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 2025, 5.56 billion individuals worldwide were internet users, which amounted to 67.9 percent of the global population. Of this total, 5.24 billion, or 63.9 percent of the world's population, were social media users. Global internet usage Connecting billions of people worldwide, the internet is a core pillar of the modern information society. Northern Europe ranked first among worldwide regions by the share of the population using the internet in 20254. In The Netherlands, Norway and Saudi Arabia, 99 percent of the population used the internet as of February 2025. North Korea was at the opposite end of the spectrum, with virtually no internet usage penetration among the general population, ranking last worldwide. Eastern Asia was home to the largest number of online users worldwide – over 1.34 billion at the latest count. Southern Asia ranked second, with around 1.2 billion internet users. China, India, and the United States rank ahead of other countries worldwide by the number of internet users. Worldwide internet user demographics As of 2024, the share of female internet users worldwide was 65 percent, five percent less than that of men. Gender disparity in internet usage was bigger in African countries, with around a ten percent difference. Worldwide regions, like the Commonwealth of Independent States and Europe, showed a smaller usage gap between these two genders. As of 2024, global internet usage was higher among individuals between 15 and 24 years old across all regions, with young people in Europe representing the most significant usage penetration, 98 percent. In comparison, the worldwide average for the age group 15–24 years was 79 percent. The income level of the countries was also an essential factor for internet access, as 93 percent of the population of the countries with high income reportedly used the internet, as opposed to only 27 percent of the low-income markets.

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

The results might surprise you when looking at internet users that are active on social media in each country.

Gen Z and Millennials are the biggest social media users of all age groups.

Facebook and YouTube are still the most used social media platforms today.

Regional use of social media has a significant effect on the male and female social media statistics.

Today the average time spent on social media is 2 hours and 24 minutes today for people aged 16 to 64.

In this post, I'll give you all the social media addiction statistics you need to be aware of to moderate your social media use.

How much time do people spend on social media? As of 2025, the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 141 minutes per day, down from 143 minutes in the previous year. Currently, the country with the most time spent on social media per day is Brazil, with online users spending an average of 3 hours and 49 minutes on social media each day. In comparison, the daily time spent with social media in the U.S. was just 2 hours and 16 minutes. Global social media usageCurrently, the global social network penetration rate is 62.3 percent. Northern Europe had an 81.7 percent social media penetration rate, topping the ranking of global social media usage by region. Eastern and Middle Africa closed the ranking with 10.1 and 9.6 percent usage reach, respectively. People access social media for a variety of reasons. Users like to find funny or entertaining content and enjoy sharing photos and videos with friends, but mainly use social media to stay in touch with current events friends. Global impact of social mediaSocial media has a wide-reaching and significant impact on not only online activities but also offline behavior and life in general. During a global online user survey in February 2019, a significant share of respondents stated that social media had increased their access to information, ease of communication, and freedom of expression. On the flip side, respondents also felt that social media had worsened their personal privacy, increased a polarization in politics and heightened everyday distractions.

The average person has 8-9 social media accounts. This has doubled since 2013, when the average person just had 4-5 accounts.

The results of which gender uses which platforms are in.

As of the first quarter of 2025, photo and video sharing app Snapchat had 460 million daily active users worldwide, up from 460 million global DAU in the fourth quarter of 2024. The app has seen steady increases in daily active users since the beginning of 2019. Snapchat is relevant for teenagers Originally launched in 2011, Snapchat has become one of the most popular social messaging and photo sharing apps worldwide; making its CEO and co-founder Evan Spiegel one of the world’s richest social media entrepreneurs. With almost 800 million active users as of April 2024, Snapchat easily ranks among the most popular social networks worldwide. According to U.S. teenagers in fall 2023, Snapchat is the second most important social network of their generation, ahead of photo sharing competitor Instagram and other networks such as Twitter or Facebook. Overall, 48 percent of U.S. internet users aged 15 to 25 years were reportedly using Snapchat, the highest usage reach among any age group. When it comes to user satisfaction with social media, Snapchat’s performance is fair to middling. According to recent survey data, the social app scored 72 out of 100 points on a consumer satisfaction scale, ranking ahead of Twitter and Facebook but behind Pinterest and eternal rival Instagram.

As of February 2025, video apps accounted for around 76 percent of global mobile data usage every month. Second-ranked social networking accounted for eight percent of global mobile data volume. The two categories, though, can easily overlap, as users can watch videos via video applications, as well as on social networking applications. Most popular social media platforms with video content Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram were among the most popular social networks in the world, as of October 2021. Each of these platforms allow to post, share, and watch video content on a mobile device. One of the fastest growing global brands, Tiktok, is also a social media platform where users can share video content. In September 2021, the platform reached 1 billion monthly active users. Leading types of mobile video content in the U.S. The United States was the third country in the world based on the number of smartphone users as of May 2021, with around 270 million users. Therefore, mobile content usage in the country was one of the highest in the world, and a big part of it was video content. As of the third quarter of 2021, more than 80 percent of survey respondents in the United States reported watching YouTube on their mobile devices. Social media videos were the second most popular type of content for mobile audiences, with almost six in 10 respondents watching videos on social media platforms like TikTok and Twitter.

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.

There are over 2 billion registered users on Instagram in 2025.

Over 210 million people worldwide suffer from social media addiction.

Teenagers are the 2nd largest group of people affected by social media addiction. Teens ages 13 to 18 years old spend a significant amount of their free time on social media with an average of 3 hours a day.

There are currently over 1.5 billion active users on TikTok worldwide.

During a global 2025 survey among marketers and industry leaders, 14.4 percent of respondents stated they invested 10 to 15 percent of their marketing budget into influencer marketing. Nearly 12 percent of respondents devoted more than 50 percent to this type of digital marketing activity. The state of influencer marketing As social platform users continue to rise in recent years, influencer marketing has become an essential format of digital campaigns. Marketers have used this channel to increase brand awareness. Influencer marketing's value worldwide was estimated at over 24 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, compared to nearly 10 billion in 2020. Furthermore, the global influencer marketing platform market size amounted to 15.2 billion dollars in 2022 and was projected to surpass 22 billion dollars in 2025. The epicenter of influencer marketing: Instagram In the spring of 2024, Instagram ranked third among the biggest social media platforms, with roughly two billion monthly active users. With such an impressive user base, the Meta-owned social network proves to be the perfect spot for creators and marketers alike.