The study, conducted by cybersecurity experts VPNpro.com, examined Google search data to discover which social media apps Americans wish to delete nationwide and in each state. The data was based on the aggregated average monthly volume for search terms frequently used by people seeking to delete or deactivate each social media app in the country. 

The top 5 most disliked apps in Georgia:

The research revealed that Instagram is the app that residents of Georgia want to delete the most. Residents search for terms relating to deleting or deactivating the app an average of 43,538 times a month. The top 5 can be found below:

The social media apps that Americans want to delete nationwide 

Instagram is the app Americans want to delete more than any other social media app, according to the research. On average, there are 1,181,302 combined searches every month on how to delete or deactivate Instagram in America, the highest search volume of any social media app. Meta-owned Instagram the app that Americans want to delete the most in 21 states altogether and is especially disliked along the West Coast. Those in California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Georgia are most interested in deleting Instagram, respectively. 

Meta-owned Facebook comes in second in the ranking, with a combined 1,005,860 monthly searches about deleting accounts. While Instagram receives more average searches nationwide as the app that Americans want to delete the most, with 1.1 million searches, Facebook follows closely behind, but is the app Americans eagerly wish to delete in a total of 29 states. Facebook is especially popular to delete in Midwestern states, including Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. 

Snapchat places third in the ranking. Snapchat, initially launched in 2011, places as the third social media app that Americans wish to delete in a total of 47 states. The picture-sharing app receives 269,235 average monthly searches in the United States for a combination of search terms related to deleting or deactivating the app, such as ‘how to delete Snapchat’ and ‘deactivate Snapchat account’. 

The social media app with the fourth highest number of searches for deletion was Twitter/X. With 183,963 average monthly searches nationwide, users in Hawaii, Maryland, and New Jersey are the most eager to delete the app. Although Instagram and Facebook have considerably more monthly searches than Twitter, this number could be subject to change as Elon Musk rebrands the popular site to the recently announced ‘X’. 

TikTok ranked as the fifth app that Americans want to get rid of, with an average of 32,937 combined monthly searches nationwide. TikTok ranks high on the list despite the video-sharing app ranking as the most downloaded app of 2022, with more than 672 million downloads worldwide. TikTok has faced scrutiny over data privacy in the last year, leading to discussions of potential bans or restrictions in the US and other countries.  

The top 10 social media apps that Americans want to delete are rounded out by Reddit ranking in sixth place, LinkedIn in seventh, followed by YouTube, WhatsApp, and Pinterest in eighth, ninth, and tenth, respectively.  

A spokesperson for VPNpro.com commented on the findings: “Between the recent launch of Twitter’s new competitor, Threads, Elon Musk's Twitter takeover, and the era of TikTok in full force, social media usage has taken some unexpected turns in the last year alone. While it might be hard for some of us to imagine a world without social media, many Americans are opting to delete specific platforms, as highlighted in this research.”  

“It’s fascinating that the most popular Meta-based platforms, Instagram and Facebook, rank as the top two apps that Americans want to delete, which could be great news for Twitter-owner Elon Musk. However, with Mark Zuckerburg’s recent launch of Threads and Musk’s recent rebrand of Twitter to ‘X’, it will be interesting to see how this ranking changes in the near future.”  

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