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.

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.

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.

How many people are on social media? Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities and in 2021, ** percent of the population in the United States had a social networking profile, representing a *** percent increase from the ** percent usage reach in the previous year. This equals approximately 223 million U.S. social media users as of 2020. Global social media accessAccording to estimates, the number of worldwide social media users reached *** billion in January 2021. The overall most popular social network based on active users is the American market leader Facebook. In January 2021, Facebook had some **** billion accounts, followed by YouTube and WhatsApp with roughly *** billion and *** billion users respectively. The regions with the highest penetration of social media users are Western and Northern Europe. Social media audiences in the United StatesAlthough knowing how many people use social media is a powerful indicator of the tremendous influence such websites and apps have in our day to day life, how people are using them and who these users are is also telling. A report on social media usage released in 2019 shows that among Americans, younger online audiences were more likely to use social networks than older generations. Social media users in the United States use different social networks for a wide range of purposes. In a February 2019 survey, Instagram was the top social network for viewing photos whereas Facebook was more popular for sharing content.

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

How much time do people spend on social media? As of 2025, the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 141 minutes per day, down from 143 minutes in the previous year. Currently, the country with the most time spent on social media per day is Brazil, with online users spending an average of 3 hours and 49 minutes on social media each day. In comparison, the daily time spent with social media in the U.S. was just 2 hours and 16 minutes. Global social media usageCurrently, the global social network penetration rate is 62.3 percent. Northern Europe had an 81.7 percent social media penetration rate, topping the ranking of global social media usage by region. Eastern and Middle Africa closed the ranking with 10.1 and 9.6 percent usage reach, respectively. People access social media for a variety of reasons. Users like to find funny or entertaining content and enjoy sharing photos and videos with friends, but mainly use social media to stay in touch with current events friends. Global impact of social mediaSocial media has a wide-reaching and significant impact on not only online activities but also offline behavior and life in general. During a global online user survey in February 2019, a significant share of respondents stated that social media had increased their access to information, ease of communication, and freedom of expression. On the flip side, respondents also felt that social media had worsened their personal privacy, increased a polarization in politics and heightened everyday distractions.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A telephone survey conducted in the United States in 2021 found that 81 percent of internet users used YouTube and 69 percent said that they used Facebook, now rebranded as Meta, followed by 40 percent stating that they used Instagram. Additionally, 21 percent of respondents reported to use TikTok whilst 18 percent used Reddit.

In 2021, Facebook was the most popular social networking application for shopping in Colombia, used by nearly three-quarters (** percent) of respondents. The messaging app WhatsApp and photo app Instagram followed, with over half of those surveyed using them for purchases.

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.

As of November 2021, Facebook had around *** million users in the United States, maintaining its status as the most used social network, followed by Instagram with over *** thousand users. TikTok, particularly popular with younger audiences ranked third, followed by image-based Pinterest. Social news aggregation and web content discussion website Reddit had an audience size of over ** million in the U.S.

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.

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.

In 2021, nine in ** Poles quoted Facebook as their go-to social media platform for obtaining news content. YouTube followed, cited by every second respondent.

Social media usage in New Zealand is dominated by Facebook, with around ** percent of the population claiming to use the platform each month. WhatsApp users were around half of this figure, with ** percent saying they used the messaging service.

Active users

There has been a steady year-on-year increase in active internet use in New Zealand; in 2022, almost ** percent of the population were active on social media. Mobile social media use has also seen a year-on-year increase, with around ** percent of the population as active users in 2021.

YouTube content and advertising

Kids’ content made up ***** of YouTube’s most popular media-ran channels in 2020, with Cartoon Network Australia having the largest number of views at almost *** thousand, and ABC News with just over *** thousand views.

Additionally, YouTube is proving lucrative for advertisers with ***** separate FMCG areas attracting large numbers of advertisement views. In 2019, Nescafe advertising had just over *** million views on the platform, Coca-Cola had approximately *** million and Canon Australia around 37 thousand.

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.