How many people use social media? Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities. In 2024, over five billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to over six billion in 2028.

Who uses social media? Social networking is one of the most popular digital activities worldwide and it is no surprise that social networking penetration across all regions is constantly increasing. As of January 2023, the global social media usage rate stood at 59 percent. This figure is anticipated to grow as lesser developed digital markets catch up with other regions when it comes to infrastructure development and the availability of cheap mobile devices. In fact, most of social media’s global growth is driven by the increasing usage of mobile devices. Mobile-first market Eastern Asia topped the global ranking of mobile social networking penetration, followed by established digital powerhouses such as the Americas and Northern Europe.

How much time do people spend on social media? Social media is an integral part of daily internet usage. On average, internet users spend 151 minutes per day on social media and messaging apps, an increase of 40 minutes since 2015. On average, internet users in Latin America had the highest average time spent per day on social media.

What are the most popular social media platforms? Market leader Facebook was the first social network to surpass one billion registered accounts and currently boasts approximately 2.9 billion monthly active users, making it the most popular social network worldwide. In June 2023, the top social media apps in the Apple App Store included mobile messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram Messenger, as well as the ever-popular app version of Facebook.

In 2021, 91.9 percent of U.S. marketers in companies largest than 100 employees were expected to use social media for marketing purposes. In 2013, the share stood at 86.2 percent. Social media marketing – additional informationEveryone knows that social media started as an entertainment tool and evolved to a powerful marketing tool. While it serves its primary purpose of connecting people, at the same time it plays a major role in connecting marketers with current and potential customers. Marketing professionals agreed that social media was very important to their business. In fact, 63 percent agreed with it strongly. These convictions are reflected in growing expenditures towards this medium. In the United States alone, social media marketing spending is expected to exceed 17 billion U.S. dollars in 2019 – almost ten billion increase, compared to 2014.When asked about the leading challenges of social media marketing, 67 percent of surveyed marketers stated that assessing its effectiveness was their main concern, followed by strategy design and analyzing obtained data. In order to evaluate the effectiveness, U.S. social media specialists employed a number of measurements. Counting the number of hits, visits or page views was the leading social media metric used in 2014. In addition, 45 percent of respondents believed that the number of friends or followers on social platforms was a significant indicator of marketing success.Specific platform usage among social media professionals varies depending on the type of commerce transaction. Twitter seems to be a shared platform, ranked second in usage for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer industries. The difference is visible when considering the primary spot. Among B2C marketers, 94 percent used Facebook, while among B2B marketers, 94 percent indicated using LinkedIn.

The cost-per-mille of advertising on social media was **** U.S. dollars in the fourth quarter of 2024. In other words, advertisers had to pay this much to have their ads viewed by a thousand potential customers. Social media CPM is usually higher in the final quarters of each year. The surge in costs is prompted by increased demand for advertising space during pre-Christmas time, as brands compete for a share of the typically high consumer spending. Is social media advertising profitable? According to recent calculations, social media impression numbers have improved year-on-year by close to ** percent, which means that more and more advertising is viewed by social network users. However, this is mainly true for more passive types of ads such as video or stories. When it comes to traditional forms of advertising on social media the situation is reversed – clicks and clickthrough rates are decreasing. It might be because of this ever-changing environment that global marketers are divided on whether or not they are able to measure social media marketing ROI.

