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.

Which countries spent the most and least time on social media?

Global ad spend were expected to reach over $134 billion in 2022. This means that it has increased by over 17% yearly.

Despite a tumultuous 2018, Facebook is still the top social network in the United States, with 169.76 million mobile users accessing the Facebook app in September 2019. The company’s other properties Instagram and Facebook Messenger ranked second and third with 121 and 106 million users respectively. Cambridge Analytica scandal 2018 The biggest social media company in the world had a difficult 2018. The platform has long been accused of enabling the spread of fake news during the 2016 election and beyond. One of the first and biggest negative Facebook stories of 2018 was the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which unfolded from March 2018. The Guardian, The Observer, and The New York Times simultaneously reported on political data firm Cambridge Analytica harvesting data of millions of Facebook users worldwide without their knowledge before the 2016 election, which led to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg having to testify before Congress in April 2018. Facebook usage behavior changes Due to the revelations about Facebook and the company’s treatment of private user data, many U.S. users are planning to use the social network much less and to be much more careful about what they post . During an April 2018 survey, only 20 percent of respondents stated that their Facebook usage has not changed, and they were planning on continuing to use the social platform as much as they always had in the past.

I’ve compiled a list of the latest social media user statistics showing just how big social media has become and where it’s likely to go in the future.

In September 2022, TikTok was the most downloaded social media app for Android users worldwide, with almost ** million downloads in the examined month. Social and photo sharing app Instagram ranked second, generating over ** million downloads from global users, while social media giant Facebook ranked third with approximately ***** downloads on the Google Play Store.

According to recent industry measurements, users in Brazil generated more than 5.6 million downloads of the video-sharing platform TikTok during June 2023. Indonesia ranked second, with almost five million downloads generated during the examined period. TikTok, which is the international version of the Chinese app Douyin, experienced spectacular growth in popularity in recent years.

TikTok: global popularity TikTok, which reached the milestone of one billion active users at the end of September 2021, still ranks among the most popular social media platforms worldwide as of January 2023. In 2022, TikTok users worldwide spent an impressive average of approximately 23.3 hours per month on the platform, highlighting the app's popularity and high engagement. In 2023, TikTok's global popularity in social media is still on the rise, with a worldwide penetration rate of 19.4 percent.

TikTok: revenue growth The social video app, which generates revenues via advertising and in-app purchases from users, saw in-app revenues of almost 500 million U.S. dollars worldwide in the first quarter of 2023. The global net advertising revenue generated by TikTok is expected to reach 18.5 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2024. Additionally, the net advertising revenue of TikTok in the United States is expected to further increase, reaching an estimated 11 billion U.S. dollars in 2024.

These are the key social media statistics that you need to know.

56.8% of the world’s total population is active on social media.

As of the third quarter of 2024, internet users in South Africa spent more than **** hours and ** minutes online per day, ranking first among the regions worldwide. Brazil followed, with roughly **** hours of daily online usage. As of the examined period, Japan registered the lowest number of daily hours spent online, with users in the country spending an average of over **** hours per day using the internet. The data includes the daily time spent online on any device. Social media usage In recent years, social media has become integral to internet users' daily lives, with users spending an average of *** minutes daily on social media activities. In April 2024, global social network penetration reached **** percent, highlighting its widespread adoption. Among the various platforms, YouTube stands out, with over *** billion monthly active users, making it one of the most popular social media platforms. YouTube’s global popularity In 2023, the keyword "YouTube" ranked among the most popular search queries on Google, highlighting the platform's immense popularity. YouTube generated most of its traffic through mobile devices, with about 98 billion visits. This popularity was particularly evident in the United Arab Emirates, where YouTube penetration reached approximately **** percent, the highest in the world.

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.

In 2024, Threads was the most downloaded app on iOS worldwide. The text-based conversation app gained more than 156 million downloads worldwide during the examined year. WhatsApp Messenger ranked second with approximately 107.58 million downloads globally during the examined period. Email app by Google, Gmail, followed closely with 99.26 million downloads on iOS from global users.

Cristiano Ronaldo has *** of the most popular Instagram accounts as of June 2025. The Portuguese footballer is the most-followed person on the photo sharing app platform with *** million followers. Instagram's own account was ranked first with roughly *** million followers. How popular is Instagram? Instagram is a photo-sharing social networking service that enables users to take pictures and edit them with filters. The platform allows users to post and share their images online and directly with their friends and followers on the social network. The cross-platform app reached *** billion monthly active users in mid-2018. In 2020, there were over *** million Instagram users in the United States and experts project this figure to surpass *** million users in 2023. Who uses Instagram? Instagram audiences are predominantly young – recent data states that almost ** percent of U.S. Instagram users are aged 34 years or younger. Fall 2020 data reveals that Instagram is also one of the most popular social media for teens and one of the social networks with the biggest reach among teens in the United States. Celebrity influencers on Instagram Many celebrities and athletes are brand spokespeople and generate additional income with social media advertising and sponsored content. Unsurprisingly, Ronaldo ranked first again, as the average media value of one of his Instagram posts was ******* U.S. dollars.

TikTok comes in 6th position in a list of the world’s most-used social media sites today.

As of January 2025, TikTok creator and comedian Khabane Lame was the most followed content creator on the platform. Lame, who is based in Italy, reached 162.4 million subscribers. Influencer Charlie D'Amelio followed closely in second position with 155.8 million followers. Jimmy Donaldson - operating on YouTube as MrBeast, ranked third, with a total of 107.8 million followers.

TikTok global users Popular video-sharing platform TikTok has gained immense popularity globally. As of April 2024, TikTok had over one billion monthly active users, making it one of the most widely used social media platforms worldwide. Around 45 percent of the total user base on TikTok were women, while approximately 54 percent of the popular social video platform users were men. In addition, TikTok has become a go-to platform for young people. As of July 2024, most of TikTok's global user base consisted of younger age groups, with 18.9 percent of TikTok's users being men aged between 18 and 24 years. TikTok usage and audience Since its launch in 2016, TikTok’s audience has increased significantly. As of July 2024, Indonesia and the United States were the countries with the largest TikTok audiences. Indonesia led with 157.6 million users, followed by the United States with 120.5 million users. The app has managed to catch users’ attention and keep its base entertained. So much so that, as of the second quarter of 2022, global users were spending around 95 minutes daily on TikTok, making it the most engaging among social media apps. Additionally, TikTok has quickly become one of the most popular platforms across different app stores. In September 2022, the video app had almost 24 million downloads on Google Play Store, making it the most downloaded app for Android users worldwide. In contrast, TikTok was the fifth most downloaded app on Apple App Store, with approximately 4.12 million global users downloads in June 2023.

Facebook is fast approaching 3 billion monthly active users. That’s about 36% of the world’s entire population that log in and use Facebook at least once a month.

The complete Social Media Networks websites ranking list: Click here for free access to the top Social Media Networks websites in the world, ranked by traffic and engagement

In a 2024 survey, nearly ********* (** percent) of global consumers rated Facebook as the social media platform delivering the best experience for social commerce. Instagram ranked second, with ** percent, followed by TikTok at ***** percent.

Social media addiction statistics show that over 210 million people worldwide suffer from social media addiction.