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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

During a 2025 survey among marketers worldwide, around 83 percent reported using Facebook for marketing purposes. Instagram and LinkedIn followed, respectively mentioned by 78 and 69 percent of the respondents. The global social media marketing segment According to the same study, 60 percent of responding marketers intended to increase their organic use of YouTube for marketing purposes throughout that year. LinkedIn and Instagram followed with similar shares, rounding up the top three social media platforms attracting a planned growth in organic use among global marketers in 2025. Their main driver is increasing brand exposure and traffic, which led the ranking of benefits of social media marketing worldwide. Social media for B2B marketing Social media platform adoption rates among business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) marketers vary according to each subsegment's focus. While B2C professionals prioritize Facebook and Instagram, both run by Meta, Inc., due to their popularity among online audiences, B2B marketers concentrate their endeavors on Microsoft-owned LinkedIn due to its goal to connect people and companies in a corporate context.

In 2022, Instagram was the most popular social media platform among Asian influencers, with more than ** percent of influencers in the region using the platform. YouTube ranked second, after having been the most popular platform among influencers in Asia in 2020 and 2021.

In 2021, messaging and video sharing platform Snapchat was more popular than TikTok among Gen Z users in the United States. TikTok counted around 37 million users who were born between 1997 and 2012, while Instagram reported around 33 million users in the same period. Snapchat, which counted 42 million Gen Z users, is projected to reach 49.5 million users in the examined demographic by 2025. Overall, platforms such as Pinterest, Twitter and Reddit had significantly less users amongst this age group.

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.

In 2021, Facebook was the most popular site for social commerce in Thailand, with ** percent of respondents purchasing from the platform in the last six months. Social commerce is a type of e-commerce that involves more social buyer-seller interactions through social networks.

 COVID-19 and the expansion of social commerce

Since the pandemic hit in 2020, the world went into lockdown, prompting local businesses to shift their focus online and push consumers to change their shopping habits. This new reliance on online platforms, combined with Thai consumers’ affinity for shopping from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through social media, had immensely accelerated the popularity of the country’s social commerce scene. Facebook and LINE were among Thailand’s most popular online purchasing and selling channels while also being the country’s longstanding leading social media and chatting platforms.

 Direct-to-Customer as the core strength of social commerce  

The popularity of buying and selling through social media in Thailand has pushed the country’s social commerce sector to become very competitive in terms of customer service. Through social commerce, buyers and sellers can communicate immediately through chatting applications and live stream broadcasts, making it very easy and convenient to shop online primarily through Facebook and LINE. Because of this competitive edge, Thailand has become one of the leading countries in South East Asia for social commerce, with a market size greater than ** million U.S. dollars in 2021.

Facebook remained the largest market share among social media platforms across India, at roughly ** percent as of August 2025. The Meta-owned social network site has consistently led the country's social media market since 2019. However, Instagram, the second leading social media platform has been increasingly gaining market share and closing the gap with its sister company. 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.

A 2021 online survey conducted in the United States found that ** percent of respondents trusted Meta's Facebook the most when it came to their privacy and data on social media, whilst ** percent of users trusted video sharing platform YouTube. Overall, just over one in ** social media users were most trusting of Reddit with their personal data, and **** percent were trusting of social platform Discord.

According to a survey of social media users aged between 16 and 34 years old in the United States, as of April 2021, five in ** respondents reported following fashion influencers. Approximately ** percent of respondents reported following lifestyle influencers on social media platform, while influencers in the sports and gaming category were the third most followed type of industry influencers. By comparison, less than ***** in ** respondents reported following influencers with a specific focus on children or parenting.