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.

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.

The number of Twitter users in the United States was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2028 by in total 4.3 million users (+5.32 percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the Twitter user base is estimated to reach 85.08 million users and therefore a new peak in 2028. Notably, the number of Twitter users of was continuously increasing over the past years.User figures, shown here regarding the platform twitter, 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.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).Find more key insights for the number of Twitter users in countries like Canada and Mexico.

The number of Reddit users in the United States was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2028 by in total 10.3 million users (+5.21 percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the Reddit user base is estimated to reach 208.12 million users and therefore a new peak in 2028. Notably, the number of Reddit users of was continuously increasing over the past years.User figures, shown here with regards to the platform reddit, 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. Reddit users encompass both users that are logged in and those that are not.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).Find more key insights for the number of Reddit users in countries like Mexico and Canada.

When it comes to the most well-known social networks in the United States, YouTube and Facebook are leading the pack with a brand awareness of 96 and 95 percent respectively, among internet users. For this study, brand awareness was surveyed employing the concept of aided brand recognition, showing respondents both the brand's logo and the written brand name.

As of January 2025, ** percent of social media users in the United States aged 40 to 49 years were users of Facebook, as were ** percent of ** to ** year olds in the country. Overall, ** percent of those aged 18 to 29 years were using Instagram in the U.S. The social media market in the United States The number of social media users in the United States has shown continuous growth in the past years, and it is forecast to continue increasing to reach *** million users in 2029. As of 2023, the social network user penetration in the United States amounted to an impressive ***** percent, meaning that more than nine in ten people in the country engaged with online platforms. Furthermore, Facebook was by far the most popular social media platform in the United States, accounting for ** percent of all social media visits in 2023, followed by Pinterest with **** percent of visits. The global social media landscape As of April 2024, **** billion people were social media users, accounting for **** percent of the world’s population. Northern Europe was the region with the highest social media penetration rate with a reach of **** percent, followed by Western Europe with **** percent and Eastern Asia **** percent. In contrast, less than one in ten people in Middle Africa used social networks. Facebook’s popularity is not limited to the United States: this network leads the market on a global scale, and it accumulated more than three billion monthly active users (MAU) as of 2024, which is far more any other social media platform. YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp followed, all with *** billion or more MAU.

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 number of social media users in the United States was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 26 million users (+8.55 percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the social media user base is estimated to reach 330.07 million users and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the number of social media users of was continuously increasing over the past years.The shown figures regarding social media users have been derived from survey data that has been processed to estimate missing demographics.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).

During the third quarter of 2020, it was found that Facebook was accessed by ** percent of U.S. internet users aged 26 to 35 years. Overall, ******* was the most popular social platform across all age groups.

As of 2021, Facebook, recently rebranded as Meta, was the social media platform used most often by ** percent of social networking users in the United States. In 2015, Facebook was the most used platform by ** percent of social media users, demonstrating a decrease of almost ** percent. During the same time frame, Instagram has continued to grow in popularity, with ** percent of users saying it was their most often used platform in 2021, an increase of ** percent since 2015. Snapchat was the most used platform by ** percent of respondents in 2018 and has since continued to decline. In 2020, TikTok was the most accessed platform for ***** percent of users and by 2021 it had more than doubled to ***** percent.

As of the third quarter of 2024, the most popular reason for using social media according to users in the United States was ****************************************, with almost ** percent of respondents choosing this as their leading reason. Overall, **** percent of internet users in the U.S. said that they used social media to fill their spare time, and **** percent said they used it to find content. Live streams, following sports, and making new contacts were other popular reasons for using social networks.

We asked U.S. consumers about "Social network usage by brand" and found that "Facebook" takes the top spot, while "WeChat" is at the other end of the ranking.These results are based on a representative online survey conducted in 2025 among 62,982 consumers in the United States.

