In 2024, Pinterest posts generated an average engagement rate of 5.93 percent, up from 4.36 percent in 2023. Pinterest users, or Pinners, as they are known on the platform, search for inspiration via modern-day virtual mood boards.

Image-based platform Pinterest reached a record number of monthly active users (MAUs) in the most recently reported financial quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2024, Pinterest had 553 million monthly active users worldwide, up from 537 million users when compared to the previous quarter. The company Launched in March 2010, Pinterest was the fastest site in history to reach 10 million unique monthly visitors and high user engagement metrics; a significant feat especially when considering that during much of its initial launch and growth, the site was invitation-only. Despite many social networks going public within a few years post-launch (Twitter: six years; Snap Inc.: six years), Pinterest only filed for an IPO in February 2019, almost nine years after launch, and started trading on April 18, 2019. Pinterest usage The social site’s strong user engagement with popular topics and themes such as fashion, home, garden and DIY and subsequently, relevant brands and influencers, forms the basis for its leading position in the area of social marketing and commerce. In 2018, 600 million searches were performed using Pinterest Lens, a camera search that recommends ideas to try inspired by things seen offline.

The number of Pinterest users in the United Kingdom was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2028 by in total 0.3 million users (+3.14 percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the Pinterest user base is estimated to reach 9.88 million users and therefore a new peak in 2028. Notably, the number of Pinterest users of was continuously increasing over the past years.User figures, shown here regarding the platform pinterest, have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period and count multiple accounts by persons only once.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).

Instagram's impressive 25.3 percent year-over-year audience growth in 2024 highlights the platform's continued dominance in the social media landscape. This surge outpaces other major platforms, with Pinterest following at 23.2 percent and LinkedIn at 13.9 percent. The growth rates underscore the evolving preferences of social media users and the competitive nature of the industry. Shifting dynamics in social media usage While Instagram leads in growth, it's important to note that Facebook remains the largest social network globally with over three billion monthly active users. However, newer platforms like TikTok are rapidly gaining ground, especially among younger demographics. TikTok's popularity is evident in its 42 percent usage reach in the United States, showcasing its significant impact on user engagement and information discovery patterns. Brand value and customer satisfaction in tech The success of social media platforms is closely tied to their brand value and customer satisfaction. In 2024, technology companies dominated the list of most valuable brands, with Apple leading at 516.6 billion U.S. dollars. Interestingly, TikTok scored highest in customer satisfaction among online networks, achieving 77 out of 100 points. Instagram's growth is further validated by its improved customer satisfaction rating, increasing from 73 to 76 points year-over-year. This demonstrates the platform's ability to meet user expectations while expanding its audience.

People use different social networks for a wide range of purposes. In a February 2019 survey, Instagram ranked first among social media survey for viewing photos but ranked head-to-head with Snapchat in terms of being the preferred social network for video consumption. Also, 47 percent of respondents stated that they used Pinterest to find or shop for products, a rate that no other social platform was able to match in that regard.

As of September 2023, 29 percent of Facebook users in the United States were aged 30 to 39 years, while a further 29 percent of users were aged 50 to 64 years, making these demographics the biggest audiences of the online network in the country. Meta’s Instagram was also popular among users aged 30 to 39 years, who accounted for 32 percent of the audience of the photo-based platform, while those aged 18 to 29 years accounted for another third of the network’s U.S. users. Overall, TikTok and Snapchat were the most popular social media platforms amongst younger audiences, while LinkedIn was the least used platform by those aged 18 to 29 in the United States as of 2023.

The social media market in the United States

The number of social media users in the United States has shown continuous growth in the past years, and it is forecast to continue increasing to reach 342 million users in 2029. As of 2023, the social network user penetration in the United States amounted to an impressive 91.56 percent, meaning that more than nine in ten people in the country engaged with online platforms. Furthermore, Facebook was by far the most popular social media platform in the United States, accounting for 45 percent of all social media visits in 2023, followed by Pinterest with 21.2 percent of visits.

The global social media landscape

As of April 2024, 5.07 billion people were social media users, accounting for 62.6 percent of the world’s population. Northern Europe was the region with the highest social media penetration rate with a reach of 80.2 percent, followed by Western Europe with 78.2 percent and Eastern Asia 74.9 percent. In contrast, less than one in ten people in Middle Africa used social networks. Facebook’s popularity is not limited to the United States: this network leads the market on a global scale, and it accumulated more than three billion monthly active users (MAU) as of 2024, which is far more any other social media platform. 272014 YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp followed, all with two billion or more MAU.

In March 2023, Facebook accounted for 45 percent of all social media site visits in the United States, confirming its position as the leading social media website by far. Other social media platforms, despite their popularity, had to make do with smaller shares of visits across desktop, mobile, and tablet devices combined. Pinterest ranked second with 21 percent of all U.S. social media site visits, while Instagram accounted for 14 percent of the total visits in the country. Additionally, the U.S. is home to the third largest social media audience worldwide.

Facebook: mobile vs desktop usage

At the beginning of 2022, around 81 percent of Facebook users across the globe were using the platform’s social networking services exclusively via mobile phone, while only 1.5 percent reported using their desktop or laptop devices. In October 2021, three Facebook Inc. products occupied the leading positions as most downloaded social networking apps on the Apple App Store in the United States. Facebook’s social media platform ranked first with nearly 2.5 million downloads, while Facebook-owned instant-messaging services Messenger and WhatsApp followed with 2.1 million and 1.4 million downloads respectively.

Social media evolution

Between 2012 and 2020, the daily time spent on social networks worldwide experienced a constant increase, with users reaching an average of 145 minutes per day in 2019 and maintaining the same engagement levels throughout 2020. However, users’ favorite platforms have changed since 2019, and the power balance appears to be shifting further from Facebook’s market dominance. Not only Facebook’s user growth rate is estimated to slow down in the next years, but users belonging to Generation Z appear to prefer video-first social platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.

In January 2025, Instagram had almost 35 million users in the United Kingdom (UK). The largest share of Instagram users were individuals aged between 25 and 34 years old, at 29.7 percent. This was followed by the category of users aged 18 to 24 years. Individuals over 65 years old, were less likely to use the social media platform, making up the smallest share of Instagram users during this period. Leading social media in the UK According to figures based on approximately fifteen billion hits online per month, Facebook was the leading social media website in the UK as of November 2024, holding over 60.48 percent of the social media market share. This was followed by X (Twitter) and Instagram. The Pinterest website ranked fourth during that period, with a market share of 5.83 percent. Facebook: Leader in the UK The number of social network users in the UK experienced an increase of roughly 6.5 million users between 2018 and 2023. The share of female Facebook users is slightly higher than the number of male users. At a quarter of respondents, individuals aged between 25 and 34 years old made up the largest share of Facebook users in the UK. This was followed by roughly 19 percent of users within the 35 to 44 years old category. Facebook usage appeared to be the lowest among those aged 65 and older.