Social media's influence on Gen Z shopping habits has surged dramatically in recent years. A 2024 survey reveals that ** percent of Gen Z consumers discovered new products or brands through social media influencers, up from ** percent in 2023. This shift underscores the growing importance of digital platforms in shaping consumer behavior, particularly among younger demographics. Beauty and personal care e-commerce growth The rising impact of social media on Gen Z purchasing decisions aligns with broader trends in e-commerce, particularly in the beauty and personal care sector. Global revenue in this market is forecast to increase by ***** percent between 2024 and 2029, reaching a new peak of ****** billion U.S. dollars. This growth trajectory suggests that the digital landscape will continue to play a crucial role in consumer discovery and purchasing habits. Payment preferences among young consumers Traditional payment methods remain popular among Zoomers. A survey across North America, Europe, and Latin America found that debit and credit cards are still preferred by Gen Z for online shopping and travel bookings. However, younger consumers are showing a growing demand for diverse payment options, indicating potential shifts in the e-commerce landscape as digital wallets gain prominence, particularly in Asia-Pacific markets.

******** was the most popular social media platform for Gen Z, or 15-to-19-year-olds, in the Netherlands in 2020, with nearly all respondents using the service. This according to domestic survey information. The ********* service already ranked as the Netherlands' overall most popular social medium in terms of users. YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat were also very popular, all reaching a penetration rate of over ** percent. Karaoke app TikTok, on the other hand, was much less popular, as only ** percent of them used the video application. Why is TikTok low in this ranking? Chinese video and sing-along application TikTok, formerly Musical.ly, made a global name as being one of the most popular smartphone apps for Generation Z. Here, it seemingly ranks low as the source used ages ** and up. This age group might potentially fall outside TikTok’s user base. While there is no data for the Netherlands that investigates the age groups below **, download numbers suggest the app grew in popularity in the Netherlands after Bytedance (TikTok’s owner) merged Musical.ly and TikTok in August 2018. A clash of generations Perhaps unsurprisingly, Gen Z uses Instagram and Snapchat much more often than their Millennial counterparts (defined by the source as 20-to 39-year olds). Interestingly, Pinterest was also more popular among the younger generation. The picture gallery app does not rank among the most popular apps in the Netherlands, reaching less than **** million people in 2019. Facebook, on the other hand, was more preferred by Millennials than it was by Generation Z.

In 2024, Generation Z represented **** percent of the global population, making them the largest generation group in the world, according to the source. In 2030, Millennials were forecast to represent **** percent of the population worldwide.

How many people use social media?

              Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities. In 2024, over five billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to over six billion in 2028.

              Who uses social media?
              Social networking is one of the most popular digital activities worldwide and it is no surprise that social networking penetration across all regions is constantly increasing. As of January 2023, the global social media usage rate stood at 59 percent. This figure is anticipated to grow as lesser developed digital markets catch up with other regions
              when it comes to infrastructure development and the availability of cheap mobile devices. In fact, most of social media’s global growth is driven by the increasing usage of mobile devices. Mobile-first market Eastern Asia topped the global ranking of mobile social networking penetration, followed by established digital powerhouses such as the Americas and Northern Europe.

              How much time do people spend on social media?
              Social media is an integral part of daily internet usage. On average, internet users spend 151 minutes per day on social media and messaging apps, an increase of 40 minutes since 2015. On average, internet users in Latin America had the highest average time spent per day on social media.

              What are the most popular social media platforms?
              Market leader Facebook was the first social network to surpass one billion registered accounts and currently boasts approximately 2.9 billion monthly active users, making it the most popular social network worldwide. In June 2023, the top social media apps in the Apple App Store included mobile messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram Messenger, as well as the ever-popular app version of Facebook.

As of February 2025, it was found that around **** percent of TikTok's global audience were women between the ages of 18 and 24 years, while male users of the same age formed approximately **** percent of the platform's audience. The online audience of the popular social video platform was further composed of **** percent of female users aged between 25 and 34 years, and **** percent of male users in the same age group.

According to the findings of a survey conducted in 2021, 38 percent of Generation Z respondents in the United States spent between 21 and 50 dollars on a single skin care product, while only about eight percent spent 150 dollars or more.

The skin care routine trend

Skin care has become a fundamental step in beauty routines, especially for younger generations of consumers. It can be seen all over the internet, with influencers promoting the newest products and make-up artists offering tutorials and tips. Skin care actually makes up around 40 percent of the global cosmetics market, and it is expected to reach a revenue of roughly 187.68 billion U.S. dollars by 2026. Generation Z uses skin care to fight skin imperfections, but also as a form of self-care. New skin care products are thus launched regularly, with ingredients like Vitamin C and Retinol increasingly becoming must-haves.

