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.

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.

This statistic shows a ranking of the most used social networks by companies in France in 2018 and 2021. In 2018, 91 percent of companies used Facebook compared to 57 percent in 2021. In 2021, most companies (61 percent) used Instagram.

As of November 2021, Facebook had around 180 million users in the United States, maintaining its status as the most used social network, followed by Instagram with over 126 thousand users. TikTok, particularly popular with younger audiences ranked third, followed by image-based Pinterest. Social news aggregation and web content discussion website Reddit had an audience size of over 45 million in the U.S.

In 2021, there were 1.21 billion monthly active users of Meta's Instagram, making up over 28 percent of the world's internet users. By 2025, it has been forecast that there will be 1.44 billion monthly active users of the social media platform, which would account for 31.2 percent of global internet users.

How popular is Instagram?

Instagram, as of January 2022, was the fourth most popular social media platform in the world in terms of user numbers. YouTube and WhatsApp ranked in second and third place, respectively, whilst Facebook remained the most popular, with almost three billion monthly active users worldwide.

India had the largest number of Instagram users as of January 2022, with a total of over 230 million users in the country. The second-largest Instagram audience could be found in the United States, with almost 160 million people subscribing to the photo and video sharing app.

Gen Z and Instagram

As of September 2021, Gen Z users in the United States spent an average of five hours per week on Instagram. Although Instagram ranked third in terms of hours per week spent on the platform, Gen Z users spent considerably more time on TikTok, amounting to a weekly average of over 10 hours being spent on the mobile-first video app.

Most followed accounts on Instagram

As of May 2022, Instagram’s own account had 504.37 million followers. In terms of celebrities, Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (@chistiano) had over 440.41 million followers on the social network. Moreover, the average media value of an Instagram post by Ronaldo was over 985,000 U.S. dollars.

The most liked post on Instagram as of May 2022 was Photo of an Egg, which was posted in 2019 by the account @world_record_egg. Photo of an Egg has not only exceeded 55 million likes on the platform, but it also has nearly 3.5 million comments, and the account itself has over 4.5 million Instagram followers. After mysterious posts published by the account, World Record Egg revealed itself as part of a mental health campaign aimed at the difficulties and demands of using social media.

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.

In 2021, global social media advertising spending stood at around *** billion U.S. dollars. The source projected that this figure would more than double and exceed an all-time high of *** billion by 2028. Where to advertise in a sea of social media platforms? While there are many regional differences when it comes to social media usage and accessibility, some platforms reign supreme among users and advertisers alike. As of 2022, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram were the most popular social networks worldwide. Thanks to their massive audiences, these Meta-owned properties also ranked among the leading social media platforms for marketers. What makes advertising via these channels so appealing is not only the prospect of boosting brand awareness and generating leads but also the possibility to strengthen brands’ relationships with consumers via direct communication. Spotlight on influencer marketing In addition to posting photos and videos on their social media accounts and interacting with followers, companies can also enlist the help of content creators to drive visibility and potentially unlock new audiences. Over the past few years, the global influencer marketing market value has expanded rapidly and is now sized at an estimated **** billion U.S. dollars. Instagram remains the primary playground for this creator-driven form of online marketing, though apps like TikTok are also becoming more appealing to brands from around the world.

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.

In 2021, Facebook was the social network with higher penetration rate, as it counted 36 million users in Italy. As of March 2021, Instagram followed with 28.8 million users and the professional social network LinkedIn ranked third with 20.7 million users.

In 2022, Instagram was the world's leading social media app, with *** million downloads WhatsApp ranked second with *** million downloads, while Telegram surpassed the remaining mobile versions of Meta-owned social media platforms Facebook and Messenger. Newcomer BeReal, a photo-sharing social media app launched in 2020, entered the ranking in tenth position with over ** million global downloads during the examined year.

A March 2021 survey of Canadian online users found that Facebook still remained the most popular social network in Canada with 70 percent usage reach. Facebook Messenger was ranked second with 62 percent of survey respondents stating that they had ever used the service.

In 2022, Instagram was the most popular social media platform among Asian influencers, with more than ** percent of influencers in the region using the platform. YouTube ranked second, after having been the most popular platform among influencers in Asia in 2020 and 2021.

How many people use Instagram?

Instagram is a social media app which focuses on photo and video sharing. It is owned by Facebook, which recently rebranded as Meta, in a move towards the metaverse. As of December 2021, Instagram reached a new milestone of 2 billion active users worldwide. The platform previously reached 1 billion users in June 2018.

Users aged 25 to 34 years made up the biggest Instagram user group by age worldwide, followed by 18 to 24 year olds. Overall, men accounted for 51.6 percent of global Instagram users.

Most popular Instagram accounts and content

Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo was the most followed person on Instagram as of 2021, with approximately 315 million followers. Ranked in second and third position were the Rock and Ariana Grande, both having over 250 million followers each.

It’s not only athletes and actors who drive the views on Instagram though. Instagram has long since become a medium for people and communities to spread their messages, and in the past two years, social activists and educators have used Instagram for their movements. Political and educational accounts generate high engagement rates with their content. Posts from political accounts receive an average engagement rate of 2.74 percent and educational posts receive an average of 2.56 percent.

Social media usage worldwide

There are 3.4 billion social media users worldwide and this is expected to increase to 4.41 billion by 2025. Instagram is most popular in India with a total of 201.1 million users, followed by the U.S. with 157.1 million and Brazil with 114.9 million active users. Instagram is the fourth most popular social media site in the world, after Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp, respectively.

