Cristiano Ronaldo has one of the most popular Instagram accounts as of April 2024.

              The Portuguese footballer is the most-followed person on the photo sharing app platform with 628 million followers. Instagram's own account was ranked first with roughly 672 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 one billion monthly active users in mid-2018. In 2020, there were over 114 million Instagram users in the United States and experts project this figure to surpass 127 million users in 2023.

              Who uses Instagram?

              Instagram audiences are predominantly young – recent data states that almost 60 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 985,441 U.S. dollars.

As of April 2024, around 16.5 percent of global active Instagram users were men between the ages of 18 and 24 years. More than half of the global Instagram population worldwide was aged 34 years or younger.

              Teens and social media

              As one of the biggest social networks worldwide, Instagram is especially popular with teenagers. As of fall 2020, the photo-sharing app ranked third in terms of preferred social network among teenagers in the United States, second to Snapchat and TikTok. Instagram was one of the most influential advertising channels among female Gen Z users when making purchasing decisions. Teens report feeling more confident, popular, and better about themselves when using social media, and less lonely, depressed and anxious.
              Social media can have negative effects on teens, which is also much more pronounced on those with low emotional well-being. It was found that 35 percent of teenagers with low social-emotional well-being reported to have experienced cyber bullying when using social media, while in comparison only five percent of teenagers with high social-emotional well-being stated the same. As such, social media can have a big impact on already fragile states of mind.

As of January 2024, Instagram was slightly more popular with men than women, with men accounting for 50.6 percent of the platform’s global users. Additionally, the social media app was most popular amongst younger audiences, with almost 32 percent of users aged between 18 and 24 years.

              Instagram’s Global Audience

              As of January 2024, Instagram was the fourth most popular social media platform globally, reaching two billion monthly active users (MAU). This number is projected to keep growing with no signs of slowing down, which is not a surprise as the global online social penetration rate across all regions is constantly increasing.
              As of January 2024, the country with the largest Instagram audience was India with 362.9 million users, followed by the United States with 169.7 million users.

              Who is winning over the generations?

              Even though Instagram’s audience is almost twice the size of TikTok’s on a global scale, TikTok has shown itself to be a fierce competitor, particularly amongst younger audiences. TikTok was the most downloaded mobile app globally in 2022, generating 672 million downloads. As of 2022, Generation Z in the United States spent more time on TikTok than on Instagram monthly.

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.

Social Media has become a part of our day-to-day routine, keeping users from across the world well-connected through digital platforms. With each passing year, social media is evolving at a rapid speed. With each passing year, the number of social media users is increasing at an immersive speed. Reports also suggest the number of social media users will reach a milestone of 5.85 billion in 2027.

In 2024, 62.6% of the world’s population will access social media, which clearly indicates the dominance of social media platforms in today’s world. In this article, we will examine social media statistics for 2024, uncovering monthly active users, daily time spent by users, most downloaded social media apps, etc.

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

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.

Egypt Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: Desktop: Fark data was reported at 0.000 % in 24 Apr 2025. This stayed constant from the previous number of 0.000 % for 23 Apr 2025. Egypt Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: Desktop: Fark data is updated daily, averaging 0.000 % from Mar 2024 (Median) to 24 Apr 2025, with 205 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.330 % in 18 Dec 2024 and a record low of 0.000 % in 24 Apr 2025. Egypt Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: Desktop: Fark data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statcounter Global Stats. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Egypt – Table EG.SC.IU: Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share.

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.

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.

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.

Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Youku data was reported at 0.000 % in 28 Nov 2024. This stayed constant from the previous number of 0.000 % for 27 Nov 2024. Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Youku data is updated daily, averaging 0.000 % from Nov 2024 (Median) to 28 Nov 2024, with 16 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.080 % in 24 Nov 2024 and a record low of 0.000 % in 28 Nov 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 Panama – Table PA.SC.IU: Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share.

Context

Worldwide Social Media User in 2021 (Quarterly)

Acknowledgements

Facebook: https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/ Twitter: https://investor.twitterinc.com/home/default.aspx Instagram: https://investor.fb.com/home/default.aspx

Zambia Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Youku data was reported at 0.000 % in 01 May 2024. This stayed constant from the previous number of 0.000 % for 30 Apr 2024. Zambia Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Youku data is updated daily, averaging 0.000 % from Dec 2023 (Median) to 01 May 2024, with 124 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.700 % in 27 Apr 2024 and a record low of 0.000 % in 01 May 2024. Zambia 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 Zambia – Table ZM.SC.IU: Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share.

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

Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Mixi data was reported at 0.000 % in 25 May 2024. This stayed constant from the previous number of 0.000 % for 24 May 2024. Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Mixi data is updated daily, averaging 0.000 % from May 2024 (Median) to 25 May 2024, with 8 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.060 % in 22 May 2024 and a record low of 0.000 % in 25 May 2024. Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Mixi data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statcounter Global Stats. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Hong Kong SAR (China) – Table HK.SC.IU: Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share.

Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: Mobile: Fark data was reported at 0.000 % in 05 Oct 2024. This stayed constant from the previous number of 0.000 % for 04 Oct 2024. Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: Mobile: Fark data is updated daily, averaging 0.000 % from Sep 2024 (Median) to 05 Oct 2024, with 9 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.190 % in 01 Oct 2024 and a record low of 0.000 % in 05 Oct 2024. Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: Mobile: Fark data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statcounter Global Stats. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Maldives – Table MV.SC.IU: Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share.

Oman Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Sina Weibo data was reported at 0.000 % in 27 Apr 2024. This stayed constant from the previous number of 0.000 % for 26 Apr 2024. Oman Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Sina Weibo data is updated daily, averaging 0.000 % from Apr 2024 (Median) to 27 Apr 2024, with 8 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.050 % in 24 Apr 2024 and a record low of 0.000 % in 27 Apr 2024. Oman Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share: All Platforms: Sina Weibo data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statcounter Global Stats. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Oman – Table OM.SC.IU: Internet Usage: Social Media Market Share.

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.