Back-to-school shopping is in full swing, and both parents and teens are busy tackling long shopping lists. According to a new survey conducted on behalf of Ebates (www.ebates.com) many parents (42%) plan to spend between $100-$300—significantly less than the $250-$500 they planned to spend last year.

The survey also discovered that a majority of American parents are likely to take advantage of back-to-school promotions (80%). Social media is everywhere—and this year it’s even going to help teens with their back to school shopping decisions.

When asked which platform they use most frequently, teens say they use Instagram (68%) and Snapchat (67%) equally. Facebook was far behind, with only 39% of teens using it the most. College students rated Facebook much higher, however, with this age demographic selecting Instagram (71%), Snapchat (67%) and Facebook (66%) using each with about the same frequency.

When it comes to which social media platform is most helpful when finding back to school items to purchase, younger teens selected Instagram (45%), while college students chose Facebook (53%).