As of September 2023, 29 percent of Facebook users in the United States were aged 30 to 39 years, while a further 29 percent of users were aged 50 to 64 years, making these demographics the biggest audiences of the online network in the country. Meta’s Instagram was also popular among users aged 30 to 39 years, who accounted for 32 percent of the audience of the photo-based platform, while those aged 18 to 29 years accounted for another third of the network’s U.S. users. Overall, TikTok and Snapchat were the most popular social media platforms amongst younger audiences, while LinkedIn was the least used platform by those aged 18 to 29 in the United States as of 2023.

The social media market in the United States

The number of social media users in the United States has shown continuous growth in the past years, and it is forecast to continue increasing to reach 342 million users in 2029. As of 2023, the social network user penetration in the United States amounted to an impressive 91.56 percent, meaning that more than nine in ten people in the country engaged with online platforms. Furthermore, Facebook was by far the most popular social media platform in the United States, accounting for 45 percent of all social media visits in 2023, followed by Pinterest with 21.2 percent of visits.

The global social media landscape

As of April 2024, 5.07 billion people were social media users, accounting for 62.6 percent of the world’s population. Northern Europe was the region with the highest social media penetration rate with a reach of 80.2 percent, followed by Western Europe with 78.2 percent and Eastern Asia 74.9 percent. In contrast, less than one in ten people in Middle Africa used social networks. Facebook’s popularity is not limited to the United States: this network leads the market on a global scale, and it accumulated more than three billion monthly active users (MAU) as of 2024, which is far more any other social media platform. 272014 YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp followed, all with two billion or more MAU.

According to a survey of internet users in Great Britain (GB) conducted between July 20 and 23, over half of respondents aged 18 to 24 reported having used Facebook in this period. The same amount of users in the age cohort reported having used TikTok, while 81 percent used YouTube in the examined time. Overall, Facebook was the most popular social media platform across the older demographics, with 72 percent of users aged between 50 and 64 reporting to having engaged with the Meta-powered social media in the examined period. The 2024 general election in the United Kingdom was held on July 4, and saw parties and politicians make ample usage of social media channels in the weeks before the country casted its vote.

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.

59% of adults in the united states are using Instagram daily.

As of February 2024, over a third of online users worldwide were aged between 25 and 34 years. Website visitors in this age bracket constituted the biggest group of online users worldwide. Also, 19 percent of global online users were aged 18 to 24 years. The global digital population aged 65 or older represented approximately 4.2 percent of all internet users worldwide. Social media usage and Meta Social media is a major driver of internet use, with a global penetration rate of 62.2 percent. On average, internet users spend 143 minutes per day on social media, highlighting its significant impact on daily online activities. The usage of social media is mostly dominated by Meta platforms, which own four of the largest social media platforms. Facebook leads the ranking with over three billion active users, followed by Instagram and WhatsApp. Instagram's global popularity Meta’s social video platform, Instagram, had long been one of the most engaging social media platforms worldwide, and it was projected to reach 1.44 billion monthly active users. Instagram was particularly favored by users aged 18 to 34, thanks to its ability to offer a variety of interactive content, from images and carousels. This diverse range of content types was a key factor in its popularity among its young user base.

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

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

Survey data collected in Canada, 2019. n = 1539. Using, Age, Facebook use and meme understanding to determine differences between demographics in relation to Instagram use

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.

As of June 2023, 28 percent of social media users in the United Kingdom (UK) were aged between 30 and 39 years old. Overall, 22 percent of social networks user in the UK belonged to the 18 to 29 year age group.

Ipsos data on the share of Facebook use among certain age groups in the UK shows that the group between 25 and 34 years of age has the largest share of use and the group between 45 and 54 has the smallest share. All above 55 years of age were in grouped together distorting the data by bringing too many respondents together. Nonetheless the trend is clear: use among the young but not among the youngest is most common and decreases with the age of the respondents group. When compared to the number of Facebook users per age group in the United States as well as to numbers from the Netherlands similar observations can be made.

Facebook is the leading social network worldwide and holds the highest market share of social networks in the UK.

Further information about social media usage in the UK and Facebook can be found in the Dossier: Facebook in the United Kingdom.

As of January 2021, 14.8 percent of female social media users and approximately 19.3 percent of male social media users in Indonesia were between the ages of 25 and 34 years old. The 13 to 44 year old age group has the largest share of audience and is most notable for marketers who plan on reaching out to them.

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.

As of April 2024, almost 32 percent of global Instagram audiences were aged between 18 and 24 years, and 30.6 percent of users were aged between 25 and 34 years. Overall, 16 percent of users belonged to the 35 to 44 year age group. Instagram users With roughly one billion monthly active users, Instagram belongs to the most popular social networks worldwide. The social photo sharing app is especially popular in India and in the United States, which have respectively 362.9 million and 169.7 million Instagram users each. Instagram features One of the most popular features of Instagram is Stories. Users can post photos and videos to their Stories stream and the content is live for others to view for 24 hours before it disappears. In January 2019, the company reported that there were 500 million daily active Instagram Stories users. Instagram Stories directly competes with Snapchat, another photo sharing app that initially became famous due to it’s “vanishing photos” feature. As of the second quarter of 2021, Snapchat had 293 million daily active users.

In 2024, over 92 percent of internet users aged between 16 and 34 years surveyed in Brazil stated that they used social media. Approximately four out of five responding internet users in Brazil said they were on social media.

In February 2024, adults in the United States aged between 18 and 24, spent 186 minutes per day engaging with social media platforms. In comparison, respondents aged 65 and older dedicated approximately 102 minutes of their day to social media. TikTok was the most engaging social media platform for U.S. consumers aged between 18 and 24 years. The popular video was also the most engaging among users aged 35 and 54 years, commanding between 45 and 50 minutes of users' daily attention. Respondents aged between 55 and 65, reported to spending between 45 minutes daily on Facebook.

In the United States, Gen Z are the most likely to search for product information through social media platforms. According to a survey conducted in 2023, over a third (35 percent) of U.S. shoppers between 18 and 26 years old start the purchasing process through this shopping channel.

In 2024, around 74.7 percent of social media users in Thailand were between 18 to 24 years old. In comparison, only 1.2 percent of users were 55 years and above. Social media has become a very prominent form of online communication among Thais.

A survey conducted in January 2022 revealed that 18 to 25 year olds constituted the largest share of social media users in India, with 31 percent using six to nine social media platforms at a time. Contrariwise, nearly four-fifths of the respondents aged 56 and above claimed 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.

In 2024, younger individuals dedicated considerably more time to social media than their older counterparts. Among 18- to 24-year-olds, nearly half spent between six and 20 hours per week on social platforms, and roughly 16 percent exceeded 20 hours. In contrast, 43 percent of individuals aged 45 to 54 limited their social media usage to less than five hours per week. In general, social media usage declines with age, likely because older generations, unlike their younger counterparts, are not digital natives and did not grow up immersed in the world of social media.

As of December 2019, over 29 percent of social network users in Latin America were between 15 and 24 years old. The 25-34 age group accounted for 24 percent of the user base. In addition, the graph shows that the use of social media decreases as the age group gets older.