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.

As of June 2023, the Gen Z or those between the ages of 19 to 25 years old, made up the majority of Instagram user base in Singapore, with 35.32 percent. This was followed by the Millennials between the ages of 26 to 32 years, comprising around 33.59 percent of Instagram users.

The number of social media users in Singapore was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 0.2 million users (+3.6 percent). After the eleventh consecutive increasing year, the social media user base is estimated to reach 5.75 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).

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.

According to the results of a survey conducted in Singapore in April 2022, 23 percent of respondents aged between 18 and 33 years stated that they used social media as a news source. In contrast, four percent of respondents aged 65 years and older reported using social media for news.

As of January 2024, approximately 16 percent of the Meta's advertising audience in Singapore were between 25 and 34 years old and male. This age group represents around 32 percent of the overall advertising audience.

As of January 2024, 55 percent of the advertising audience on Instagram were female. Meanwhile, 47.8 percent of the advertising audience on Snapchat were male and 49.3 percent of the advertising audience on Tiktok were female.

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.

In 2020, 100 percent of residents aged 15 to 24 years in Singapore used the internet. In comparison, 46 percent of residents over the age of 75 used the internet. Overall, the share of residents using the internet has increased across all age groups in Singapore since 2016.

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.

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 social commerce conducted by Rakuten Insight in Singapore in 2023, Around 60 percent of respondents between 16 and 24 years answered they had bought clothing articles using social media. The same survey indicated that around 27 percent of Singaporean consumers regularly shopped on social media.

As of June 2023, Millennials or those between the ages of 26 to 32 years old, made up the majority of Facebook user base in Singapore, with 30.66 percent. This was followed by Gen Z between the ages of 19 to 25 years, comprising around 24.17 percent of Facebook users.

According to a survey on social media influencers conducted by Rakuten Insight in May 2023, approximately 89 percent respondents in Singapore aged 16 to 24 years stated that they followed at least one influencer on social media. The same survey found that the majority of respondents had purchased an item or product endorsed by an influencer.

In the third quarter of 2023, the average daily time spent using the internet by respondents was around 6 hours 49 minutes in Singapore. In comparison, they spent around 2 hours 14 minutes on social media every day.

As of March 2023, about 61.7 percent of Tiktok app users in Singapore were between 18 and 24 years old. Vivo, and Xiaomi were the most used smartphone brands among Singaporean Tiktok users.

According to a survey on social media advertising conducted by Rakuten Insight in July 2023, 59 percent of respondents aged from 16 to 24 years in Singapore indicated that they found advertisements developed by reliable brands to be the most influential among social media advertisements. Meanwhile, six percent of the respondents from that age group did not find any type of social media ads impactful.

This statistic shows the share of respondents who were persuaded by social media influencers to purchase a product in Singapore as of August 2018. During the period measured, 51 percent of survey participants between the ages of 18 to 24 years indicated that they were impacted by a social media influencer to buy a product. In comparison, only 22 percent of respondents aged 55 years and older were persuaded by social media influencers.

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.

According to the results of a survey conducted in Singapore from the end of January to February in 2021, 20 percent of respondents in Singapore in age bracket 18 to 24 years, indicated that they trusted social media as a news source. By comparison, 14 percent of respondents between the ages of 35 to 44 years indicated that they trusted social media for news.