TikTok saw an exceptional increase of monthly active users worldwide from 2019 to 2021, at 38 percent. The short-form video sharing app was used by 689 million individuals monthly as of 2021, compared to 500 million in 2019. Other leading social networks that increased with over 30 percent were Pinterest and Reddit.

The coronavirus pandemic is one of the factors that have resulted in an increased interest in social networking, with billions of people in lockdown, working and studying from home, and in need of socializing.

A 2021 online survey conducted in the United States found that ** percent of respondents trusted Facebook the least when it came to their personal privacy and data on social media, with ** percent reporting Facebook as the least trusted service. Overall, one third of respondents said they trusted TikTok the least, and ** percent said Twitter was their least trusted social media platform.

As of February 2021, YouTube had a global penetration rate of 62 percent, followed closely by Meta's Facebook, with 61 percent. Overall, instant messaging service WhatsApp had a global penetration rate of 52 percent. Additionally, 12 percent of people used TikTok, and one in ten people around the world use messaging service Telegram.

According to an online survey conducted in November 2021 in the United States, just under three-quarters of social media users said they had seen information on social media platforms that had been flagged or labeled as false. Furthermore, the remaining ** percent said they had not witnessed social media content being identified as disinformation. When possible, some social media companies add fact-check labels to posts that relate to the false content in an attempt to counteract untrue claims.

During a 2021 survey carried out among consumers from the United States, ** percent of respondents stated that they wanted brands to use more of TikTok for marketing purposes. The most commonly named platform was Facebook, with ** percent. Brands invested nearly ** billion U.S. dollars in social media advertising in the U.S. in 2021.

Which county has the most Facebook users?

              There are more than 378 million Facebook users in India alone, making it the leading country in terms of Facebook audience size. To put this into context, if India’s Facebook audience were a country then it would be ranked third in terms of largest population worldwide. Apart from India, there are several other markets with more than 100 million Facebook users each: The United States, Indonesia, and Brazil with 193.8 million, 119.05 million, and 112.55 million Facebook users respectively.

              Facebook – the most used social media

              Meta, the company that was previously called Facebook, owns four of the most popular social media platforms worldwide, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram. As of the third quarter of 2021, there were around 3,5 billion cumulative monthly users of the company’s products worldwide. With around 2.9 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most popular social media worldwide. With an audience of this scale, it is no surprise that the vast majority of Facebook’s revenue is generated through advertising.

              Facebook usage by device
              As of July 2021, it was found that 98.5 percent of active users accessed their Facebook account from mobile devices. In fact, almost 81.8 percent of Facebook audiences worldwide access the platform only via mobile phone. Facebook is not only available through mobile browser as the company has published several mobile apps for users to access their products and services. As of the third quarter 2021, the four core Meta products were leading the ranking of most downloaded mobile apps worldwide, with WhatsApp amassing approximately six billion downloads.

In 2021, more than ** percent of surveyed consumers in the United States used Facebook when looking for promo codes, discounts, or coupons, making it the preferred social media platform for bargain hunters. Roughly ** percent of U.S. consumers also used Instagram, while only about five percent of participants mentioned LinkedIn.

In 2021, over ********* (35 percent) of consumers used social media to research merchandise in the United States. When comparing age groups, Millennials (58 percent) used social media for this purpose the most. Post Millennials ranked second, with roughly ** percent actively using social media platforms as important information sources for buying decisions.

In 2022, the level of trust in social media platforms in the United States declined across all the observed platforms. Instagram saw the most significant decline in the index score, -5.9. LinkedIn and Reddit followed, with the trust index score showing a -5.8 and -5.7 decline. YouTube saw the lowest drop in trust level among the mentioned platforms, -2.8.

According to a study conducted between 2018 and 2021, the number of social media content and account removals due to child abuse and safety reasons has risen significantly over the past four years. In 2018, there were approximately 18 million content and account removals for child exploitation across major social media platforms. As of the third quarter of 2021, the total number of removals was 126 million, a rise of over 600 percent from 2018. In 2021, Facebook and TikTok each removed around 56 million pieces of such exploitative accounts and content.

Despite being launched relatively recently and not having a significant user base, alternative social media platforms have become targets for hackers. Parler, the platform often associated with conservatives and used as an alternative to Twitter, saw a breach of more than ** terabytes of data in January 2021. Cybersecurity specialists, though, say there was no evidence that the platform was hacked. Instead, the vulnerability was in the platform's architecture, which resulted in the data breach. Another alt-tech platform, Gab, was hacked two months after Parler's incident. Around ** gigabytes of sensitive user data were exposed in this incident. During the Gettr hack in July 2021, third parties got unauthorized access to ** thousand e-mail addresses of users. The BitChute hack that occurred in August 2022 affected nearly three million users.

Social media users were the highest across India as of February 2021 for messaging app Whatsapp, at *** million. YouTube followed during the same time, with Facebook ranking third. The government in the country introduced new rules under its IT-law earlier that year with the aim of social media platforms self-regulating by focusing on stronger guidelines.

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.

During a 2021 survey, over ** percent of responding social media users aged 16 to 34 from the United States had purchased products or services on Instagram. Facebook was the platform named most often, used for purchases by nearly ** percent of respondents. The phenomenon of making purchases via social channels is called social commerce. Estimates suggest there were over ** million U.S. social commerce buyers in 2021.

As of September 2023, Facebook had the largest market share among social media platforms in Africa. The traffic generation capabilities of Facebook in Africa reached **** percent. YouTube was the closest, with a share of *** percent. Overall, Facebook has dominated traffic referrals to other websites on the African continent over the observed period.

During a 2021 survey, ** percent of responding marketers and agency professionals from the United States stated that they were planning to use Instagram for influencer marketing. More specifically, Instagram Stories was named by ** percent and Instagram Reels by ** percent of respondents. TikTok ranked second, mentioned by ** percent of interviewees.

As of 2021, roughly ** percent of the respondents aged 14-22 years old in the Netherlands indicated they actively use WhatsApp, making What's App and Instagram the most used app in this generation in 2021. Since the previous year, TikTok has become increasingly used by this age group, increasing by ** percent compared to 2020.

According to a December 2021 survey among social media users in Brazil, Facebook was the leading social media for political information, with ** percent of the respondents naming the platform as their main source. Also owned by Meta, Instagram and WhatsApp were selected by ** and * percent of the respondents as main source for political knowledge, while the instant messaging and chat-channel app Telegram was the top choice for only *** percent of those interviewed.

A 2021 online survey conducted in the United States found that ** percent of respondents trusted Meta's Facebook the most when it came to their privacy and data on social media, whilst ** percent of users trusted video sharing platform YouTube. Overall, just over one in ** social media users were most trusting of Reddit with their personal data, and **** percent were trusting of social platform Discord.

According to a 2021 survey carried out among consumers in the United States, Facebook and Instagram were the social networks most used to learn about, discover, and buy fashion apparel products in the U.S.. Across the two platforms, slightly over half (** percent) of users said the content they saw on their feeds resulted in a purchase.