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.

During the first quarter of 2023, internet users in Brazil spent an average of three hours and 49 minutes per day on social media. Nigeria and the Philippines also reported high usage levels. By comparison, internet users in Japan spent less than 50 minutes per day on social media. Low levels of daily usage were also recorded in South Korea and the Belgium.

As of January 2023 social network Facebook was ranked first worldwide in terms of active users with almost three billion MAU. Other popular social media include mobile messaging platforms YouTube and WhatsApp, as well as social content sharing networks such as Instagram and social video platform TikTok.

Most social networks are accessible through multiple platforms, but many popular social media started out as mobile apps, demonstrating the growing trend of mobile first development. Examples include Instagram, which initially was launched as an iOS photo editing and discovery app as well as mobile social messenger, as well as TikTok, which recorded 23.7 million downloads worldwide via the Google Play Store alone in June 2023.

Social networking does not only enable users to connect with other people but also with brands and celebrities. Social media has also become a growing source of news for internet users in many countries.

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 97 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 160 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 97 billion U.S. dollars in 2025.

According to a 2023 survey, the most popular social media platforms for buying products worldwide were Facebook and Instagram. Both networks belong to parent company Meta. Among the selected countries, Czechia (** percent) and the United States (** percent) used Facebook the most to shop for products. Meanwhile, Spain and Portugal had the most social shoppers on Instagram (each ** percent).

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.

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 January 2025, ** percent of social media users in the United States aged 40 to 49 years were users of Facebook, as were ** percent of ** to ** year olds in the country. Overall, ** percent of those aged 18 to 29 years were using Instagram in the U.S. 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 *** million users in 2029. As of 2023, the social network user penetration in the United States amounted to an impressive ***** 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 ** percent of all social media visits in 2023, followed by Pinterest with **** percent of visits. The global social media landscape As of April 2024, **** billion people were social media users, accounting for **** percent of the world’s population. Northern Europe was the region with the highest social media penetration rate with a reach of **** percent, followed by Western Europe with **** percent and Eastern Asia **** 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. YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp followed, all with *** billion or more MAU.

WhatsApp was the leading actively used messenger service in Germany in 2021. Almost 84 percent of users confirmed this. While WhatsApp is foremost a messaging service, certain features indicate similarities with social media networks, as sharing and posting between users still occurs, just not necessarily on a publicly accessible website. Delivering the message For most of the population, modern life is unimaginable without messenger apps. Texting has become much more varied as a form of communication thanks to extended file and content sharing options within messages. There is no doubt that WhatsApp is a popular messaging app in Germany. In 2023, almost 85 percent of people were messaging on WhatsApp every day. By 2025, it is estimated that over 53 million people will be using WhatsApp in Germany, suggesting it's popularity as a messaging app will not diminish with time. Personal data While Facebook is extremely popular in many different countries, long-term questions and concerns from users continue to arise, with personal data security being one of the leading topics of discussion. In general, the there have been many breaches of personal data online. At the same time, social media continues to enjoy rising popularity and use among the German population, both in a private and professional context.

Chinese citizens displayed a strong online presence, having approximately **** billion active social media users as of February 2025. Other Asia-Pacific countries and regions appeared to trail behind China in terms of their social media engagement. India and Indonesia, the second- and third-ranked countries in terms of number of active social media users, had *** million and *** million active social media users, respectively. Leading social media platforms Facebook reigns worldwide and in the Asia-Pacific region as the most-used social media site, having displayed an increasing number of daily active users. However, Asian social networks, such as WeChat and Douyin, have also gained immense popularity in the Asia-Pacific region by offering content and services tailored to APAC preferences. Acting not only as a messaging and social media service, WeChat is a platform for online shopping and payment services. The social networking site, owned by Tencent, was the sixth most used social media platform globally. A connected region The Asia-Pacific region has gone through a technological evolution and alongside the region, its citizens have willingly adopted this change. This is conveyed through the internet penetration rate, which has more than doubled since 2010 in Asia. A better internet infrastructure has catalyzed the emergence of social media throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

More than three-quarters of the Russian online population aged 16 years and older used the Telegram messenger, thus making it the most-used social media platform among those listed in the ranking. WhatsApp ranked second, with a penetration rate of nearly 74 percent, followed by VK and TikTok. Social media usage in Russia In 2024, the daily time spent on social media in Russia was recorded at roughly two hours and 20 minutes per user on average. After Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) were blocked in Russia at the end of February and the beginning of March 2022, a significant increase in activity was recorded on VK and Telegram. For example, the daily audience on VK increased by almost nine percent, while the number of friends requests and feed views grew by 250 percent and 25 percent, respectively. YouTube From the global perspective, YouTube ranked second after Facebook, which remained the leading social media platform with about three billion active users. The U.S.-based channel MrBeast had the highest number of subscribers on YouTube with around 343 million as of January 2025. India-based T-Series followed with 284 million subscribers as of that month.

