Market leader Facebook was the first social network to surpass one billion registered accounts and currently sits at more than three billion monthly active users. Meta Platforms owns four of the biggest social media platforms, all with more than one billion monthly active users each: Facebook (core platform), WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram. In the third quarter of 2023, Facebook reported around four billion monthly core Family product users. The United States and China account for the most high-profile social platforms Most top ranked social networks with more than 100 million users originated in the United States, but services like Chinese social networks WeChat, QQ or video sharing app Douyin have also garnered mainstream appeal in their respective regions due to local context and content. Douyin’s popularity has led to the platform releasing an international version of its network: a little app called TikTok. How many people use social media? The leading social networks are usually available in multiple languages and enable users to connect with friends or people across geographical, political, or economic borders. In 2025, social networking sites are estimated to reach 5.42 billion users and these figures are still expected to grow as mobile device usage and mobile social networks increasingly gain traction in previously underserved markets.

During a 2024 survey among marketers worldwide, approximately ** percent said Facebook was the most important social media platform. Instagram and LinkedIn followed, respectively mentioned by ** and ** percent of respondents. Why marketers use social media as a branding channel According to the same study, the leading benefits of social media marketing were increased exposure and traffic. In other words, mastering a brand's presence on such platforms can make a company's products and services known across multiple demographics as well as generate traffic for its online sales. Marketers' favorite social media platforms That survey also revealed that business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) marketers' top social media can vary. While B2C professionals bet on Facebook and its still massive usage rate, B2B strategists focus on LinkedIn, where companies can see and be seen. However, the social media video platforms in which marketers wanted to invest more were Instagram and YouTube.

Despite a tumultuous 2018, Facebook is still the top social network in the United States, with 169.76 million mobile users accessing the Facebook app in September 2019. The company’s other properties Instagram and Facebook Messenger ranked second and third with 121 and 106 million users respectively. Cambridge Analytica scandal 2018 The biggest social media company in the world had a difficult 2018. The platform has long been accused of enabling the spread of fake news during the 2016 election and beyond. One of the first and biggest negative Facebook stories of 2018 was the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which unfolded from March 2018. The Guardian, The Observer, and The New York Times simultaneously reported on political data firm Cambridge Analytica harvesting data of millions of Facebook users worldwide without their knowledge before the 2016 election, which led to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg having to testify before Congress in April 2018. Facebook usage behavior changes Due to the revelations about Facebook and the company’s treatment of private user data, many U.S. users are planning to use the social network much less and to be much more careful about what they post . During an April 2018 survey, only 20 percent of respondents stated that their Facebook usage has not changed, and they were planning on continuing to use the social platform as much as they always had in the past.

The largest social media IPO seen in the last 15 years was Facebook, which went public in May 2012 with a valuation of 104 billion U.S. dollars. Snapchat ranked second, with a valuation of 24 billion U.S. dollars in March 2017. Twitter – later known as X after its 2023 acquisition and subsequent delisting – went public in with a valuation of 18 billion U.S. dollars. Former U.S president Trump's social media app Truth Social went public on March 26, 2024, after merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp.

Digital IPOs in the U.S. The year 2021 was characterized by the highest number of IPOs recorded in the U.S. since 2000, with over a thousand companies entering the public market. During the first years of the COVD-19 pandemic, the digital and tech sectors enjoyed stellar development thanks to the increase in usage and inflated adoption trends of digital solutions among global users. In comparison, 2022 was characterized by an unusually quiet public market. Snap Inc and Meta, as well as other social media platforms, reported a loss in expected revenue driven by a slowing advertising spending trend.

While social video and streaming platform Rumble filed to go public via SPAC merger in September 2022, market volatility dragged IPO plans for others. At the end of 2023, the market appeared to be in recovery for digital companies. Fast-fashion brand Shein entered the U.S. public market in September, followed by Instacart in November.

Reddit’s IPO Reddit's entrance into the public market is expected to be the largest social media IPO since 2019, when Pinterest became a public company with a valuation of 10 billion U.S. dollars. Reddit, which is expected to go public in March 2024, is reportedly seeking a valuation of 6.5 million U.S. dollars. The company had previously reached a valuation of 10 billion U.S. dollars, after securing 410 million U.S. dollars in its Series F funding in August 2021. In February 2024, Reddit gave potential investors a peek into its financials, by releasing the company’s S1 registration statement: the company was not yet profitable in 2023, with a negative EBITDA of 70 billion U.S. dollars. Despite not having released a planned price for its stocks, Reddit invited some of its users to pre-register and grab the possibility of buying into Reddit.