As of January 2025, Northern and Western Europe were the regions with the highest social network penetration rates globally, reaching 78.7 and 77.1 percent, respectively. Eastern Asia ranked third with a penetration rate of 76 percent, followed by Southern Europe with 74.2 percent. In contrast, Eastern and Middle Africa were the regions with the lowest reach, with 11.1 and 10.1 percent. Overall, the global average was 63.9 percent, which translates to almost six out of every ten people around the world using social networks. The regions below the global average were located in Africa and Asia, as well as Oceania and the Caribbean. Global social media use In 2023, 4.89 billion people around the world were using social media, and the number of users is projected to continue rising to almost six billion by 2027. Meta’s Facebook is the most popular social media network globally, with more than three billion monthly active users (MAU). Meta Platforms owns four of the ten leading social media networks globally, each with more than one billion MAU: Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger. Social Media Usage, by country As of January 2024, the UAE had the highest social media penetration rate out of selected countries and territories. Brazil and Morocco were close to the global average of 62.3 percent, with 66.3 and 55.7 percent, respectively, while Kenya reached only 23.5 percent. Although India’s active social media penetration rate was below average at 32.2 percent, the country had the second largest social media audience in the world, with 755 million social media users in 2022.

According to a global report conducted between January 2021 and December 2023, TikTok had the highest engagement rate per post when compared to Instagram, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter). Overall, TikTok's average engagement rate per post was 2.65 percent in 2023. Instagram's engagement rate stood at 0.7 percent in 2023, and Facebook's stood at 0.15 percent.

How much time do people spend on social media? As of 2024, the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 143 minutes per day, down from 151 minutes in the previous year. Currently, the country with the most time spent on social media per day is Brazil, with online users spending an average of three hours and 49 minutes on social media each day. In comparison, the daily time spent with social media in the U.S. was just two hours and 16 minutes. Global social media usageCurrently, the global social network penetration rate is 62.3 percent. Northern Europe had an 81.7 percent social media penetration rate, topping the ranking of global social media usage by region. Eastern and Middle Africa closed the ranking with 10.1 and 9.6 percent usage reach, respectively. People access social media for a variety of reasons. Users like to find funny or entertaining content and enjoy sharing photos and videos with friends, but mainly use social media to stay in touch with current events friends. Global impact of social mediaSocial media has a wide-reaching and significant impact on not only online activities but also offline behavior and life in general. During a global online user survey in February 2019, a significant share of respondents stated that social media had increased their access to information, ease of communication, and freedom of expression. On the flip side, respondents also felt that social media had worsened their personal privacy, increased a polarization in politics and heightened everyday distractions.

In 2024, approximately 81 percent internet users from Brazil used social media, up from 72 percent in 2022. Meanwhile, WhatsApp was the most popular social network in Brazil, alongside Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

According to a study of Instagram (IG) influencer engagement rates (ER) worldwide, nano influencers have been seeing the highest popularity compared to other tier profiles. Influencers who had between *** and *** thousand followers had an engagement rate of **** percent in 2024. On average, the ER for all studied IG influencers stood at **** percent in the same year.

In 2024, 80 percent of)responding male internet users from Brazil said they used social media, for the first more than the online women surveyed. The penetration rate of social media among internet users in Brazil was higher among people aged between 16 and 34 years.

During the second quarter of 2022, approximately 40 percent of all active users on the Instagram mobile app engaged with it daily. TikTok saw 30 percent of its active installs opening the popular social media and video sharing app daily, while less than two in 10 active Twitter users opened the app daily in the measured period.

A 2022 internet survey found that YouTube was the most popular social media in Taiwan, with about **** percent of respondents using the platform. Facebook was trailing behind with a penetration rate of almost ** percent. Instagram and local bulletin board system PPT followed with a wide margin. Social media users in Taiwan Social media has become an important part of many Taiwanese people. It is not only widely used by the younger generation, but also other age groups. On average, Taiwanese users used about *** social media platforms per person. They spent about *** hours on social media on a daily basis. How do Taiwanese use social media? A majority of people are actively engaged with social networking sites to connect with acquaintances and kill time. A digital usage study also found respondents from Taiwan used social media to do brand and product research. Many followed TV shows, food and restaurants, celebrities and influencers on social media platforms.

In 2022, the penetration rate of social media reached around 70.1 percent of the population in China. Despite global social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube being blocked by the “Great Firewall”, Chinese homegrown equivalents such as WeChat, Weibo, and Youku Tudou have captured millions of users in the country.