Social media usage in Romania continues to evolve, with Facebook maintaining its dominance while newer platforms gain traction. As of May 2024, ** percent of Romanian respondents reported using Facebook, solidifying its position as the most popular social media platform in the country. Instagram and TikTok followed, with ** and ** percent of users respectively, highlighting the growing diversity in social media preferences among Romanians. TikTok the new trendsetter in Romania TikTok's popularity in Romania has surged recently, as evidenced by its significant revenue growth. The platform's monthly revenue skyrocketed from approximately ** thousand U.S. dollars in October 2020 to an impressive *** million U.S. dollars by September 2024. This substantial increase reflects the platform's growing user base and engagement levels in the country. However, it's worth noting that TikTok's monthly downloads have fluctuated, peaking at over *** thousand in August 2022 before decreasing to *** thousand in September 2024. Social media usage increases steadily As of January 2024, Romania boasted **** million social media users, with over **** of respondents following friends, family, and acquaintances on these platforms. The primary reasons for social media use in Romania include staying connected with loved ones and filling spare time. This trend partially explains the rise in TikTok users, with the platform poised to potentially surpass Facebook in the near future. Looking ahead, the number of social media users in Romania is forecast to increase by ***** percent between 2024 and 2029, reaching an estimated ***** million users by 2029. This growth trajectory underscores the continued importance of social media in Romanian society.

Launched in 2004, Facebook has been a global leader within the social networks. Sweden made no exception and Facebook was the leading social media platform in the country in 2020, followed by Instagram and Snapchat. ** percent of the surveyed internet users in Sweden stated to be using Facebook. Moreover, the majority of the users were going on Facebook several times a day the same year. Nearly all users were going on Facebook at least monthly.

Who is on Facebook?

Within the Nordic countries, Facebook was slightly more popular among women than men in 2020. Norway was an exception to this, with an equal distribution of male and female audience. By contrast, on a global scale, Facebook usage seemed to be more common among men than women.

Social media in the Nordics

Iceland topped the ranking of active social media users in the Nordic countries in 2020. The data was based on the monthly active users reported by the most active social media platform in each country. Finland was the country with the lowest share of active social media users in the region.

As of February 2025, nearly ** percent of the internet users in Morocco used WhatsApp each month. Facebook and Facebook Messenger ranked as the second and third most popular social media platforms in the country, with a share of **** percent and **** percent, respectively. Social media users keep increasing With the rising internet penetration rate and mobile internet adoption, the use of social media has increased in Morocco in recent years. In 2025, social media users in the country amounted to around **** million. This marked a steady growth over the previous years, rising from around ** million in 2017 to ** million in 2022, before experiencing a decline. As the most popular social media platform, Facebook accounted for about 25.89 million users in 2025, with the number being forecast to increase to more than ** million by 2028. In comparison, approximately *** million people actively used Instagram in 2025, and it is projected to reach **** million in 2026. Sending messages is the primary online activity Among the different types of social media, Moroccans regularly used instant messenger platforms, such as WhatsApp, and social networks like Facebook as of 2023. In contrast, consumer review networks and discussion forums were the least used platforms. In the same year, the most popular activities among Moroccan social media users were sending private messages, commenting on posts, liking other users’ posts, and following people. As of 2023, users in Morocco spent an average of * hours and * hours and ** minutes per day on social media. The average time was lower than in other African countries such as Nigeria (* hours and ** minutes) and South Africa (* hours and ** minutes).

As of March 2024, *************** was the most popular social media platform in Norway, with ** percent of social network users in the country using the service. Overall, Instagram and Snapchat were used by ** percent and ** percent of the online population, respectively. YouTube was also popular, with ** percent of respondents stating that they used the service. Moreover, ***** percent of internet users in Norway were using mobile-first photo platform BeReal.