Beauty in the digital age

With younger shoppers becoming the focus of several brands, the internet is now undeniably relevant for the beauty industry as well. Gen Z is the generation that spends more money on skin care, often buying through online channels. This comes as no surprise, considering that they are very comfortable with social media and the internet. For this reason, they tend to use innovative beauty tech devices more than older generations and are also more swayed by influencers when choosing their beauty products.

People aged between ********* years made up the largest age group among the Italian population in 2025, counting around *** million individuals, closely followed by those aged ******** years, who were *** million people. Infants aged up to two years were **** million, the less numerous age category. As these data show, Italy suffers from a deep demographic and natality crisis. The country's population is one of the oldest in the world. In recent years, the share of Italians aged 65 years and over constantly grew, whereas the percentage of younger people declined.

In 2021, there were 1.21 billion monthly active users of Meta's Instagram, making up over 28 percent of the world's internet users. By 2025, it has been forecast that there will be 1.44 billion monthly active users of the social media platform, which would account for 31.2 percent of global internet users.

How popular is Instagram?

Instagram, as of January 2022, was the fourth most popular social media platform in the world in terms of user numbers. YouTube and WhatsApp ranked in second and third place, respectively, whilst Facebook remained the most popular, with almost three billion monthly active users worldwide.

India had the largest number of Instagram users as of January 2022, with a total of over 230 million users in the country. The second-largest Instagram audience could be found in the United States, with almost 160 million people subscribing to the photo and video sharing app.

Gen Z and Instagram

As of September 2021, Gen Z users in the United States spent an average of five hours per week on Instagram. Although Instagram ranked third in terms of hours per week spent on the platform, Gen Z users spent considerably more time on TikTok, amounting to a weekly average of over 10 hours being spent on the mobile-first video app.

Most followed accounts on Instagram

As of May 2022, Instagram’s own account had 504.37 million followers. In terms of celebrities, Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (@chistiano) had over 440.41 million followers on the social network. Moreover, the average media value of an Instagram post by Ronaldo was over 985,000 U.S. dollars.

The most liked post on Instagram as of May 2022 was Photo of an Egg, which was posted in 2019 by the account @world_record_egg. Photo of an Egg has not only exceeded 55 million likes on the platform, but it also has nearly 3.5 million comments, and the account itself has over 4.5 million Instagram followers. After mysterious posts published by the account, World Record Egg revealed itself as part of a mental health campaign aimed at the difficulties and demands of using social media.

During a 2024 survey, 77 percent of respondents from Nigeria stated that they used social media as a source of news. In comparison, just 23 percent of Japanese respondents said the same. Large portions of social media users around the world admit that they do not trust social platforms either as media sources or as a way to get news, and yet they continue to access such networks on a daily basis.

              Social media: trust and consumption

              Despite the majority of adults surveyed in each country reporting that they used social networks to keep up to date with news and current affairs, a 2018 study showed that social media is the least trusted news source in the world. Less than 35 percent of adults in Europe considered social networks to be trustworthy in this respect, yet more than 50 percent of adults in Portugal, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Croatia said that they got their news on social media.

              What is clear is that we live in an era where social media is such an enormous part of daily life that consumers will still use it in spite of their doubts or reservations. Concerns about fake news and propaganda on social media have not stopped billions of users accessing their favorite networks on a daily basis.
              Most Millennials in the United States use social media for news every day, and younger consumers in European countries are much more likely to use social networks for national political news than their older peers.
              Like it or not, reading news on social is fast becoming the norm for younger generations, and this form of news consumption will likely increase further regardless of whether consumers fully trust their chosen network or not.

The number of LinkedIn users in the United Kingdom was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2028 by in total 1.5 million users (+4.51 percent). After the eighth consecutive increasing year, the LinkedIn user base is estimated to reach 34.7 million users and therefore a new peak in 2028. User figures, shown here with regards to the platform LinkedIn, have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period and count multiple accounts by persons only once.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

Nearly **** of all meal kit customers in the United States are Millennials. This is revealed when analyzing the latest 2025 Statista Consumer Insights data. The second-largest generational group of food subscription box users in the U.S. is Generation Z. In contrast, consumers born before 1980 represent only ** percent of the target group of meal kits in the United States.Online food delivery in the United States The meal kits market is a segment in the broader online food delivery industry, which is booming in the United States. In 2025, the online food delivery market revenue is estimated to reach *** billion U.S. dollars, more than ****** the value recorded in 2021.

The number of Instagram users in the United Kingdom was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2028 by in total 2.1 million users (+7.02 percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the Instagram user base is estimated to reach 32 million users and therefore a new peak in 2028. Notably, the number of Instagram users of was continuously increasing over the past years.User figures, shown here with regards to the platform instagram, have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period and count multiple accounts by persons only once.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

As of April 2024, it was found that men between the ages of 25 and 34 years made up Facebook largest audience, accounting for 18.4 percent of global users. Additionally, Facebook's second largest audience base could be found with men aged 18 to 24 years.

