During a March 2020 survey of social media users in the United States, ** percent of respondents stated that if confined to their homes during the coronavirus, they would use Facebook more during that period. Many counties and cities in the United States have called upon residents to stay at home during the global coronavirus pandemic and subsequently, internet users turn to digital channels including social media to keep up to date with friends and family. Social media is also an important news channel for online users to stay informed about developments regarding the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

Throughout March 2020, during the COVID-19 outbreak, 41 percent of posts on Facebook mentioning the disease or the word 'coronavirus' in Latin America contained videos. Approximately one third (33 percent) of the posts included a link.

Among social media platforms being used during the coronavirus pandemic, Facebook was the most used with 78.1 percent of adults in the United States using the platform as of March 2020. The second-most used platform was Instagram, with 49.5 percent of U.S. adults using the image sharing social platform. However, 7.7 percent of responding adults stated that they were not using social media. Social networks are a popular method to stay in touch with friends and family amidst social distancing directives during the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States.

35 percent of the Austrian population used Facebook to inform themselves about the coronavirus (COVID-19) in April 2020. The figures are based on a survey conducted in Austria in March 2020.

During a March 2020 survey of social media users in the United States, 64 percent of respondents stated that if confined to their homes during the coronavirus, they would use YouTube more during that period. Many counties and cities in the United States have called upon residents to stay at home during the global coronavirus pandemic and subsequently, internet users turn to digital video and video-on-demand platforms to keep them entertained.For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

Based on survey results from **********, daily usage of WhatsApp and Instagram increased the most due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Finland. WhatsApp usage among Finns increased by **** percent compared to the period before the COVID-19 restriction measures were put in place. While most social media platforms increased their popularity, daily usage of Facebook, internet forums, blogs, and LinkedIn decreased during the pandemic.

TikTok saw a significant increase in popularity during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the United States, with a growth of 180 percent among 15-25 year old users after the pandemic broke out and people started working and studying primarily from home.

With roughly three billion monthly active users as of the second quarter of 2023, Facebook is the most used online social network worldwide. The platform surpassed two billion active users in the second quarter of 2017, taking just over 13 years to reach this milestone. In comparison, Meta-owned Instagram took 11.2 years, and Google’s YouTube took just over 14 years to achieve this landmark. As of January 2022, Facebook’s leading audience base was in India, with almost 330 million users whilst the United States ranked second with an approximate total of 179 million users. The platform also finds remarkable popularity in Indonesia and Brazil. Social Media usage in the United States In January 2021, Facebook was the platform on which users in the United States spent the most time per day. The average time spent on Facebook was 33 minutes, followed by TikTok with 32 minutes and Twitter with 31 daily minutes. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, all major social media platforms saw an increase in daily usage, which then either plateaued or decreased in 2021. At the end of 2021, over a quarter of all Facebook users in the United States belonged to the 25 to 34 year age group and 18.2 percent of users were in the 35 to 44 year age group. In general, Facebook users were more likely to be female. Meta Platforms Meta is Facebook’s recently renamed parent company and had a grand total of 3.59 billion core product users by the final quarter of 2021. Other Meta products include Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Oculus – Meta’s virtual reality subsidiary which produces VR headsets. In 2021, Meta's revenue amounted to 117 billion US dollars, up from around 86 billion U.S. dollars in the previous financial year.

At the beginning of 2021, over 35 percent of surveyed Generation Z and Millennials confessed they would usually ignore COVID-19 information shared by others on social media or messaging platforms that they knew was false. Meanwhile, 24.4 percent reported the content and 19.3 percent commented on it.

Almost half of Hungarian survey respondents stated that they used Facebook more during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak than before. Another 35 percent of respondents reported using YouTube more frequently.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

In March 2020, nearly **** percent of social media users surveyed in Mexico claimed to have received the largest amount of false information regarding COVID-19 via WhatsApp, while **** percent of respondents said Facebook was the platform through which they got the biggest number of fake news on the matter.

