a statistically significant lower level of Google+ use, at 26 and 29 percent, respectively.

Another standout statistic from the report for Latinos is the similarly statistically significant difference in young Latinos using anonymous social apps and sites, like Whisper, Ask.FM, and Yik Yak.

While less than 10 percent of Black and White teens (7 and 9 percent, respectively) said they used anonymous mobile sharing or question-asking sites, Latino teens almost account for double the amount of engagement with those apps: at 16 percent.

Pew offered no insights as to why so many Latinos love Google Plus and anonymous apps like Yik Yak.

Perhaps we can come up with some ideas. If you're a young Latino using Google+ and/or anonymous sharing apps, let us know why you do in the comments below! (Bonus: To comment, you can sign with an anonymous account or your Google Plus account).

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