These Are the 5 Most Popular Social Media Platforms for Financial Advice. Should You Trust Them?

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You won’t believe which big social network didn’t make the cut. 

When young adults want financial advice, more often than not, they go to social media platforms. 79% of millennials and Generation Z said they’ve gotten financial advice from social media, according to a survey by Forbes Advisor. Just 35% said they primarily got advice from family and friends, and 33% from internet searches.

Forbes Advisor also asked respondents which social media platforms they used and trusted for personal finance information. In the list below, we’ll go over the top five, as well as how good each platform tends to be for financial advice.

1 (tie). Reddit

47% receive financial information on Reddit37% trust Reddit for financial advice

Reddit is tied for first in terms of popularity, and it’s the most trusted social media platform for financial advice. It’s good to see that people trust Reddit over other platforms, because it typically has higher quality, more accurate information.

The reason for that is because popularity isn’t nearly as important on Reddit as on most social networks. Financial advice doesn’t make the rounds based on how many followers a Redditor has. Users upvote and downvote comments and posts based on their quality. On financial subreddits, good advice gets upvotes and rises to the top. Bad advice gets downvotes and responses explaining why it’s wrong.

1 (tie). YouTube

47% receive financial information on YouTube34% trust YouTube for financial advice

YouTube is even with Reddit popularity-wise, but not quite as trusted by young adults. However, it’s still well ahead of the rest of the pack in that area.

There’s definitely plenty of quality financial content on YouTube. Videos tend to be longer than those on other platforms, and the recommended range is generally from five to 15 minutes. That’s good for financial advice, because if it’s too short, it may miss important details. But it can be hard to gauge the trustworthiness of YouTube videos, especially since you can no longer see how many dislikes a video has.

3. TikTok

32% receive financial information on TikTok14% trust TikTok for financial advice

Nearly a third of young adults get financial advice on TikTok. A much smaller percentage trust the advice they’re getting there, and that’s probably for the best.

Most TikTok videos range from 30 to 60 seconds, so they provide quick money tips instead of in-depth information. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you want videos that teach you about finance, YouTube is a better choice.

TikTok also seems to be a hotbed for dubious financial schemes and conspiracy theories, even more so than other social platforms. There are some reputable financial TikTokers, but its popularity and the ease of making short videos have attracted bad actors, as well.

4. Instagram

21% receive financial information on Instagram3% trust Instagram for financial advice

Along with TikTok, Instagram has the biggest discrepancy between the number of young adults who use it and who trust it. Even though just over one in five will get financial information on Instagram, hardly any trust that information.

Since it started as a photo-sharing app, Instagram isn’t the most well-suited social network for financial advice. It’s great for showing the world pics of your vacation, but less helpful for learning about the travel credit cards that can help you book said vacation. Users can also share videos, but YouTube is better for video content, both for viewers and content creators.

5. Twitter

18% receive financial information on Twitter4% trust Twitter for financial advice

Twitter is another platform that some young adults use for financial advice, but that isn’t very trusted. Like TikTok and Instagram, its format also isn’t the best for financial content.

The 280-character limit on tweets makes it difficult to share detailed advice. Content creators who want to go into detail need to either publish a tweet thread or share a link to an article or video. Twitter has recently expanded its limit to 4,000 characters, but only for users who pay for a Twitter Blue subscription.

Honorable mentions

Facebook is the most popular social network in the world, but it’s not widely used for financial advice. Only 11% of young adults said they use Facebook for this, and a mere 2% trust financial information from Facebook.

Only 7% of young adults reported using LinkedIn for financial advice. Although LinkedIn was the least popular, it had an equal percentage (7%) who trusted the financial information they found there.

Be careful with financial advice on social media

Financial advice on social media is a mixed bag. No matter what your platform of choice is, don’t take anything at face value. Whenever money is involved, it’s good to do plenty of research before following someone’s advice.

If you like using social media to learn about money, the best thing you can do for yourself is find trustworthy sources of information. That could be a few financial subreddits you like, or channels from content creators you’ve looked into who have good reputations.

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