As of 2021, Facebook, recently rebranded as Meta, was the social media platform used most often by 47 percent of social networking users in the United States. In 2015, Facebook was the most used platform by 65 percent of social media users, demonstrating a decrease of almost 20 percent. During the same time frame, Instagram has continued to grow in popularity, with 18 percent of users saying it was their most often used platform in 2021, an increase of 11 percent since 2015. Snapchat was the most used platform by 14 percent of respondents in 2018 and has since continued to decline. In 2020, TikTok was the most accessed platform for three percent of users and by 2021 it had more than doubled to seven percent.

How many people use social media? Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities. In 2024, over **** ******* people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to over *** billion in 2029. Who uses social media? Social networking is one of the most popular digital activities worldwide and it is no surprise that social networking penetration across all regions is constantly increasing. As of January 2023, the global social media usage rate stood at ** percent. This figure is anticipated to grow as lesser developed digital markets catch up with other regions when it comes to infrastructure development and the availability of cheap mobile devices. In fact, most of social media’s global growth is driven by the increasing usage of mobile devices. Mobile-first market Eastern Asia topped the global ranking of mobile social networking penetration, followed by established digital powerhouses such as the Americas and Northern Europe. How much time do people spend on social media? Social media is an integral part of daily internet usage. On average, internet users spend *** minutes per day on social media and messaging apps, an increase of ** minutes since 2015. On average, internet users in Latin America had the highest average time spent per day on social media. What are the most popular social media platforms? Market leader Facebook was the first social network to surpass *** billion registered accounts and currently boasts approximately *** billion monthly active users, making it the most popular social network worldwide. In June 2023, the top social media apps in the Apple App Store included mobile messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram Messenger, as well as the ever-popular app version of Facebook.

The total number of active social media users has noticeably increased in Russia, except for 2017, when the audience dropped in volume across the country. By January 2023, there were *** million active users of social media platforms in Russia.  

Popular social media platforms in Russia

VK (Vkontakte) was the leading social media platform in the country with a penetration rate of over ** percent as of the third quarter of 2022. The platform in question gained momentum after Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram were banned in Russia on the grounds of extremism in March 2022. By *************, VK counted nearly ** monthly users.

Social media usage in Russia

The increasingly interconnected world means that more and more Russians use social media these days. In August 2021, the most frequently employed devices for connecting to social networks were mobile appliances. This was particularly the case of Instagram and Telegram, where ** percent and ** percent used only mobile phones to access the social networks in question, respectively. Among the most frequent activities on social media were sending private messages, with every six in ** Russians reporting doing it in 2022.

With the ease of internet access, the number of social media users in India stood at 518 million in 2020. Furthermore, the social network users in the country were expected to be almost 1.5 billion in 2040. Facebook remained the popular choice among the social media platforms as of 2020.

What was the attraction and who was attracted to it?

The Indian Premier League, an annual cricket tournament conducted across major cities in the country might hold the answer. The IPL, one in many cricketing events followed religiously in India, had the highest attendance among all cricket leagues worldwide. Apart from the attendance, fans seemed to be keen on updates about their favorite teams. The IPL teams registered over 59 million likes on Facebook alone and more than 81 million followers on Twitter. Most of the Facebook usage came from the younger generation, aged between 18-24 years to be precise, with over 97 million users in 2018.

How was this achieved?

Increased availability of internet connections and access in recent years, propelled by the central government's Digital India initiative was directly proportional in the growth of social media users. Internet penetration had been on the rise with over 34 percent of the Indians being able to access the internet in 2017, which made the South Asian country the second largest market globally after China.

In 2022, around ** percent of the New Zealand population were active social media users. The social media penetration rate has continued to increase, in-line with the growing digitalization of the country. While not the most active country in the Asia Pacific region, New Zealand still ranked in the top ten in terms of social media penetration out of countries from Asia Pacific. How are Kiwis using social media? Most of the population use social media on a mobile device. With increasing smartphone usage and accessibility, current global trends look set to establish the standard for mobile-only social media usage in the near future. In fact, many social media services are better experienced on a mobile device. An average of *** hour and ** minutes per day were spent on social media by internet users in the country in 2020. This is much lower than the approximate **** hours per day spent by online users in the Philippines. Which social media are the most popular? The most popular social networks in the country included YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. YouTube and Facebook dominated the market, both with over ** percent penetration rates. Facebook was popular among all age groups, with the highest number of Facebook users in the 25 to 34-year age group. Instagram has gained popularity with younger generations in the country.

