Growing digitalization efforts combined with low data prices enabled a significant number of people to use the internet actively across India. Of these, about *** million were active social media users. WhatsApp and Instagram accounted for the largest penetration, at over ** percent and over nearly ** percent respectively in the third quarter of 2024. The rise of Facebook in India  Hyderabad became the first Asian Facebook office registered under “Facebook India Online Services Private Limited” in 2010. The steady growth of the social network did not come without controversies. One of the most opposed collaborations that Facebook founded was internet.org, especially in India. The partnership with Reliance communications in 2015 caused controversy and was banned later that year. In recent years, the rise of fake news and its impact on politics has brought responsibility and content moderation to the forefront.   YouTube – the video-sharing social platform counterpart  YouTube was largely inspired by two events according to one of its founders – one of which was the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The idea was the make sharing and finding videos easily available. YouTube consumption in India sky-rocketed with the Indian Premier League match streaming in 2010 with over *** billion views per day. Of course, this doubled with each season of the IPL thereafter. Furthermore, music videos were highly popular in the country. The evidence lies in the subscription growth of the music record label T-Series’ YouTube channel.

The number of Instagram users in India was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2028 by in total 46.1 million users (+13.89 percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the Instagram user base is estimated to reach 377.99 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).Find more key insights for the number of Instagram users in countries like Pakistan and Nepal.

Which county has the most Facebook users? There are more than 378 million Facebook users in India alone, making it the leading country in terms of Facebook audience size. To put this into context, if India’s Facebook audience were a country then it would be ranked third in terms of largest population worldwide. Apart from India, there are several other markets with more than 100 million Facebook users each: The United States, Indonesia, and Brazil with 193.8 million, 119.05 million, and 112.55 million Facebook users respectively. Facebook – the most used social media Meta, the company that was previously called Facebook, owns four of the most popular social media platforms worldwide, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram. As of the third quarter of 2021, there were around 3,5 billion cumulative monthly users of the company’s products worldwide. With around 2.9 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most popular social media worldwide. With an audience of this scale, it is no surprise that the vast majority of Facebook’s revenue is generated through advertising. Facebook usage by device As of July 2021, it was found that 98.5 percent of active users accessed their Facebook account from mobile devices. In fact, almost 81.8 percent of Facebook audiences worldwide access the platform only via mobile phone. Facebook is not only available through mobile browser as the company has published several mobile apps for users to access their products and services. As of the third quarter 2021, the four core Meta products were leading the ranking of most downloaded mobile apps worldwide, with WhatsApp amassing approximately six billion downloads.

Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Youku data was reported at 0.040 % in 02 May 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.010 % for 01 May 2024. Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Youku data is updated daily, averaging 0.000 % from Jan 2024 (Median) to 02 May 2024, with 111 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.200 % in 26 Mar 2024 and a record low of 0.000 % in 30 Apr 2024. Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Youku data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statcounter Global Stats. The data is categorized under Global Database’s India – Table IN.SC.IU: Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share.

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.

When asked about the different social networks used to access news as of 2023, a majority of the surveyed respondents in India stated YouTube, and WhatsApp as their main sources at 54 and 48 percent, respectively. X (formerly Twitter) had the lowest popularity for news access among Indians in that year.

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.

The social media user penetration in India was forecast to continuously increase between 2023 and 2028 by 22.4 percentage points. According to this forecast in 2028, the penetration rate will have increased for the fifth consecutive year to 83.16 percent. Notably, the social media user penetration was continuously increasing over the past years.

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

Dataset

This dataset was created by Prachi rikhari

Contents

Social media platforms have become integral tools in the conduct of foreign policy for many nations, including India. This dataset serves as a resource for analyzing ‘Social Media and India’s Foreign Policy: The Case Study of ‘X’ Diplomacy during the Covid-19 Pandemic.’ The data were collected through a web-based questionnaire distributed primarily to people aged 18 – 61 and above in India. A total of 171 valid data were collected from 17 states offering extensive geographic coverage and stored in Mendeley. The 15 contributor states are Goa, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Delhi, Assam, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. It encompasses diverse question formats, including single-choice, multiple-choice, quizzes, and open-ended. The study underscores the opportunities and challenges of employing 'X' diplomacy in India's foreign policy. Thus, there were two hypotheses. First, India's effective use of 'X' diplomacy positively impacts public perception of India's foreign policy effectiveness. Second, India's adept use of 'X' diplomacy during the COVID-19 pandemic enhances its ability to manage and respond to the crisis effectively. This data shows public perception of the effective use of social media by the Government of India, particularly in the crisis situation. Data also highlight the significant change in India’s narrative through its ‘X’ diplomacy, effectively setting the narratives, public perceptions, and diplomatic strategies. This data can be fully utilized in the study of the significance of social media in India’s foreign policy, the role of social media like ‘X’ in the making of India’s foreign policy, how effective social media like ‘X’ was during the Covid-19 pandemic and how Indian government utilized social media like ‘X’ to delivered messages and to set the narrative in the international politics.

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.

"Sent private messages" and "Liked posts by other users or followed people" are the top two answers among Indian consumers in our survey on the subject of "Most common social media activities".The survey was conducted online among ****** respondents in India, in 2025.

The internet penetration rate in India rose over 55 percent in 2025, from about 14 percent in 2014. Although these figures seem relatively low, it meant that more than half of the population of 1.4 billion people had internet access that year. This also ranked the country second in the world in terms of active internet users. Internet availability and accessibility By 2021 the number of internet connections across the country tripled with urban areas accounting for a higher density of connections than rural regions. Despite incredibly low internet prices, internet usage in India has yet to reach its full potential. Lack of awareness and a tangible gender gap lie at the heart of the matter, with affordable mobile handsets and mobile internet connections presenting only a partial solution. Reliance Jio was the popular choice among Indian internet subscribers, offering them wider coverage at cheap rates. Digital living Home to one of the largest bases of netizens in the world, India is abuzz with internet activities being carried out every moment of every day. From information and research to shopping and entertainment to living in smart homes, Indians have welcomed digital living with open arms. Among these, social media usage was one of the most common reasons for accessing the internet.

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.

According to a survey conducted on digital payments in India as of August 2020, majority of Generation Z spent their time on social media for content. About 63 percent of teenagers spent time on social media apps to chat with other people.

A large portion of young India with access to the internet constituted Facebook usage in the country. About 74 million men and over 23 million women between ages 18 and 24 were users of the social media platform.

Social media and young India 

 With over 1.3 billion people, India was estimated to be home to a population with a median age of 28.2 years in 2020. No other country has that many young people. This was also reflected in internet penetration and therefore, social media usage. Almost 71 percent of Indians between 18 and 34 years old used Facebook alone. Most young adults spent between one and two hours on social media, which means it was a significant part of their day.

  The world’s largest election and its social media impact  

In April and May 2019, India held a general election which had between 80 and 100 million first-time voters, i.e. between 18 and 21 years old, as part of the 900 million registered voters. The connection between politics and social media use has become crystal clear in the time leading up to the election. Social media campaigns aside, the impact of fake news, not just via Facebook but also with WhatsApp, were and continue to be discussed with some hope for effective solutions to combat it. The composition of the population along with the regional, socio-economic and communal or cultural challenges make this a problem incredibly vast and complex, requiring some amount of accountability on all levels.

90% of people aged 18-29 use social media in some form. 15% of people aged 23-38 admit that they are addicted to social media.

The India Social Media Monitoring Market is currently valued at USD 133 million, based on a thorough historical analysis over the past five years. This market is driven by increased internet penetration, an expanding smartphone user base, and the growing trend of digital advertising, particularly among small and medium enterprises.