How active are Chinese social media users? In 2023, the number of social network users was projected to reach 1.06 billion. Social media plays a huge role among Chinese internet users. During the third quarter of 2021, Chinese netizens spent circa 315 minutes on average per day on the internet. Sites such as WeChat and Sina Weibo each held a bulk of the share of internet users in China.

What is the role of social media in China?

For the end user, social networking sites allow for the establishment and reinforcing of social relationships by sharing photos, videos, posts and statuses. Microblogging has become an indispensable tool to share news across China with over a hundred million words and photos each posted daily. On the business end, social media also presents an attractive avenue for advertising with estimated ad spending surpassing 100 billion yuan in 2022.

According to the source, the high social media engagement rate was noted among 19 percent of internet users in Poland. Every third respondent with a high FOMO* used social media after waking up in 2022.

In 2022, around 89 percent of the New Zealand population were active social media users. The social media penetration rate has continued to increase, in-line with the growing digitalization of the country. While not the most active country in the Asia Pacific region, New Zealand still ranked in the top ten in terms of social media penetration out of countries from Asia Pacific.

How are Kiwis using social media?

Most of the population use social media on a mobile device. With increasing smartphone usage and accessibility, current global trends look set to establish the standard for mobile-only social media usage in the near future. In fact, many social media services are better experienced on a mobile device.

An average of one hour and 51 minutes per day were spent on social media by internet users in the country in 2020. This is much lower than the approximate four hours per day spent by online users in the Philippines.

Which social media are the most popular?

The most popular social networks in the country included YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. YouTube and Facebook dominated the market, both with over 70 percent penetration rates. Facebook was popular among all age groups, with the highest number of Facebook users in the 25 to 34-year age group. Instagram has gained popularity with younger generations in the country.

During a study of engagement rates on Instagram influencer accounts in the United States, it was found that influencers with a profile size of between one and five thousand followers were projected to have the highest engagement rate throughout 2022, at 4.6 percent. This marked a slight decrease from the average 2021 nano-influencer engagement rate of 4.6 percent.

During a 2024 survey among marketers worldwide, around 86 percent reported using Facebook for marketing purposes. Instagram and LinkedIn followed, respectively mentioned by 79 and 65 percent of the respondents. The global social media marketing segment According to the same study, 59 percent of responding marketers intended to increase their organic use of YouTube for marketing purposes throughout that year. LinkedIn and Instagram followed with similar shares, rounding up the top three social media platforms attracting a planned growth in organic use among global marketers in 2024. Their main driver is increasing brand exposure and traffic, which led the ranking of benefits of social media marketing worldwide. Social media for B2B marketing Social media platform adoption rates among business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) marketers vary according to each subsegment's focus. While B2C professionals prioritize Facebook and Instagram – both run by Meta, Inc. – due to their popularity among online audiences, B2B marketers concentrate their endeavors on Microsoft-owned LinkedIn due to its goal to connect people and companies in a corporate context.

Average influencer engagement rates (ER) worldwide had decreased gradually since 2020. The engagement rate was 2.23 in 2020, only to drop to 1.9 two years later, in 2022. The engagement rate is defined by the total likes and comments, divided by the amount of followers and multiplied by 100 percent.

The number of social media users in Ghana increased by 7.3 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year. In 2021, a higher growth rate of 36.7 percent had been registered. Overall, there were over eight million social media users in Ghana as of January 2022.

The number of social media users in the United States was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 26 million users (+8.55 percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the social media user base is estimated to reach 330.07 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).

In 2022, Facebook was the most widely used social networking platform in Hungary, regardless of device usage. The social media platform was visited by 57 percent of the respondents who used desktop or laptop computers and by a further 56 percent who used their smartphones. At the same time, 23 percent of Hungarians visited Instagram using their mobile devices and another 19 percent of the respondents accessed the platform via a desktop or tablet computer.