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 a 2024 survey among marketers worldwide, approximately ** percent said Facebook was the most important social media platform. Instagram and LinkedIn followed, respectively mentioned by ** and ** percent of respondents. Why marketers use social media as a branding channel According to the same study, the leading benefits of social media marketing were increased exposure and traffic. In other words, mastering a brand's presence on such platforms can make a company's products and services known across multiple demographics as well as generate traffic for its online sales. Marketers' favorite social media platforms That survey also revealed that business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) marketers' top social media can vary. While B2C professionals bet on Facebook and its still massive usage rate, B2B strategists focus on LinkedIn, where companies can see and be seen. However, the social media video platforms in which marketers wanted to invest more were Instagram and YouTube.

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.

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.

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.

In the United States as of December 2024, Facebook had over *** million users, making the plaform the clear market leader in the country. YouTube had over *** million users, and Instagram had ***** million.

During a 2024 global survey among marketing and media leaders, around ** percent reported using X (formerly known as Twitter) for their content marketing efforts; ** percent turned to Facebook. According to the same study, Facebook and Instagram were the social media platforms most used by global marketers for organic content and paid ads.

As of the third quarter of 2024, WhatsApp and Facebook were the most used social media platforms in Mexico, reaching **** percent and **** percent of the country's online audiences. Instagram and TikTok followed, being used by **** percent and **** percent of Mexican internet users each. Messenger was accessed by around ****, while X, Telegram, and Pinterest accounted for smaller shares.

According to a survey conducted in March 2023 in Finland, Facebook was the most popular social media platform, with 73 percent of the online population accessing the service. Instagram was also widely used, with a reach of 67 percent. Jodel, an app that connects people with their local communities, was used by around one in ten internet users in Finland.

In 2024, Facebook was the leading social media platform for news in Thailand, which was used by ** percent of respondents. Other leading platforms for news consumption were YouTube and LINE. LINE, a popular messaging app in Thailand, has also recently created the ‘LINE Today’ section as a news source within the LINE app. Social media as a news source for the younger generation Social media is an efficient way for audiences to access news and share content, especially since it is less regulated than other forms of media in Thailand. Popular social media platforms among Thais such as Facebook and YouTube are the major sites for audiences to join in on live events and exercise freedom of speech. The LINE messaging application is also the main platform for users to share the news. Additionally, Twitter and TikTok are playing an increasingly significant role in shaping how news and sentiment on recent events are discussed, such as the recent youth-led protests in Thailand. The fast and unregulated form of communication on social media, therefore, has cultivated a preference for online news among the younger generation in Thailand. The rise of fake news   The ease of sharing news and stories through social media has also led to an issue of fake news in Thailand. Recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the political movements in the country have led to a proliferation of fake news. The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, has been one of the major causes of the increase in the spread of fake news, especially regarding the information on COVID-19 preventative measures. Since fake news has been rampant in the country, there have been legal restrictions on how content is created and shared in Thailand.

According to a survey of internet users in Great Britain (GB) conducted between July 20 and 23, over half of respondents aged 18 to 24 reported having used Facebook in this period. The same amount of users in the age cohort reported having used TikTok, while 81 percent used YouTube in the examined time. Overall, Facebook was the most popular social media platform across the older demographics, with 72 percent of users aged between 50 and 64 reporting to having engaged with the Meta-powered social media in the examined period. The 2024 general election in the United Kingdom was held on July 4, and saw parties and politicians make ample usage of social media channels in the weeks before the country casted its vote.

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.

When it comes to the most well-known social networks in the United States, YouTube and Facebook are leading the pack with a brand awareness of 96 and 95 percent respectively, among internet users. For this study, brand awareness was surveyed employing the concept of aided brand recognition, showing respondents both the brand's logo and the written brand name.

As of December 2024, ** percent of women in the United States were using Meta's Instagram, compared to ** percent of men. Overall, ************** of women in the U.S. were using Facebook, as were ** percent of men.

As of January 2024, Instagram was slightly more popular with men than women, with men accounting for 50.6 percent of the platform’s global users. Additionally, the social media app was most popular amongst younger audiences, with almost 32 percent of users aged between 18 and 24 years.

              Instagram’s Global Audience

              As of January 2024, Instagram was the fourth most popular social media platform globally, reaching two billion monthly active users (MAU). This number is projected to keep growing with no signs of slowing down, which is not a surprise as the global online social penetration rate across all regions is constantly increasing.
              As of January 2024, the country with the largest Instagram audience was India with 362.9 million users, followed by the United States with 169.7 million users.

              Who is winning over the generations?

              Even though Instagram’s audience is almost twice the size of TikTok’s on a global scale, TikTok has shown itself to be a fierce competitor, particularly amongst younger audiences. TikTok was the most downloaded mobile app globally in 2022, generating 672 million downloads. As of 2022, Generation Z in the United States spent more time on TikTok than on Instagram monthly.

LinkedIn's impressive 17 percent year-over-year audience growth in 2025 highlights the platform's continued improvement in the social media landscape. This surge outpaces other major platforms, with Pinterest following at 10.6 percent and Instagram at 5.5 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.

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.

According to a May 2024 survey, WhatsApp was the most popular social media platform in Mexico. At that time, ** percent of those interviewed said they had an active account on the messaging app. Also owned by Meta Platforms Inc., Facebook and Instagram ranked second and third, being used by ** and ** percent of respondents, respectively.

Social media penetration and demographics Close to ** percent of the Mexican population was expected to be on Facebook by the end of 2023 (slightly below the estimated ***** percent for the United States during the same period). Its popularity in the North American country relies heavily on young internet users: when it comes to the distribution of Mexican Facebook users by age group, more than ** percent were between 18 and 34 years old. All news just a click away According to a February 2022 survey, half of internet users in Mexico used Facebook for news consumption, while YouTube is used by ** percent of the country's online audiences for the same function. This preference was also observed across all age groups: more than a third of the country's news consumers across all demographics turned to the Meta-owned social network to find, read, watch, share, or comment on the news.

YouTube and Facebook have been the two dominant popular social media platforms in Czechia in 2024, both with around ** percent. They were followed by Instagram and Pinterest with ** and ** percent, respectively.

As of January 2025, Facebook accounted for around ** percent of the social media market across Asia. Comparatively, Instagram accounted for about ** percent of the social media market in Asia. Meta Platforms, Inc Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook, Inc., is a global technology conglomerate that owns a vast social media portfolio, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Facebook remains one of the world’s most popular social networks, connecting users for sharing content and building communities. Instagram focuses on photo and video sharing, including features like Stories and Reels. In 2024, Meta’s annual revenue reached ***** billion U.S. dollars, with most of its revenue coming from advertising. Meta generated approximately *** billion U.S. dollars in revenue from advertisements in that year. Meta’s market revenue and user base in APAC In 2024, Meta’s revenue from the Asia-Pacific region amounted to nearly ** billion U.S. dollars. The growing mobile-first internet user base in Asia continues to drive engagement on Meta's platforms, solidifying its dominance in the region. Asian countries such as India and Indonesia have some of the highest numbers of Facebook users globally. India also leads globally in Instagram users, reflecting the region's significant contribution to Meta's success.