In 2020, the amount spend on advertisement per user worldwide increased around 3.5 U.S. dollars to 28.3 U.S dollars. According to the Statista Digital Market Outlook advertising spending per user in estimated to increase to almost 40 U.S dollars by 2025.

The largest social media IPO seen in the last 15 years was Facebook, which went public in May 2012 with a valuation of 104 billion U.S. dollars. Snapchat ranked second, with a valuation of 24 billion U.S. dollars in March 2017. Twitter – later known as X after its 2023 acquisition and subsequent delisting – went public in with a valuation of 18 billion U.S. dollars. Former U.S president Trump's social media app Truth Social went public on March 26, 2024, after merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp.

Digital IPOs in the U.S. The year 2021 was characterized by the highest number of IPOs recorded in the U.S. since 2000, with over a thousand companies entering the public market. During the first years of the COVD-19 pandemic, the digital and tech sectors enjoyed stellar development thanks to the increase in usage and inflated adoption trends of digital solutions among global users. In comparison, 2022 was characterized by an unusually quiet public market. Snap Inc and Meta, as well as other social media platforms, reported a loss in expected revenue driven by a slowing advertising spending trend.

While social video and streaming platform Rumble filed to go public via SPAC merger in September 2022, market volatility dragged IPO plans for others. At the end of 2023, the market appeared to be in recovery for digital companies. Fast-fashion brand Shein entered the U.S. public market in September, followed by Instacart in November.

Reddit’s IPO Reddit's entrance into the public market is expected to be the largest social media IPO since 2019, when Pinterest became a public company with a valuation of 10 billion U.S. dollars. Reddit, which is expected to go public in March 2024, is reportedly seeking a valuation of 6.5 million U.S. dollars. The company had previously reached a valuation of 10 billion U.S. dollars, after securing 410 million U.S. dollars in its Series F funding in August 2021. In February 2024, Reddit gave potential investors a peek into its financials, by releasing the company’s S1 registration statement: the company was not yet profitable in 2023, with a negative EBITDA of 70 billion U.S. dollars. Despite not having released a planned price for its stocks, Reddit invited some of its users to pre-register and grab the possibility of buying into Reddit.

Over the last two observations, the reach by social network is forecast to significantly increase in all segments. Particularly striking is the exceptionally strong increase of the segment Instagram towards the end of the forecast period. The value amounting to 5.5 million users stands out significantly from the average changes, which are estimated at 1.5182 million users. Find further statistics on other topics such as a comparison of the ad spending in the United Kingdom and a comparison of the desktop & mobile ad spending share in the United States. The Statista Market Insights cover a broad range of additional markets.

Facebook’s efforts to monetize its users have vastly differing results across global regions. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Facebook's average revenue per user (ARPU) in the Asia Pacific region was 5.52 U.S. dollars. This result pales in comparison to the combined U.S. and Canada market, where Facebook’s APRU amounted to 68.44 U.S. dollars.

Facebook revenue Facebook accumulated an impressive 69.66 billion U.S. dollars in annual ad revenues in 2019. The social network generates the majority of its revenues via social media marketing and advertising. Almost all of Facebook's ad revenue is generated via mobile – a staggering 92 percent in 2018.

Facebook is the biggest social media platform worldwide and the platform’s annual revenue in 2019 amounted to 70.7 billion U.S. dollars. Despite Facebook’s impressive growth, the company still lags behind other online companies in terms of total revenue. The company stated in its 2018 10K filing that it was dependent on the retention and engagement of its users, which has become increasingly difficult in the North American market.

Facebook usage concerns in North America With various user data controversies such as the Cambridge Analytics scandal in early spring, Facebook had a tumultuous 2018. A significant portion of U.S. Facebook users have come to rethink their Facebook usage. An April 2018 survey of adults in the United States that almost a third of respondents planned on using Facebook much less in the future. It is estimated that the average daily time spent on Facebook will stagnate at around 38 to 37 minutes per day. In comparison, Facebook-owned photo sharing app Instagram is projected to increase daily user engagement to 29 daily minutes in 2021.

Over the forecast period until 2028, the reach by social network is forecast to exhibit fluctuations among the 11 segments. In general, the indicator appears to exhibit a positive trend, with more segments showing increasing values rather than decreasing values until 2028. Among them, the segment Facebook attains the highest value throughout the entire period, reaching 32.82 million users. Find further statistics on other topics such as a comparison of the ad spending in Spain and a comparison of the ad spending in the United Kingdom.The Statista Market Insights cover a broad range of additional markets.

