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 5.3 million social media users in Singapore

As of 2023, Singapore’s population has reached over six million people. These are, however, on an island with an area of only 719.9 square kilometer. 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 a great importance for the country too. In this case the general number of social media users amounted to 5.08 million people, reaching 84.7 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 2023, approximately 64 percent of respondents between 16 and 24 years answered that they used Instagram for purchases during the last 12 months. The same survey indicated that around 27 percent of Singaporean consumers regularly shopped on social media.

According to a survey on social commerce conducted by Rakuten Insight in Singapore in 2023, approximately 53 percent of respondents answered that they used Facebook for purchases during the last 12 months. The same survey indicated that around 27 percent of Singaporean consumers regularly shopped on social media.

According to a survey on social commerce conducted by Rakuten Insight in Singapore in 2023, approximately 49 percent of female and 58 percent of male respondents answered that they used Facebook for purchases during the last 12 months. The same survey indicated that around 27 percent of Singaporean consumers regularly shopped on social media.

In 2024, Facebook was the most popular social media platform in most of the Southeast Asian countries, with the highest share in Timor-Leste at around 96.59 percent. YouTube, X (Twitter), Instagram, and Pinterest were other platforms that had significant social media traffic shares in Southeast Asian markets that year.

According to a survey in Singapore as of July 2022, around 40 percent of respondents stated that they used Instagram the most among other social media platforms. It was followed by Facebook, TikTok, and Telegram, respectively.

As of February 2025, social media usage penetration in Singapore reached close to 88.2 percent, followed by Malaysia at 70.2 percent. In contrast, Indonesia, the Southeast Asia's most populous country, had a social media penetration of around 50.2 percent that year. Social media engagement in APAC region Chinese citizens have a sizable online presence, with over one billion active social media users in 2025. In terms of social media activity, other Asia-Pacific countries and regions appeared to lag behind China. India and Indonesia, the second and third most populous countries in terms of social media, had more than 481 and 143 million active social media users, respectively. In terms of traffic, Facebook was the most popular social media platform in Southeast Asia in 2024, with the highest share in Timor-Leste at around 97 percent. Other international platforms with significant market shares in Southeast Asian markets in 2024 included YouTube, X, Instagram, and Pinterest. Social media user penetration APAC South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore had the highest active social media user penetration rates in the Asia-Pacific region as of January 2024. In comparison, highly populated countries like Indonesia, China, and India showcased lower rates, indicating untapped growth potential for the social media market. At the same time, internet users in Indonesia came second only to those in the Philippines in regard to daily time spent on social media, with users in the Philippines spending on average four hours a day using social media platforms. In comparison, in the same year, internet users in Japan spent around 50 minutes per day on social media.

As of December 2023, over 18 percent of the female Instagram users were between 25 to 34 years old, compared to only 1.9 percent who were older than 65 years. Instagram could therefore be considered as one of the most popular social networks for millennials in Singapore.

Instagram in general

The Facebook-owned social network counts about 1.21 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 Singapore

Instagram has thus emerged as an important promotional platform for brands. In Singapore, brands could reach a target audience of up to 5.67 million people or about 86 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.

Facebook was Singapore’s most popular social media app with an average penetration rate of 94 percent as of June 2016. Nevertheless, Facebook does not seem to be the platform of the future. Only about 84 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 87 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 5.61 million inhabitants and 4.8 million internet users, Singapore has one of the highest Internet penetration rates in the world. It was forecasted that around 3.4 million inhabitants use social media on their mobile phones, representing almost 71 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.

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 88 percent. In comparison, TikTok accounted for a share of almost ten percent.

According to a survey in Singapore as of July 2022, about 47.79 percent of respondents used social media the most during the night, after eight pm in the evening. Meanwhile, usage in the early morning was the least popular time for social media users, accounted for 9.78 percent of the Singaporean respondents.

As of May 2024, 53 percent of Gen Z respondents spent more time on social media than they did a year ago. Millennials showed a similar dynamic, with 48 percent stating that their social media use had increased compared to the previous year.

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.

As of June 2023, Gen Z, or those between the ages of 19 and 25 years old, made up the majority of the TikTok user base in Singapore, with 33.32 percent. This was followed by Millennials between the ages of 26 and 32 years, comprising around 28.65 percent of TikTok users.

TikTok usage in Singapore

Introduced in 2018 in Singapore, TikTok has rapidly grown to become one of the country's most widely used social media platforms. As of June 2023, it was the most downloaded app in the city-state, recording 782.33 thousand downloads. This rise was also reflected in user engagement, as Singaporean users spent a monthly average of 20.18 hours on TikTok in 2022. It enabled TikTok to reach a monthly revenue of 1.11 million U.S. dollars in December 2022. The platform's rapid development has made it a major hub for the younger generation and is shaping digital trends in the country.

The rise of TikTok Shop 

TikTok is no longer just a video-sharing platform; it has expanded its functionality to become a social commerce hub. TikTok Shop was launched in Singapore in August 2022. The marketplace is integrated into the TikTok platform, enabling consumers and creators to connect and engage directly with brands and sellers. In the city-state, where e-commerce holds a major position, this new feature is in line with the trend towards social commerce. Indeed, in February 2023, 27 percent of people surveyed in the country replied that they regularly made purchases on social media. Among them, 30 percent used TikTok for their purchases.

According to a survey in Singapore as of July 2022, over 65 percent of respondents stated that social media was their main source of information and news consumption. In comparison, about two percent of Singaporeans mentioned that newspaper was their main source of information and news.

According to a survey on digital usage in China, around 91.8 percent of respondents had used WeChat as of the third quarter of 2023. The short video app Douyin, the social commerce site Xiaohongshu, and the Twitter-like site Weibo, were among the most popular social media platforms in China. How successful is WeChat in China? The country’s most popular messaging app, WeChat, boasts over one billion monthly active users. For many Chinese consumers, WeChat is part of daily life, helping them to organize tasks such as paying bills, ordering food delivery, and calling a taxi. On average, WeChat users spent about an hour and 20 minutes per day on the app. Large user base with high engagement The social media scene in China is huge and mobile-centric. In 2023, the social media penetration rate amounted to 74 percent in China, slightly higher than in countries like the United States and Japan. While the user number has shown signs of reaching a saturation point, Chinese consumers have been spending more time online, with a considerable daily usage of social media.

In 2022, around 38 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 45 percent using the platform. Moreover, YouTube was a popular platform for many countries, including Cambodia, Japan, and Singapore.

According to a survey on influencer marketing conducted in Singapore in October 2022, Instagram was the most used platform for influencers, with around 32 percent. YouTube followed, with approximately 30.7 percent.

According to a survey conducted by Rakuten Insight in February 2023, 74 percent of respondents in Vietnam have purchased items on Facebook. Facebook was also the most used social commerce platform in Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Hong Kong as of February 2023.

As of the third quarter of 2023, active social media users in Singapore spent 33 hours and 23 minutes on TikTok per month. The second most-used social media app in Singapore was YouTube, at 27 hours and 39 minutes.