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.

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 September 2024, 46 percent of social media users in the United Kingdom were aged between 30 to 49 years. Overall, one-quarter of social network users in the UK were aged 18 to 29 years. Over 20 percent of social media users in the UK stated that Facebook was their favorite social media platform.

In February 2024, adults in the United States aged between 18 and 24, spent 186 minutes per day engaging with social media platforms. In comparison, respondents aged 65 and older dedicated approximately 102 minutes of their day to social media. TikTok was the most engaging social media platform for U.S. consumers aged between 18 and 24 years. The popular video was also the most engaging among users aged 35 and 54 years, commanding between 45 and 50 minutes of users' daily attention. Respondents aged between 55 and 65, reported to spending between 45 minutes daily on Facebook.

Social media usage in the United Kingdom reveals a diverse landscape across age groups, with the ***** bracket leading at ** percent of users in 2024. Surprisingly, the ***** age group accounted for ** percent, challenging the notion that social networks are primarily for younger users. This distribution highlights the widespread adoption of social platforms among various demographics, reflecting the evolving digital habits of UK adults. Younger users drive emerging platform adoption While established networks like Facebook maintain a strong presence, younger users are increasingly drawn to newer platforms. TikTok, for instance, has gained significant traction among the ***** age group, with over a quarter of UK smartphone users in this bracket using the app. Advertising trust varies across age groups and mediums The effectiveness of social media advertising differs across age groups, with trust playing a crucial role. Among consumers aged *****, ** percent reported not buying products promoted by influencers, indicating a potential shift in how younger audiences perceive and respond to social media marketing.

A survey conducted in January 2022 revealed that 18 to 25-year-olds constituted the largest share of social media users in India, with ** percent using six to nine social media platforms at a time. Contrariwise, nearly *********** of the respondents aged 56 and above claimed to not having used social media platforms. The source noticed that people residing in urban areas were using more social media platforms than those in rural areas.

In March 2024, WhatsApp was the most used social media and communication app among all internet users in Italy, with almost 84.3 percent of respondents reporting engaging with the platform. Users aged between 14 and 29 presented a higher usage rate than the average country's digital population in all examined platforms, social media, and mobile apps. WhatsApp and YouTube were the most popular platforms for digital users aged between 14 and 29, while social audio platform Clubhouse was used by approximately three percent of young internet users in Italy.

As of April 2024, almost 32 percent of global Instagram audiences were aged between 18 and 24 years, and 30.6 percent of users were aged between 25 and 34 years. Overall, 16 percent of users belonged to the 35 to 44 year age group.

              Instagram users

              With roughly one billion monthly active users, Instagram belongs to the most popular social networks worldwide. The social photo sharing app is especially popular in India and in the United States, which have respectively 362.9 million and 169.7 million Instagram users each.

              Instagram features

              One of the most popular features of Instagram is Stories. Users can post photos and videos to their Stories stream and the content is live for others to view for 24 hours before it disappears. In January 2019, the company reported that there were 500 million daily active Instagram Stories users. Instagram Stories directly competes with Snapchat, another photo sharing app that initially became famous due to it’s “vanishing photos” feature.
              As of the second quarter of 2021, Snapchat had 293 million daily active users.

According to a survey of internet users conducted in June 2023 in the United Kingdom, 77 percent of users aged between 25 and 44 years reported using Facebook at least monthly, while over 85 percent of users in the same age reported using YouTube monthly. Overall, 74 percent of social media users aged between 13 and 17 years reported engaging with TikTok, while 90 percent reported engaging with YouTube, while Instagram was used by 53 percent of respondents in the same demographic.

During December 2024, social media users aged 18 to 24 and 25 to 35 years old comprised the biggest user groups of Instagram in Portugal. At the same time, the age groups of 25 to 34, 35 to 44, and 45 to 54 years old made up the biggest user groups of Facebook and Messenger. Facebook registered its highest use among people aged 25 to 34 years old, at 23 percent. Instagram registered 27 percent of users within the age group of 25 to 34 years old. The highest age group among Messenger users was 25 to 34 years old, at ** percent.

In 2023, Finns in all age groups used Facebook the most for reading, watching, sharing or discussing news. Almost ** percent of respondents aged 18 to 24 years used Facebook for following the news in Finland. In general, social media services were more popular among younger age groups. Other commonly used social media platforms included WhatsApp, followed by YouTube, and Twitter.

