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.

Despite a tumultuous 2018, Facebook is still the top social network in the United States, with 169.76 million mobile users accessing the Facebook app in September 2019. The company’s other properties Instagram and Facebook Messenger ranked second and third with 121 and 106 million users respectively. Cambridge Analytica scandal 2018 The biggest social media company in the world had a difficult 2018. The platform has long been accused of enabling the spread of fake news during the 2016 election and beyond. One of the first and biggest negative Facebook stories of 2018 was the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which unfolded from March 2018. The Guardian, The Observer, and The New York Times simultaneously reported on political data firm Cambridge Analytica harvesting data of millions of Facebook users worldwide without their knowledge before the 2016 election, which led to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg having to testify before Congress in April 2018. Facebook usage behavior changes Due to the revelations about Facebook and the company’s treatment of private user data, many U.S. users are planning to use the social network much less and to be much more careful about what they post . During an April 2018 survey, only 20 percent of respondents stated that their Facebook usage has not changed, and they were planning on continuing to use the social platform as much as they always had in the past.

When it comes to the most well-known social networks in the United States, YouTube and Facebook are leading the pack with a brand awareness of 96 and 95 percent respectively, among internet users. For this study, brand awareness was surveyed employing the concept of aided brand recognition, showing respondents both the brand's logo and the written brand name.

59% of adults in the united states are using Instagram daily.

TikTok comes in 6th position in a list of the world’s most-used social media sites today.

This statistic presents the social network membership reach among the online population in the United States. During the February 2017 survey, 27 percent of U.S. internet users accessed the social image sharing platform Pinterest. Facebook was ranked first with a 78 percent usage rate.

Facebook and YouTube are still the most used social media platforms today.

In 2024, YouTube was the most popular social video platforms for users in the United States, with an estimated viewership of *** million viewers. Facebook ranked second, while Instagram had approximately *** million users engaging with the platform's Reels and posts on a monthly basis. TikTok was estimated to have a monthly audience of *** million users in the examined period.

As of May 2025, **** percent of Instagram users in the United States were aged between 25 and 34 years, making up the platform’s largest audience in the country. Overall, the group with the second-highest usage was those aged 18 to 24 years, with **** percent of users, followed by **** percent that were aged 35 to 44 years. The age group that used Instagram the least was those older than 65 years, making up *** percent of users, respectively. Popular social media platforms in the United States Instagram was the fourth most visited social media platform in the United States as of March 2025 across desktop, mobile, and tablet devices combined, accounting for ** percent of all social media visits in the country. Despite Instagram’s popularity, Facebook remained the leading social media platform by far in the U.S., accounting for more than ** percent of all social media visits. Pinterest and X (formerly Twitter) ranked second and third in terms of visits, with ***** percent and ***** percent of visits, respectively. Instagram’s global audience Instagram’s global popularity continues to surge, with no signs of slowing down. As of January 2024, the country with the largest Instagram audience was India with ****** million users, while the United States had the second-highest market with ***** million users, followed by Brazil, Indonesia, and Turkey, respectively. As of February 2025, Instagram was the third most popular social network globally, reaching *** billion monthly active users.

YouTube boasts an average of 23.7 hours per month spent by users.

56.8% of the world’s total population is active on social media.

Apart from being the most-followed person on Instagram, Cristiano Ronaldo is also the most-followed person on Facebook with over 122 million subscribers to his Facebook page in January 2023. Only Facebook itself and tech conglomerate Samsung had more followers on the social network. Ronaldo’s position in the ranking is even more impressive given that the list of most popular fan pages on Facebook is dominated by global brands rather than individual celebrities. Social media advertising Brand presence on social media is a serious business. Social media advertising revenues was the strongest-growing ad category in the United States in 2020 and 2021. As social networks are a significant traffic generator for retail sites in the United States, it is no wonder that brands and retailers are particularly keen to invest in social media advertising. Facebook is also the digital channel with the most influence on purchasing decisions according to internet users in the United States, ranking ahead of YouTube and Instagram. Facebook advertising Facebook advertising influence extends beyond social media – the company consistently ranks among the U.S. media companies with the biggest advertising revenues. Google is the only digital competitor with more ad revenue, but Facebook ranks miles ahead of traditional media juggernauts such as Disney, Fox, and Viacom.

In 2023, TikTok was the most popular social app used by children in the United States, with 41 percent of respondents reporting using popular mobile-first social app. Surprisingly, X (previously known as Twitter) Reddit, and Facebook ranked second, with roughly the same share of U.S. users aged between four and 18 years. Pinterest ranked third, with 34 percent of respondents in the U.S. reporting to use the image-based app.

There are over 875 million registered users on LinkedIn in 2024.

This statistic gives information on the most popular social networking apps in the United States as of September 2019, ranked by monthly user engagement. During that month, mobile Facebook users spent an average of 769.16 minutes on the social networking platform.

Gen Z and Millennials are the biggest social media users of all age groups.

There are more male LinkedIn users than females – although it is pretty balanced.

There are over 2 billion registered users on Instagram in 2025.

In this post, I'll give you all the social media addiction statistics you need to be aware of to moderate your social media use.

The average Snapchat user spends just 3 hours per month on the app.