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.

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.

There has been a continued upward trend in the population share of active social media users in Australia. As of February 2022, approximately **** percent of the Australian population were active users compared to just ** percent in 2015. Preferred social media brands and most popular activities Facebook was the most popular social media brand in Australia in 2019, with ** percent saying they used the platform the most often. Elsewhere, ** percent said they used Instagram and six percent used Snapchat. Social media is used by Australians for a variety of activities. The most popular use is as a means of communication, with over **** of users regularly sending private messages and ** percent commenting on posts. Active users also post pictures and videos, with ** percent of users saying they have posted visual content. When do Australians use social media? In 2018, most social media use took place during Australians free time; ** percent said they used social media platforms in the evening, ** percent were first thing in the morning users, and ** percent said they logged on during breaks. Interestingly, when it comes to users being banned from social media, just over **** said in 2019 that they somewhat agree that bans are ineffective.

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.

The statistic shows the social network user growth rate on social networks in China between 2016 and 2021. As of 2021, the number of social network users increased by *** percent compared to the previous year. Chinese internet users have about ***** social media accounts on average.

This statistic shows the sources used for travel ideas among social media users in the United States as of January 2015. During the survey, 50 percent of the respondents said their main source for travel ideas was friends and family.

In Portugal, the share of people aged 18 years old who use social media for six hours or more per day totaled 27.9 percent, during weekdays, and 23.7 percent during the weekend. By 2023, 15 percent of young individuals used social media for six hours or more per day.

As of February 2025, it was found that men between the ages of 25 and 34 years made up Facebook's largest audience, accounting for 18.5 percent of global users. Additionally, Facebook's second-largest audience base could be found with men aged 18 to 24 years. Facebook connects the world Founded in 2004 and going public in 2012, Facebook is one of the biggest internet companies in the world with influence that goes beyond social media. It is widely considered as one of the Big Four tech companies, along with Google, Apple, and Amazon (all together known under the acronym GAFA). Facebook is the most popular social network worldwide and the company also owns three other billion-user properties: mobile messaging apps WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, as well as photo-sharing app Instagram. Facebook usersThe vast majority of Facebook users connect to the social network via mobile devices. This is unsurprising, as Facebook has many users in mobile-first online markets. Currently, India ranks first in terms of Facebook audience size with 378 million users. The United States, Brazil, and Indonesia also all have more than 100 million Facebook users each.

In 2019, nearly ***** out of ten respondents from Belgium's Dutch-speaking region Flanders said they had used Facebook during the past month. In 2019, over ************* people in Belgium used Facebook, a number that makes up around ** percent of the country's population. Downloads of the Facebook app in Belgium decreased in 2018, especially in on the Google Play Store. It was downloaded approximately ******* times through the Apple App Store and roughly ******* times on the Google Play Store.

This statistic shows the user share of the most popular social media platforms among 13 to 17-year-olds in Finland in 2015. During the period under survey, roughly 75 percent of the respondents stated they used the social media platform Facebook.

The statistic illustrates the results of a survey regarding the average time spent per day by young adults on social media across Kolkata in India in 2015. Approximately ** percent of young adults in Kolkata spent between *** to **** hours on social media daily on an average.

The daily social media access of internet users in Asia Pacific as of *********, broken down by country can be found here.

This statistic shows data on the use of different social media channels among commercial enterprises in Germany from 2015 to 2016. During the 2016 survey period it was found that ** percent of responding companies reported to run a corporate blog.

The number of social media users in Nigeria decreased by *** percent in 2022 compared to the previous year. In 2021, a growth rate of **** percent had been registered. Overall, there were over ** million social media users in Nigeria as of January 2022.

By December 2023, the number of social media users in Tunisia increased by just under one percent compared to the previous year. Within the period under review, the population using social media in the country increased substantially in 2020 when it recorded a growth rate of about 42 percent. Facebook and Messenger are the most popular social media platforms in the country.

The statistic gives the results of a survey regarding the average time spent per day by young adults on social media in Delhi in 2015. Approximately 15 percent of young adults in the capital city spent between two and four hours on social media daily on an average.

The daily social media access of internet users in Asia Pacific as of July 2015, broken down by country can be found here.