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.

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.

The number of Instagram users in the United Kingdom was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2028 by in total 2.1 million users (+7.02 percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the Instagram user base is estimated to reach 32 million users and therefore a new peak in 2028. Notably, the number of Instagram users of was continuously increasing over the past years.User figures, shown here with regards to the platform instagram, have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period and count multiple accounts by persons only once.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

91 percent of adults in the United Kingdom (UK) between the ages of 35 to 44 had their own social network profile as of 2020, according to Ofcom. While those aged between 65 and 74 years or older are the least likely to have their own profile, the share of people in that age group on social media increased from 35 percent in 2015, to 59 percent in 2020.

Is Facebook losing younger users?

Just as the monthly number of Facebook visitors aged 55 years or older grew by 2.4 million from March 2016 to 2018, there were 400,000 fewer visitors aged from 18 to 34 years old. Instagram attracted approximately 1.7 million additional users in the same age range, while Snapchat attracted an additional 5.4 million visitors aged 18 to 24.

Age and gender profile of Facebook users

As of 2021, the number of female Facebook users in the UK is higher than the number of male Facebook users across all age ranges. Those aged 25 to 34 years make up the largest group, at over 12 percent.

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

The number of LinkedIn users in the United Kingdom was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2028 by in total 1.5 million users (+4.51 percent). After the eighth consecutive increasing year, the LinkedIn user base is estimated to reach 34.7 million users and therefore a new peak in 2028. User figures, shown here with regards to the platform LinkedIn, have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period and count multiple accounts by persons only once.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

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

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

The number of Pinterest users in the United Kingdom was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2028 by in total 0.3 million users (+3.14 percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the Pinterest user base is estimated to reach 9.88 million users and therefore a new peak in 2028. Notably, the number of Pinterest users of was continuously increasing over the past years.User figures, shown here regarding the platform pinterest, have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period and count multiple accounts by persons only once.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

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

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

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

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

The statistic illustrates findings of a survey among the residents aged 56 and older regarding the use of social media in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2020. During the survey period, it was found that 72 percent of respondents that go online were Facebook users.

This paper specifies, designs and critically evaluates two tools for the automated identification of demographic data (age, occupation and social class) from the profile descriptions of Twitter users in the United Kingdom (UK). Meta-data data routinely collected through the Collaborative Social Media Observatory (COSMOS: http://www.cosmosproject.net/) relating to UK Twitter users is matched with the occupational lookup tables between job and social class provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) using SOC2010. Using expert human validation, the validity and reliability of the automated matching process is critically assessed and a prospective class distribution of UK Twitter users is offered with 2011 Census baseline comparisons. The pattern matching rules for identifying age are explained and enacted following a discussion on how to minimise false positives. The age distribution of Twitter users, as identified using the tool, is presented alongside the age distribution of the UK population from the 2011 Census. The automated occupation detection tool reliably identifies certain occupational groups, such as professionals, for which job titles cannot be confused with hobbies or are used in common parlance within alternative contexts. An alternative explanation on the prevalence of hobbies is that the creative sector is overrepresented on Twitter compared to 2011 Census data. The age detection tool illustrates the youthfulness of Twitter users compared to the general UK population as of the 2011 Census according to proportions, but projections demonstrate that there is still potentially a large number of older platform users. It is possible to detect “signatures” of both occupation and age from Twitter meta-data with varying degrees of accuracy (particularly dependent on occupational groups) but further confirmatory work is needed.

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.

In 2019, the Indian and White ethnic groups had the lowest percentage of recent internet users (90.4% and 90.5%). The Chinese group had the highest (98.6%).

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.

Over 210 million people worldwide suffer from social media addiction.

In 2008, the average human attention span was 12 seconds. Fast forward to 2025, and many studies suggest it's now hovering around 8 seconds, shorter than that of a goldfish. It’s no coincidence that during this same period, social media platforms surged to dominate how we consume content. Whether you're...