A survey from March 2020 found, that nearly half of the Norwegian population has come across fake news about the coronavirus. 38 percent of them stated to have seen fake news on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Snapchap or Instagram. The first case of the coronavirus in Norway was registered on February 26, 2020. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Fact and Figures page.

Between January and March 2020, most of the information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) appeared on the internet and the radio in Poland. According to the source, the traditional media in that period published 235 thousand publications. Whereas in social media about coronavirus, there were 1.1 million entries, most on Facebook.

A survey carried out in the United Kingdom in September 2021 showed that the most trusted source of news about the COVID-19 pandemic was the NHS, with ** percent of those aged 16 years or older saying that they trusted information directly from the National Health Service. By contrast, just ** percent said the same about Facebook.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

Between the first week of January and the last week of February 2020, the number of real social media users increased. The number of Facebook users increased by one million, and Instagram users by 0.6 million. This increase is caused by the outbreak of coronavirus in Poland.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

The use of digital services for music streaming increased in Finland during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in April 2020 compared to the pre-coronavirus period. The share of Finnish respondents using Spotify and Facebook for music streaming increased by **** percent in April according to the digital music survey. Furthermore, Youtube and Instagram was used slightly more frequently for music streaming during the coronavirus lockdown.

Facebook Gaming accumulated 382 million hours of live streams watched in the third quarter of 2022, down from an all-time high in the third quarter of 2021 with over 1.29 billion hours of streaming content watched.

In 2024, Meta's annual net income was 62 billion U.S. dollars, up from 39 billion USD in 2023. Meta's net income increased from 18.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2018 to 29.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, following the COVID-19 pandemic, subsequent lockdowns, and increased social media and internet usage. Overall, Meta's 2022 net income was closer to pre-pandemic figures.

An online panel conducted in the United States in August 2021 found that 83.9 percent of respondents who did not intend to be vaccinated against COVID-19 used YouTube, whilst 74 percent of those who were vaccinated, or intended to be, used YouTube. In addition, a quarter of vaccine-hesitant respondents reported using Twitter, whilst almost 40 percent of vaccinated or planning to be vaccinated respondents reported using Twitter. For Facebook, vaccine-hesitant respondents were slightly more likely to be users of the platform, whilst Instagram was marginally more popular with vaccine-willing respondents.

Launched first in India after the TikTok ban in August 2020, YouTube Shorts rolled out globally in June 2021. The feature, which is accessible via the YouTube app, reached two billion monthly logged-in users as of July 2023. YouTube has been heavily promoting its short-video format platform since its global launch, including redirecting users automatically to Shorts when the YouTube app is opened and launching the YouTube Shorts Funds to entice creators' participation. In 2022, user and travel vlogger Shangerdanger took the crown for the most popular Short on YouTube, with his video “Diver cracks Egg at 45 ft Deep".

TikTok versus Reels: competitors’ comparison Launched in September 2016 in China as Douyin, TikTok went on to become of the most engaging social media platforms for global users, challenging mainstream social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube in their primary markets such as the United States, Brazil, and Japan. TikTok’s popularity exploded between 2019 and 2020, as the work was experiencing the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Reels, Instagram’s in-app short video experience, debuted in 2020 as Facebook (now Meta Platforms) bet on the short-video feature to improve users’ engagement. While videos were an already popular format on Facebook and Instagram, social short videos soon became an even more popular format with users. As of June 2022, the average video viewing rate for Reels on Instagram was 2.54 percent, while for videos was of 1.74 percent as of June 2022.

Content is key: creators drive an entire economy As of July 2022, influencers on TikTok and YouTube generate the largest share of video views, over 90 percent, while content produced by media companies and brands constitute only a smaller part of the video views generated on the two video platforms. As content creators are emerging even more clearly as the backbone of social media marketing and advertising, it is not a surprise that an entire economy devoted to their needs and presence has developed in recent years. In 2022, companies supporting the creators’ economy by offering merchandising services had an annual average revenue of over 500 million U.S. dollars, while companies overseeing subscription services generated approximately 300 million U.S. dollars.