In March 2025, ******** accounted for ** percent of all social media site visits in the United States, confirming its position as the leading social media website by far. Other social media platforms, despite their popularity, had to make do with smaller shares of visits across desktop, mobile, and tablet devices combined. ********* ranked second with ***** percent of all U.S. social media site visits, while X (previously Twitter) accounted for ***** percent of the total visits in the country. Additionally, the U.S. is home to the third largest social media audience worldwide. Facebook: mobile vs desktop usage At the beginning of 2022, around ** percent of Facebook users across the globe were using the platform’s social networking services exclusively via mobile phone, while only *** percent reported using their desktop or laptop devices. In September 2022, three Facebook Inc. products occupied some of the leading positions as most downloaded social networking apps on the Apple App Store in the United States. WhatsApp’s messaging platform ranked second with more than *** million downloads, while Facebook and the instant-messaging service Messenger followed ranking third and fifth with *** million and **** million downloads respectively. Social media evolution Between 2012 and 2024, the daily time spent on social networks worldwide experienced an almost constant increase, with users reaching an average of *** minutes per day in 2023, with a decrease to *** daily minutes of engagement in 2024. However, users’ favorite platforms have changed since 2019, and the power balance appears to be shifting further from Facebook’s market dominance. Not only Facebook’s user growth rate is estimated to slow down in the next years, but users belonging to Generation Z appear to prefer video-first social platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.

In 2020, ESPN was the most popular sports media company in the United States with 4.2 billion cross-platform actions on social media brand content. Turner Sports was second with 3.9 billion social media actions on brand-owned content.

This statistic shows a ranking of the most used social networks by companies in France in 2018 and 2021. In 2018, 91 percent of companies used Facebook compared to 57 percent in 2021. In 2021, most companies (61 percent) used Instagram.

In 2023, Facebook was the social media platform with the highest advertising revenues in the United States. The revenues stood at **** billion U.S. dollars. Instagram and TikTok followed, with **** billion and **** billion, respectively.

As of February 2025, it was found that men between the ages of 25 and 34 years made up Facebook's largest audience, accounting for 18.5 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 2021, **** percent of U.S. marketers in companies largest than 100 employees were expected to use social media for marketing purposes. In 2013, the share stood at **** percent. Social media marketing – additional informationEveryone knows that social media started as an entertainment tool and evolved to a powerful marketing tool. While it serves its primary purpose of connecting people, at the same time it plays a major role in connecting marketers with current and potential customers. Marketing professionals agreed that social media was very important to their business. In fact, ** percent agreed with it strongly. These convictions are reflected in growing expenditures towards this medium. In the United States alone, social media marketing spending is expected to exceed ** billion U.S. dollars in 2019 – almost ** billion increase, compared to 2014.When asked about the leading challenges of social media marketing, ** percent of surveyed marketers stated that assessing its effectiveness was their main concern, followed by strategy design and analyzing obtained data. In order to evaluate the effectiveness, U.S. social media specialists employed a number of measurements. Counting the number of hits, visits or page views was the leading social media metric used in 2014. In addition, ** percent of respondents believed that the number of friends or followers on social platforms was a significant indicator of marketing success.Specific platform usage among social media professionals varies depending on the type of commerce transaction. Twitter seems to be a shared platform, ranked second in usage for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer industries. The difference is visible when considering the primary spot. Among B2C marketers, ** percent used Facebook, while among B2B marketers, ** percent indicated using LinkedIn.

Facebook had the largest market share among social media platforms across India, at roughly ** percent as of October 2024. The Meta-owned social network site has consistently led the country's social media market since 2019. Instagram was the second leading social media platform during that period with a market share of over ** percent, reflecting a fluctuating trend that emerged in the previous year. Commercial social media usage in India Apart from creating user-generated content, Indians have leveraged social media to grow their businesses. As consumption via online channels increased, social media began playing an important role in stimulating the Indian economy. Among the most popularly used social media platforms in India, Facebook was increasingly used for digital marketing. On the other hand, Instagram emerged as the country’s leading platform for influencer collaboration. Meta Platforms Since its launch in 2004, Facebook has quickly gone on to become the social media giant it is today. Having acquired leading social media platforms Instagram and WhatsApp, the company rebranded itself as Meta Platforms Inc. in 2021. The following year, Meta generated a revenue of nearly *** billion U.S. dollars. The company has further set its sights on bringing the metaverse to life to enhance the online experience of over ***** billion Facebook users across the world.

In 2024, Facebook had the largest market share among other social media platforms in Indonesia, at around ** percent. However, Facebook's popularity may soon be outpaced by other social media platforms due to growing competition. Indonesia’s social media landscape With active social media users of more than *** million, Indonesia ranked fourth among the countries with the highest number of social media users worldwide. As of the third quarter of 2024, WhatsApp had the largest social media penetration rate in Indonesia of about ** percent. Other social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook are also gaining popularity as an increasing number of Indonesian social media users are actively using those platforms. Social media for business purposes The use of social media is no longer limited to communicating and interacting with friends and family. Many businesses have turned to social media as part of their marketing strategies. One of these strategies includes collaborating with an influencer to promote their products and increase their customer reach. A recent finding revealed that ** percent of Indonesian social media users had purchased an item because of influencer endorsement. Trust in the influencer and being convinced by their promotions are among the leading reasons for purchasing endorsed products.