As of October 2021, Brunei was the country with the highest Instagram audience reach with 92 percent of the population using the platform. This was followed by Guam with 79.2 percent and the Cayman Islands with 78.8 percent audience reach.

As of October 2021, Facebook had almost 3 billion users worldwide. The penetration rate for Facebook in the United States in 2021 was 70.59 percent and it is expected to reach 76.87 percent by 2026.

In a fall 2023 survey, it was found that TikTok was the most important social network for 38 percent of U.S. teens. Snapchat ranked second, with 28 percent of teenagers in the United States stating it to be their favorite, ahead of Instagram. Teens and the internet in the United States It is no secret that the young really know what’s what when it comes to new technologies these days. Especially those born in the internet era and who only know of analog telephones and cameras from stories of their elders seem to be constantly online and always following the latest tech trends. In fact, a recent survey shows that some 92 percent of American teens accessed the internet on a daily basis, where 56 claim to connect several times a day, and 24 percent are connected almost constantly to the internet. Furthermore, the move from desktop computers to mobile devices insured that teenagers would be some of the most fervent users of mobile internet, anytime, anywhere.

As of February 2025, India had a total of 413.85 million Instagram users, the largest Instagram audience in the world. The United States had 171.7 million users, and Brazil had 140.7 million. Indonesia, Turkey, and Japan ranked in fourth, fifth and sixth position, respectively. Kazakhstan is the leading country for Instagram audience reach, with 86.2 percent of the population using the social media service. Turkey came in second, with a penetration rate of 85.5 percent and Uruguay ranked third, with 87.1 percent, followed closely by the UAE, Brazil, and Bahrain. It took Instagram 11.2 years to reach the milestone of 2 billion monthly active users worldwide. WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, took 11 years, whilst Facebook took 13.3 years and YouTube took just over 14 years. Instagram’s demographics in the United States As of March 2025, Instagram was the fourth most visited social media service in the United States, after Facebook, Pinterest and X. Out of TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, TikTok was the most used of all three platforms by Generation Z. Overall, 57 percent of Gen Z social media users used Instagram in 2021, down from 61 percent in 2020 and 64 percent in 2019. Instagram finds most popularity with those in the 25 to 34 year age group, and as of January 2025, roughly 28.3 of all users in the United States belonged to this age group. The social media app was also more likely to be used by women. Most followed accounts on Instagram Instagram’s official account had the most followers as of April 2024 with over 672 million followers. Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) had over 628 million followers on the platform, while the Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi (@leomessi) had over 502 million followers. The Instagram accounts of the American singer and actress Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) and the media personality and makeup mogul Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner) had over 400 million followers each.

This statistic displays the ranking of the most used social networks among French aged between 16 and 25 years old in 2021. It appears that ** percent of the respondents declared using Facebook, while Instagram was used by ** percent and Snapchat by ** percent of French aged between 16 and 25 years old.

An analysis of over 1,800 influencer campaigns showed that Instagram was the most popular platform for such purposes. It was incorporated into 94 percent of analyzed campaigns. Facebook ranked second, used by 43 percent of campaigns.

More than three-quarters of the Russian online population aged 16 years and older used the Telegram messenger, thus making it the most-used social media platform among those listed in the ranking. WhatsApp ranked second, with a penetration rate of nearly 74 percent, followed by VK and TikTok. Social media usage in Russia In 2024, the daily time spent on social media in Russia was recorded at roughly two hours and 20 minutes per user on average. After Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) were blocked in Russia at the end of February and the beginning of March 2022, a significant increase in activity was recorded on VK and Telegram. For example, the daily audience on VK increased by almost nine percent, while the number of friends requests and feed views grew by 250 percent and 25 percent, respectively. YouTube From the global perspective, YouTube ranked second after Facebook, which remained the leading social media platform with about three billion active users. The U.S.-based channel MrBeast had the highest number of subscribers on YouTube with around 343 million as of January 2025. India-based T-Series followed with 284 million subscribers as of that month.

WhatsApp was the leading actively used messenger service in Germany in 2021. Almost 84 percent of users confirmed this. While WhatsApp is foremost a messaging service, certain features indicate similarities with social media networks, as sharing and posting between users still occurs, just not necessarily on a publicly accessible website. Delivering the message For most of the population, modern life is unimaginable without messenger apps. Texting has become much more varied as a form of communication thanks to extended file and content sharing options within messages. There is no doubt that WhatsApp is a popular messaging app in Germany. In 2023, almost 85 percent of people were messaging on WhatsApp every day. By 2025, it is estimated that over 53 million people will be using WhatsApp in Germany, suggesting it's popularity as a messaging app will not diminish with time. Personal data While Facebook is extremely popular in many different countries, long-term questions and concerns from users continue to arise, with personal data security being one of the leading topics of discussion. In general, the there have been many breaches of personal data online. At the same time, social media continues to enjoy rising popularity and use among the German population, both in a private and professional context.

In March 2025 in Norway, Facebook was the most visited social media platform, accounting for ***** percent of the market share. Pinterest ranked second, making up more than ***** percent of social network visits. Meta's Instagram followed, with *** percent of social media visits in Norway.  Social media users over the years  Overall, the share of individuals who participated in social networks increased significantly over the years. Starting at under ** percent of individuals in 2011, the share of social media users peaked in 2023, when ***** percent of the interviewed Norwegians reported to be using social networks. In 2022, the percentage was ***** percent.  Compared to the other Nordic countries, Norway ranked third by number of social media users in 2024, with **** million users that year. Sweden was the Nordic country with most social media users – **** million. Denmark was second and Finland was fourth in the ranking.