As of February 2025, India had a total of 413.85 million Instagram users, the largest Instagram audience in the world. The United States had 171.7 million users, and Brazil had 140.7 million. Indonesia, Turkey, and Japan ranked in fourth, fifth and sixth position, respectively. Kazakhstan is the leading country for Instagram audience reach, with 86.2 percent of the population using the social media service. Turkey came in second, with a penetration rate of 85.5 percent and Uruguay ranked third, with 87.1 percent, followed closely by the UAE, Brazil, and Bahrain. It took Instagram 11.2 years to reach the milestone of 2 billion monthly active users worldwide. WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, took 11 years, whilst Facebook took 13.3 years and YouTube took just over 14 years. Instagram’s demographics in the United States As of March 2025, Instagram was the fourth most visited social media service in the United States, after Facebook, Pinterest and X. Out of TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, TikTok was the most used of all three platforms by Generation Z. Overall, 57 percent of Gen Z social media users used Instagram in 2021, down from 61 percent in 2020 and 64 percent in 2019. Instagram finds most popularity with those in the 25 to 34 year age group, and as of January 2025, roughly 28.3 of all users in the United States belonged to this age group. The social media app was also more likely to be used by women. Most followed accounts on Instagram Instagram’s official account had the most followers as of April 2024 with over 672 million followers. Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) had over 628 million followers on the platform, while the Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi (@leomessi) had over 502 million followers. The Instagram accounts of the American singer and actress Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) and the media personality and makeup mogul Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner) had over 400 million followers each.

In the third quarter of 2024, WhatsApp was the most popular social media platform in Nigeria. It was mentioned by over 95 percent of internet users in the country 16 years and older. In absolute terms, the number of people using WhatsApp was projected at nearly 15 million in 2026. Social media platforms with most users The count of Facebook users in Nigeria significantly exceeded that of WhatsApp in 2022. In that year, Facebook users were expected to add up to slightly over 36 million, representing a user penetration rate of around 16.7 percent. Moreover, considering the count of users, around 26 million people were potentially reachable by online advertisers on Facebook. YouTube was another popular social network used by residents in Nigeria. Individuals who used the platform were forecast at nearly 6.7 million in 2022. Increasing overall social media usage In recent years, the number of social media users in Nigeria has been on the rise. As of 2022, social media users in the country reached roughly 34 million in total, expanding from the 18 million individuals registered in 2017. On the basis that this increasing trend keeps stable, it is expected that, by 2025, over 90 million people will use at least one social media platform in Nigeria. Overall, the most followed network accounts are those of friends, family, and people known by the social media user

In March 2025 in Norway, Facebook was the most visited social media platform, accounting for ***** percent of the market share. Pinterest ranked second, making up more than ***** percent of social network visits. Meta's Instagram followed, with *** percent of social media visits in Norway.  Social media users over the years  Overall, the share of individuals who participated in social networks increased significantly over the years. Starting at under ** percent of individuals in 2011, the share of social media users peaked in 2023, when ***** percent of the interviewed Norwegians reported to be using social networks. In 2022, the percentage was ***** percent.  Compared to the other Nordic countries, Norway ranked third by number of social media users in 2024, with **** million users that year. Sweden was the Nordic country with most social media users – **** million. Denmark was second and Finland was fourth in the ranking.

According to a survey run in Spain in March 2023, 86 percent of Millennial respondents used WhatsApp, making it the most popular social media platform in the country among that population group. Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube followed closely, with an audience reach of 75 percent, 74 percent, and 73 percent respectively.

According to a survey among internet users conducted in Vietnam by Decision Lab in the third quarter of 2023, Facebook was the leading social media platform among all generations. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese platform Zalo was the second most-used channel among the surveyed respondents. TikTok was most popular among Gen Z, with over ** percent of respondents from this generation confirmed using this platform. Social media platforms in Vietnam Vietnam was among the countries with the highest number of social media users worldwide. The tech giant Meta dominated the social media landscape in the country, especially among Gen Y. Being the only Vietnamese brand among the top five, messaging app Zalo was the second most-used social media platform, just behind Facebook. Meanwhile, TikTok has recently emerged as one of the networks with the highest growth in user numbers in Vietnam, slowly gaining its spot among the leading platforms. The rise of TikTok among Gen Z in Vietnam TikTok is particularly popular among Gen Z globally, and Vietnamese members of this generation were no different. The share of TikTok users among Gen Z in Vietnam has been growing fast, reaching over ** percent of the internet users within this age group. Although this platform has yet to surpass Facebook as the number one social media app, it ranked first among the leading social media apps for watching short videos among Vietnamese Gen Z as of the second quarter of 2023.

As of March 2024, Meta's Facebook was the most popular social media platform in Denmark, with 81 percent of social network users in the country using the service. Instagram and YouTube ranked second, with almost six in ten users in Denmark accessing these online platforms. Snapchat was also relatively popular, with 39 percent of respondents stating that they used the app.