A March 2020 survey of U.S. parents revealed that 13 percent of U.S. children aged 11 or younger used TikTok. The video sharing platform was by far the most popular social network among young children in the United States. Overall, 30 percent of parents with kids aged 9 to 11 years stated that their knew of their child using TikTok.

Youtube was the most popular social media platform among American Generation Alpha kids in 2024. This was revealed by a widespread survey among Gen Alpha parents. A staggering 90 percent of Gen Alpha users of Youtube were reported to use the app on a daily basis.

During a 2021 survey, over ** percent of responding social media users aged 16 to 34 from the United States had purchased products or services on Instagram. Facebook was the platform named most often, used for purchases by nearly ** percent of respondents. The phenomenon of making purchases via social channels is called social commerce. Estimates suggest there were over ** million U.S. social commerce buyers in 2021.

In a fall 2023 survey, it was found that TikTok was the most important social network for 38 percent of U.S. teens. Snapchat ranked second, with 28 percent of teenagers in the United States stating it to be their favorite, ahead of Instagram. Teens and the internet in the United States It is no secret that the young really know what’s what when it comes to new technologies these days. Especially those born in the internet era and who only know of analog telephones and cameras from stories of their elders seem to be constantly online and always following the latest tech trends. In fact, a recent survey shows that some 92 percent of American teens accessed the internet on a daily basis, where 56 claim to connect several times a day, and 24 percent are connected almost constantly to the internet. Furthermore, the move from desktop computers to mobile devices insured that teenagers would be some of the most fervent users of mobile internet, anytime, anywhere.

As of 2020, ******** was the most popular social media platform among Gen Z and Millennials in the United States to connect to others. ****** and ******* ranked second and third, with respective shares of ** percent and ** percent of respondents using these social networks to connect to others.

According to a May 2024 survey, WhatsApp was the most popular social media platform in Mexico. At that time, ** percent of those interviewed said they had an active account on the messaging app. Also owned by Meta Platforms Inc., Facebook and Instagram ranked second and third, being used by ** and ** percent of respondents, respectively.

Social media penetration and demographics Close to ** percent of the Mexican population was expected to be on Facebook by the end of 2023 (slightly below the estimated ***** percent for the United States during the same period). Its popularity in the North American country relies heavily on young internet users: when it comes to the distribution of Mexican Facebook users by age group, more than ** percent were between 18 and 34 years old. All news just a click away According to a February 2022 survey, half of internet users in Mexico used Facebook for news consumption, while YouTube is used by ** percent of the country's online audiences for the same function. This preference was also observed across all age groups: more than a third of the country's news consumers across all demographics turned to the Meta-owned social network to find, read, watch, share, or comment on the news.

** percent of U.S. respondents answer our survey on "Most used social media platforms by type" with "Social networks (e.g., Facebook)". The survey was conducted in 2023, among 60,267 consumers. Find this and more survey data on most used social media platforms by type in our Consumer Insights tool. Filter by countless demographics, drill down to your own, hand-tailored target audience, and compare results across countries worldwide.

According to a 2024 study, Facebook ranks as the top social network for shopping in the United States, with ** percent of digital buyers using it for this purpose. TikTok Shop follows with ** percent of U.S. shoppers, while Instagram holds its own with ** percent. TikTok and the boom that won’t stop The rise of TikTok Shop in the United States represents a significant shift in social commerce dynamics. By tapping into its predominantly young user base and their engagement with short-form video content, TikTok is leveraging its platform to facilitate direct sales. The success of health and beauty products, which make most of purchases, underscores the platform's potential as an influential marketplace. Growing users, expanding influence Forecasts suggest that by 2029, the number of U.S. social media users will exceed *** million, showing the growing influence of these platforms on consumer behavior and brand involvement. In 2023 alone, social commerce revenues in the North American country were estimated at nearly ** billion U.S. dollars, and this figure is expected to nearly double by 2028, reflecting the rapidly expanding role of social media in the e-commerce landscape.