              Facebook connects the world

              Founded in 2004 and going public in 2012, Facebook is one of the biggest internet companies in the world with influence that goes beyond social media. It is widely considered as one of the Big Four tech companies, along with Google, Apple, and Amazon (all together known under the acronym GAFA). Facebook is the most popular social network worldwide and the company also owns three other billion-user properties: mobile messaging apps WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger,
              as well as photo-sharing app Instagram. Facebook usersThe vast majority of Facebook users connect to the social network via mobile devices. This is unsurprising, as Facebook has many users in mobile-first online markets. Currently, India ranks first in terms of Facebook audience size with 378 million users. The United States, Brazil, and Indonesia also all have more than 100 million Facebook users each.

In 2023, Meta Platforms had a total annual revenue of over 134 billion U.S. dollars, up from 116 billion in 2022. LinkedIn reported its highest annual revenue to date, generating over 15 billion USD, whilst Snapchat reported an annual revenue of 4.6 billion USD.

Instagram’s most popular post

              As of April 2024, the most popular post on Instagram was Lionel Messi and his teammates after winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup with Argentina, posted by the account @leomessi. Messi's post, which racked up over 61 million likes within a day, knocked off the reigning post, which was 'Photo of an Egg'. Originally posted in January 2021, 'Photo of an Egg' surpassed the world’s most popular Instagram post at that time, which was a photo by Kylie Jenner’s daughter totaling 18 million likes.
              After several cryptic posts published by the account, World Record Egg revealed itself to be a part of a mental health campaign aimed at the pressures of social media use.

              Instagram’s most popular accounts

              As of April 2024, the official Instagram account @instagram had the most followers of any account on the platform, with 672 million followers. Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) was the most followed individual with 628 million followers, while Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) was the most followed woman on the platform with 429 million. Additionally, Inter Miami CF striker Lionel Messi (@leomessi) had a total of 502 million. Celebrities such as The Rock, Kylie Jenner, and Ariana Grande all had over 380 million followers each.

              Instagram influencers

              In the United States, the leading content category of Instagram influencers was lifestyle, with 15.25 percent of influencers creating lifestyle content in 2021. Music ranked in second place with 10.96 percent, followed by family with 8.24 percent. Having a large audience can be very lucrative: Instagram influencers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom with over 90,000 followers made around 1,221 US dollars per post.

              Instagram around the globe

              Instagram’s worldwide popularity continues to grow, and India is the leading country in terms of number of users, with over 362.9 million users as of January 2024. The United States had 169.65 million Instagram users and Brazil had 134.6 million users. The social media platform was also very popular in Indonesia and Turkey, with 100.9 and 57.1, respectively. As of January 2024, Instagram was the fourth most popular social network in the world, behind Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp.

As of March 2018, Spotify’s user base was dominated by Millennials, with ** percent of its users aged 25 to 34 and ** percent aged between 18 and 24 years old. The streaming giant has permanently altered how consumers discover, engage with and share music, and according to a 2018 survey, Spotify reaches almost **** of 16 to 24 year olds in the United States each week. The power of SpotifySpotify’s popularity is undeniable, accumulating millions of premium subscribers worldwide each quarter and hundreds of millions of unique visitors to Spotify.com every month. In the United States, Spotify is one of the most commonly used apps for listening to podcasts, and despite being in constant competition with Apple Music, remains a large part of U.S. music listeners’ lives. A survey revealed that Spotify is also the preferred music streaming service among 18 to 29-year-olds, which may seem unremarkable given the data on Spotify’s user base, but serves as further evidence of Spotify’s popularity among younger users. Whether Spotify’s growth will last forever, only time will tell, particularly as Apple Music continues to put up a good fight and smaller but increasingly popular services such as Deezer begin to make their mark. But with the company recording a profit in early 2019 for the first time since its inception, Spotify remains very much a market leader and firmly on the path to future success.

As of 2024, Sephora generated retail sales of about **** billion U.S. dollars worldwide, up from the previous year, when this figure amounted to approximately ***** billion U.S. dollars. An overview of Sephora Established in France, Sephora is a beauty and personal care product retailer, operating in more than ***countries worldwide. Besides a huge international network of brick-and-mortar stores, Sephora also has a significant online presence. In 2024, its website sephora.com was one of the leading health & beauty online shops in the United States, based on brand awareness. Sephora’s popularity in the United States In 2024, Sephora was the leading beauty shopping destination among female Gen Z consumers in the United States. In that same year, sephora.com was one of the most visited beauty and cosmetics websites in the North American country.