According to a 2023 survey, ** percent of users of social media platform users in Brazil were Millennials. Among these platforms, Tumblr and Twitch had the youngest audiences, as with ** percent and ** percent of each app were from Generation Z. Meanwhile, Reddit and Snapchat were more popular among Millennial users than the average of other researched networks.

As of April 2024, around 16.5 percent of global active Instagram users were men between the ages of 18 and 24 years. More than half of the global Instagram population worldwide was aged 34 years or younger.

              Teens and social media

              As one of the biggest social networks worldwide, Instagram is especially popular with teenagers. As of fall 2020, the photo-sharing app ranked third in terms of preferred social network among teenagers in the United States, second to Snapchat and TikTok. Instagram was one of the most influential advertising channels among female Gen Z users when making purchasing decisions. Teens report feeling more confident, popular, and better about themselves when using social media, and less lonely, depressed and anxious.
              Social media can have negative effects on teens, which is also much more pronounced on those with low emotional well-being. It was found that 35 percent of teenagers with low social-emotional well-being reported to have experienced cyber bullying when using social media, while in comparison only five percent of teenagers with high social-emotional well-being stated the same. As such, social media can have a big impact on already fragile states of mind.

In 2018, ** percent of respondents in Germany aged between 18 to 29 years used Facebook. This graph depicts the share of respondents using the best-known social media platforms in Germany in 2018, by age group.

During the third quarter of 2020, it was found that Facebook was accessed by 78 percent of U.S. internet users aged 26 to 35 years. Overall, YouTube was the most popular social platform across all age groups.

A survey conducted in August 2022 among gamers in the United States found that approximately 56 percent of respondents aged between 16 and 29 years used YouTube to consume content related to gaming or engage in video gaming activities. Discord was the second most popular social media platform among users in this demographic, followed by the social video platform TikTok. In comparison, Facebook was the most popular social media platform in relation to gaming among users aged between 30 and 49 years, with 65 percent of respondents reporting using the platform for gaming-related activities and content consumption.

According to a survey conducted in the United States in December 2022, ** percent of respondents aged 13 to 24 years had used YouTube in the past 7 days, whilst ** percent of those aged 35 and older had. **** of respondents over the age of ** had used Facebook in the previous week. Following YouTube, Instagram and TikTok were the most popular platforms among younger U.S. consumers, with approximately ** percent of respondents aged 13 to 34 years having used these platforms in the previous 7 days.

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.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in 2023, around 96 percent of respondents aged between 18 and 24 years old stated that they were using social media. The share of social media users increased across most age groups compared to the previous year. Facebook and Instagram While domestic social media networks like Kakao Story or Naver Band enjoy wide popularity in South Korea, Instagram was the most frequently used social media in South Korea, overtaking Facebook. As of March 2024, Instagram had around 23.9 million users, while Facebook had about 27.4 million users in South Korea alone. Nevertheless, the popularity of Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, is undeniable, especially among younger generations. While the number of Facebook users is decreasing, the number of Instagram users is increasing. Social media usageThe majority of users were using social media for its original purpose: socializing. It was also popular to check posts or contents created by other users of the same social media platform. A 2024 survey found that 55 percent of respondents aged 25 to 34 years stated that they used social media to read news. While the platform of choice differed, YouTube was the most common social media platform used for news.

As of February 2024, over a third of online users worldwide were aged between 25 and 34 years. Website visitors in this age bracket constituted the biggest group of online users worldwide. Also, 19 percent of global online users were aged 18 to 24 years. The global digital population aged 65 or older represented approximately 4.2 percent of all internet users worldwide. Social media usage and Meta Social media is a major driver of internet use, with a global penetration rate of 62.2 percent. On average, internet users spend 143 minutes per day on social media, highlighting its significant impact on daily online activities. The usage of social media is mostly dominated by Meta platforms, which own four of the largest social media platforms. Facebook leads the ranking with over three billion active users, followed by Instagram and WhatsApp. Instagram's global popularity Meta’s social video platform, Instagram, had long been one of the most engaging social media platforms worldwide, and it was projected to reach 1.44 billion monthly active users. Instagram was particularly favored by users aged 18 to 34, thanks to its ability to offer a variety of interactive content, from images and carousels. This diverse range of content types was a key factor in its popularity among its young user base.