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 February 2021, YouTube had a global penetration rate of 62 percent, followed closely by Meta's Facebook, with 61 percent. Overall, instant messaging service WhatsApp had a global penetration rate of 52 percent. Additionally, 12 percent of people used TikTok, and one in ten people around the world use messaging service Telegram.

Which county has the most Facebook users?

              There are more than 378 million Facebook users in India alone, making it the leading country in terms of Facebook audience size. To put this into context, if India’s Facebook audience were a country then it would be ranked third in terms of largest population worldwide. Apart from India, there are several other markets with more than 100 million Facebook users each: The United States, Indonesia, and Brazil with 193.8 million, 119.05 million, and 112.55 million Facebook users respectively.

              Facebook – the most used social media

              Meta, the company that was previously called Facebook, owns four of the most popular social media platforms worldwide, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram. As of the third quarter of 2021, there were around 3,5 billion cumulative monthly users of the company’s products worldwide. With around 2.9 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most popular social media worldwide. With an audience of this scale, it is no surprise that the vast majority of Facebook’s revenue is generated through advertising.

              Facebook usage by device
              As of July 2021, it was found that 98.5 percent of active users accessed their Facebook account from mobile devices. In fact, almost 81.8 percent of Facebook audiences worldwide access the platform only via mobile phone. Facebook is not only available through mobile browser as the company has published several mobile apps for users to access their products and services. As of the third quarter 2021, the four core Meta products were leading the ranking of most downloaded mobile apps worldwide, with WhatsApp amassing approximately six billion downloads.

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.

An analysis of over ***** influencer campaigns showed that Instagram was the most popular platform for such purposes. It was incorporated into ** percent of analyzed campaigns. Facebook ranked second, used by ** percent of campaigns.

During a 2025 survey among marketers worldwide, approximately ** percent said Facebook was the most important social media platform. LinkedIn and Instagram 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 The 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 YouTube and Instagram.

According to a survey conducted in July 2021, Facebook was the the most popular social media platform in Ukraine, used by over ** percent of the survey participants. Measuring at ** percent, YouTube was the second-leading social network in the country. The share of users of Vkontakte (VK), Odnoklassniki (Ok.ru), LinkedIn, and TikTok did not exceed **** percent.

In 2021, more than ** percent of surveyed consumers in the United States used Facebook when looking for promo codes, discounts, or coupons, making it the preferred social media platform for bargain hunters. Roughly ** percent of U.S. consumers also used Instagram, while only about five percent of participants mentioned LinkedIn.

As of 2021, roughly ** percent of the respondents aged 14-22 years old in the Netherlands indicated they actively use WhatsApp, making What's App and Instagram the most used app in this generation in 2021. Since the previous year, TikTok has become increasingly used by this age group, increasing by ** percent compared to 2020.

Over ** percent of surveyed marketing executives in Russia used Instagram in their campaigns as of 2021. The next most popular platforms for social media marketing in the country were Facebook and YouTube.

How many people use social media? Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities. In 2024, over **** ******* people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to over *** billion in 2029. 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 ** 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 *** minutes per day on social media and messaging apps, an increase of ** 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 *** billion registered accounts and currently boasts approximately *** 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.

Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram were reported to be the most actively used social media platforms in Ukraine among those aged 18 to 39 years in January and February 2021. One third of respondents between 40 and 49 years old had an Instagram account. Furthermore, about ** percent of participants in the age category of 60 years and older did not use social networks at all.

During a 2021 survey, ** percent of responding marketers and agency professionals from the United States stated that they were planning to use Instagram for influencer marketing. More specifically, Instagram Stories was named by ** percent and Instagram Reels by ** percent of respondents. TikTok ranked second, mentioned by ** percent of interviewees.

According to a survey conducted in 2021, Instagram was the top social medial platform used by high school students researching college, with ** percent of students graduating from high school between 2021 and 2023 using Instagram for college planning. Instagram was also the top social media platform used by high school students in their daily lives.

VK was the most popular social media app among Russian Generation Z representatives, occupying over ** percent of the total app traffic spent on social networks in the first half of 2021. The second-leading platform was Instagram, accounting for approximately ********* of social media app traffic of Gen Z users.

Among Russians who employed social media to find a job, more than 60 percent reported to have used Vkontakte, or VK in 2021. The second most popular social network for employment search was Instagram, as per 28 percent of respondents.

TikTok saw an exceptional increase of monthly active users worldwide from 2019 to 2021, at 38 percent. The short-form video sharing app was used by 689 million individuals monthly as of 2021, compared to 500 million in 2019. Other leading social networks that increased with over 30 percent were Pinterest and Reddit.

The coronavirus pandemic is one of the factors that have resulted in an increased interest in social networking, with billions of people in lockdown, working and studying from home, and in need of socializing.

In France in 2021, **** percent of French teenagers aged 11 to 18 years old declared in a survey conducted to analyze the social media behaviors of children, that they used Snapchat the most, while **** percent used mainly Instagram. The same survey mentioned a difference between 11 to 14 year olds and 14 to 18 year olds, where a significant difference in the usage of Instagram could be observed. Only ** percent of 11 to 14 year olds were using the social media service compared to ** percent of 14 to 18 year olds.  

Social media preferences among French young adults  

According to another survey from 2021, Instagram ranked as one of the preferred social media among French young adults: ** percent of respondents declared using it, before Snapchat, who was the forerunner in 2018. More generally, although social networks as Facebook were used regularly by a majority of surveyed, ** percent of French also declared, based on Statista’s Global Consumer Survey, to use media sharing platforms like Instagram and Snapchat regularly.  

Social media usage in France  

Still according to the Statista Global Consumer Survey conducted in 2020, ** percent of responding French people said to use social media as Facebook or Instagram daily. But, what do French adults and children do on social media? For adults, the most employed feature of social media was sending private messages, which correlates with the fact that Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp were the two first used services before Snapchat. For children, the activities were similar: most children responded to be communicating with their friends and family as well as watch videos. However, some children responded with having fears of using social media platforms. Most were afraid of being harassed, but what these children had already encountered were arguments with strangers.

This statistic shows results from the Global Consumer Survey Special "E-Commerce", conducted in October 2021. About ** percent of UK respondents who had purchased via social media platforms stated that they had used Facebook to make online purchases in the past 12 months.

According to a 2021 survey carried out among consumers in the United States, Facebook and Instagram were the social networks most used to learn about, discover, and buy fashion apparel products in the U.S.. Across the two platforms, slightly over half (** percent) of users said the content they saw on their feeds resulted in a purchase.