It comes as no surprise that the largest social network in Singapore is the messenger app WhatsApp and the social media giant Facebook. With Singapore home to one of the fastest internet connection speed in the world, the convenience of using these social networks on a daily basis has driven the growth of online content. There are over *** million social media users in Singapore As of 2024, Singapore’s population has reached over *********** people. These are, however, on an island with an area of only ***** square kilometers. The high technological standard has led to the internet penetration being extraordinarily high compared to other Southeast Asian countries. A high Internet penetration rate is usually a first indication that social media has great importance for the country too. In this case the general number of social media users amounted to **** million people, reaching **** percent of the population. While WhatsApp is still the most popular social media channel in Singapore, it seems like Facebook is currently losing their younger users. Young Singaporean social media users would instead be flocking to Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok.

According to a survey on social commerce conducted by Rakuten Insight in Singapore in 2025, approximately ** percent of respondents between 16 and 24 years answered that they used TikTok for purchases during the last 12 months. The same survey indicated that around ** percent of Singaporean consumers regularly shopped on social media.

According to a survey on social commerce conducted by Rakuten Insight in Singapore in 2025, approximately ** percent of respondents answered that they used TikTok for purchases during the last 12 months. The same survey indicated that around ** percent of Singaporean consumers regularly shopped on social media.

According to a survey on social commerce conducted by Rakuten Insight in Singapore in 2025, approximately ** percent of female and ** percent of male respondents answered that they used TikTok for purchases during the last 12 months. The same survey indicated that around ** percent of Singaporean consumers regularly shopped on social media.

As of April 2025, Facebook held the largest share of the mobile social media platforms market in Singapore, accounting for approximately ***** percent. It was followed by X (formerly Twitter), which captured nearly one-third of the market during the same period.

In 2023, Android users in Singapore spent an average of ** hours and ** minutes per month on TikTok. Youtube followed with ** hours and ** minutes spent on the platform. In 2023, the number of YouTube users in Singapore amounted to approximately **** million.

The number of social media users in Singapore was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 0.2 million users (+3.6 percent). After the eleventh consecutive increasing year, the social media user base is estimated to reach 5.75 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).

According to a survey conducted by Rakuten Insight in February 2025, ** percent of respondents in Vietnam have purchased items on TikTok. TikTok was also the most used social commerce platform in Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, and in China as of February 2025.

As of February 2025, social media usage penetration in Singapore reached around ** percent, followed by the Philippines at ** percent. In contrast, Indonesia, Southeast Asia's most populous country, had a social media penetration of around ** percent that year. What is the social media penetration rate, and what is the global average? The social media penetration rate refers to the percentage of a population that actively uses social media platforms. It is a key metric for understanding how widely social media is adopted in a specific region, country, or demographic group. Southeast Asia has a social media penetration rate of about **** percent, slightly lower than the global average of nearly ** percent. Northern Europe has the highest social media penetration rate worldwide. How much time do Southeast Asians spend on social media? Users in Southeast Asia spend, on average, more time daily on social media compared to their East Asian counterparts. Users in the Philippines spend on average more than *** hours daily engaging with social media platforms, the highest figure in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Following the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand see their users lead the APAC region in daily social media usage, spending at least *** hours on average each day on these platforms.

According to a survey in Singapore as of July 2022, around ** percent of respondents stated that they used Instagram the most among other social media platforms. It was followed by Facebook, TikTok, and Telegram, respectively.

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 ** 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 *** 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 ** billion U.S. dollars in 2025.

Facebook was Singapore’s most popular social media app with an average penetration rate of ** percent as of June 2016. Nevertheless, Facebook does not seem to be the platform of the future. Only about ** percent of respondents aged 15 to 24 years old had a Facebook app installed on their mobile phone, slightly less than Instagram, which had an installation rate of ** percent.

Importance of social media in Singapore

In a country where almost everyone has access to the internet, social media plays an important role in the purchasing behavior of Singaporeans. With **** million inhabitants and *** million internet users, Singapore has one of the highest Internet penetration rates in the world. It was forecasted that around *** million inhabitants use social media on their mobile phones, representing almost ** percent of all Singaporean internet users.

Does the most popular app reflect the most popular platform too?

Not necessarily – there are many ways to be on social media without installing an app. Those users were not taken into account in this survey. Other than that, it depends on what was considered a social media platform too. If you count YouTube and WhatsApp as social media platforms, they would emerge as the most popular. However, considering only the traditional platforms, Facebook remains by far the market leader, followed by Instagram and Twitter.

The social media penetration rate in Singapore was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2028 by in total 4.6 (+4.86 percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the penetration rate is estimated to reach 99.24 and therefore a new peak in 2028. Notably, the social media penetration rate of was continuously increasing over the past years.

As of the third quarter of 2023, active social media users in Singapore spent ** hours and ** minutes on TikTok per month. The second most-used social media app in Singapore was YouTube, at ** hours and ** minutes.

According to a survey on influencer marketing conducted in Singapore in October 2022, Instagram was the leading social media platform for influencer marketing campaigns with a share of almost ** percent. In comparison, TikTok accounted for a share of almost *** percent.

According to a survey on influencer marketing conducted in Singapore in ************, Instagram was the most used platform for influencers, with around ** percent. YouTube followed, with approximately **** percent.

As of May 2024, ** percent of Gen Z respondents spent more time on social media than they did a year ago. Millennials showed a similar dynamic, with ** percent stating that their social media use had increased compared to the previous year.

In 2022, around 3* percent of influencers in Hong Kong were using Instagram. In comparison, Facebook was the most commonly used platform for influencers in Vietnam that year, with ** percent using the platform. Moreover, YouTube was a popular platform for many countries, including Cambodia, Japan, and Singapore.

As of April 2025, almost ** percent of Instagram users in Singapore fell within the age group of 25 to 34 years. This segment comprised almost ** percent of females and ** percent of males. Notably, approximately ** percent of Instagram users within the age group of 18 to 24 years were females. Instagram in generalThe Facebook-owned social network counts about **** billion active users worldwide. In Singapore, Instagram ranks third among the leading social media platforms . Compared to Facebook, Instagram is a more visual-based platform, originally designed as an online showroom for brands. Nowadays it provides the perfect environment for users to easily display their life to a larger audience and follow people/brands all over the world. Social media in SingaporeInstagram has thus emerged as an important promotional platform for brands. In Singapore, brands could reach a target audience of up to *** million people or about ** percent of the population. Unlike traditional advertising channels such as in print media or television, social media advertising, especially Instagram, can be tailored to reach the intended audience. The private information that users share on the platform helps companies to address the right target group for their branding and advertising campaigns, therefore further enhancing their impact.

According to a survey conducted by Ipsos on predictions for global issues in 2020, 66 percent of Singaporeans believed it unlikely that they would use social media less in the upcoming year. Singaporeans were pretty active on social media, and in 2018, the most frequently used social media channels there were YouTube, Whatsapp and Facebook.