As of the third quarter of 2024, WhatsApp was the most active social network among internet users in the United Kingdom (UK), with 79.9 percent of internet users reporting use of the service. Facebook was very close behind, with a rate of 72.3 percent, followed by Facebook Messenger with 56.6 percent. YouTube’s broad audience in the United Kingdom YouTube reaches a broad audience in the UK, making it an attractive partner for advertisers of almost any product. More than 75 percent of individuals of every income bracket watch YouTube, with the likelihood of watching increasing with the pay-grade. Whether advertising basic items or luxury products, marketers should be able to connect with UK audiences through YouTube. There are almost no people in the UK to not use YouTube at least monthly. According to a survey conducted in the third quarter of 2020, 46 percent of respondents went on YouTube on a daily basis. Facebook in the United Kingdom  Facebook enjoys a healthy market position in the UK, holding an estimated  55 percent share of the market. The service attracted  50.6 million UK users during May 2021, and Facebook UK Limited  generated 1.1 billion British pounds in revenue  during 2019. The UK division of the company  posted an operating profit of 121.9 million British pounds that year. 

As surveyed in November 2020, Facebook was the leading social media platform used by businesses in Vietnam. Almost all firms participating in the survey reported having an official Facebook account. Zalo was the only Vietnamese brand among the top social media platforms for companies, ranking fourth with ** percent of respondents.

In 2024, Facebook was the leading social media platform in most of the Southeast Asian countries in terms of traffic generation to other websites, with the highest share in Timor-Leste at around 97 percent. YouTube, X (Twitter), Instagram, and Pinterest were other platforms that had significant social media traffic shares in Southeast Asian markets that year. Social media advertising and web traffic referrals Traffic referrals from social media are crucial in social media advertising. Links shared on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter help direct potential customers to a brand’s website or landing page. This increases exposure, website visits, and conversions, such as sales or leads, which are key benefits of social media marketing according to marketers. Traffic referrals also serve as an important tool for advertisers to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. Furthermore, by analyzing which platforms and content generate the most traffic, businesses can refine their strategies to focus on the highest-performing channels. Social media advertising – a multibillion-dollar business Revenue from social media advertising has continued to rise rapidly. This growth was driven by the ability to track user behavior, refine ad targeting, and deliver highly personalized content. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok generate billions of dollars of ad revenue annually. The owner of Facebook and Instagram, Meta Platforms’s annual advertising revenue exceeded 160 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. Countries such as China, Japan, and Australia are among the largest social media advertising markets in the Asia-Pacific region, with China’s projected social media ad spend reaching nearly 97 billion U.S. dollars in 2025.

More than three-quarters of the Russian online population aged 16 years and older used the Telegram messenger, thus making it the most-used social media platform among those listed in the ranking. WhatsApp ranked second, with a penetration rate of nearly 74 percent, followed by VK and TikTok. Social media usage in Russia In 2024, the daily time spent on social media in Russia was recorded at roughly two hours and 20 minutes per user on average. After Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) were blocked in Russia at the end of February and the beginning of March 2022, a significant increase in activity was recorded on VK and Telegram. For example, the daily audience on VK increased by almost nine percent, while the number of friends requests and feed views grew by 250 percent and 25 percent, respectively. YouTube From the global perspective, YouTube ranked second after Facebook, which remained the leading social media platform with about three billion active users. The U.S.-based channel MrBeast had the highest number of subscribers on YouTube with around 343 million as of January 2025. India-based T-Series followed with 284 million subscribers as of that month.

The graph shows a ranking of the most important or useful social media platforms for French businesses accroding to community managers in 2020. The community and social media managers named Facebook as the most important platform to be present on, by around ** percent, a ***** percent augmentation since 2019. Instagram came in second with ** percent, followed by LinkedIn with ** percent. Twitter was also judged as being important by ** percent of community managers.

Three out of ten enterprises in Slovenia used social media in 2021, which was the largest share among Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The lowest enterprise use of social media in the region was recorded in Romania.

During a 2024 global survey, approximately ** percent of responding business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers said Facebook was the most important social media platform. Among business-to-business (B2B) professionals, LinkedIn ranked first, selected by ** percent. According to the same study, YouTube and LinkedIn were the social media in which most global marketers planned to increase their investments throughout that year.

The graph shows a ranking of the most performing social networks in terms of organic reach, according to French community managers in 2019. Organic reach is a metric used in social media marketing that shows the number of unique accounts that have seen a post or piece of content on a social media platform. It excludes the use of any paid promotional tools. The community and social media managers (** percent) declared that they got the best organic results on Facebook. Instagram held its second place, named by ** percent. LinkedIn (** percent) was on the podium at the expense of Twitter: it was the most effective platform for only *** percent of community managers.