Over the forecast period until 2028, the reach by social network is forecast to exhibit fluctuations among the ten segments. Overall, the indicator appears to follow a positive trend, as there are more increasing values than decreasing values expected in the individual segments until 2028. Among them, the segment Facebook achieves the relatively highest value throughout the entire period, reaching 35.63 million users. Find further statistics on other topics such as a comparison of the social network reach in Europe and a comparison of the ad spending in the United Kingdom. The Statista Market Insights cover a broad range of additional markets.

This statistic displays the estimated share of the total population using social media in Norway in 2021 with a forecast from 2022 to 2026. In 2021, the share of the total population using social media was 90.24 percent. This value is projected to reach 93.13 percent as of 2026, up by 3.20 percent from 2021.

The global average ad spending per internet user in the 'Social Media Advertising' segment of the advertising market was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2030 by in total 18.1 U.S. dollars (+42.32 percent). After the eighth consecutive increasing year, the average ad spending per internet user is estimated to reach 60.9 U.S. dollars and therefore a new peak in 2030. Find further information concerning the average ad spending per capita in the 'Out-of-Home Advertising' segment of the advertising market in Australia and the average ad spending per internet user in the 'Search Advertising' segment of the advertising market in the United Kingdom. The Statista Market Insights cover a broad range of additional markets.

A global survey conducted in the fourth quarter of 2023 found that the main reason for using social media was to keep in touch with friends and family, with over 49 percent of social media users saying this was their main reason for using online networks. Overall, 38 percent of social media users said that filling spare time was their main reason for using social media platforms, whilst 34.3 percent of respondents said they used it to read news stories. One in five users were on social platforms for the reason of following celebrities and influencers. The most popular social network Facebook dominates the social media landscape. The world's most popular social media platform turned 20 in February 2024, and it continues to lead the way in terms of user numbers. As of January 2024, the social network had over three billion global users. YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram follow, but none of these well-known brands can surpass Facebook’s audience size. Moreover, as of the final quarter of 2023, there were almost four billion Meta product users. Ever-evolving social media usage The utilization of social media remains largely gratuitous; however, companies have been encouraging users to become paid subscribers to reduce dependence on advertising profits. Meta Verified entices users by offering a blue verification badge and proactive account protection, among other things. X (formerly Twitter), Snapchat, and Reddit also offer users the chance to upgrade their social media accounts for a monthly free.

In 2024, social media advertising spending worldwide will amount to an estimated 234.14 billion U.S. dollars, up from less than 98 billion dollars in 2019 – an increase of 140 percent in half a decade. The value was forecast to grow by nearly 50 percent by the end of the decade, exceeding 345 billion dollars by 2029. Social media's relevance for marketing During a 2024 survey, more than four out of five responding global marketers listed increased exposure as a benefit of social media marketing. Traffic expansion and lead generation rounded up the top three, mentioned by 73 and 65 percent of the interviewees, respectively. Furthermore, Facebook was the most-used social media platform among business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers, while LinkedIn topped the ranking among business-to-business (B2B) marketing professionals. Advertising insights Find further information concerning the average ad spending per internet user in the 'Digital video ads' segment of the advertising market in the United Kingdom and the traditional revenue in the 'Traditional TV Advertising' segment of the advertising market in Poland.The Statista Market Insights cover a broad range of additional markets.

In March 2023, Facebook accounted for 45 percent of all social media site visits in the United States, confirming its position as the leading social media website by far. Other social media platforms, despite their popularity, had to make do with smaller shares of visits across desktop, mobile, and tablet devices combined. Pinterest ranked second with 21 percent of all U.S. social media site visits, while Instagram accounted for 14 percent of the total visits in the country. Additionally, the U.S. is home to the third largest social media audience worldwide.

Facebook: mobile vs desktop usage

At the beginning of 2022, around 81 percent of Facebook users across the globe were using the platform’s social networking services exclusively via mobile phone, while only 1.5 percent reported using their desktop or laptop devices. In October 2021, three Facebook Inc. products occupied the leading positions as most downloaded social networking apps on the Apple App Store in the United States. Facebook’s social media platform ranked first with nearly 2.5 million downloads, while Facebook-owned instant-messaging services Messenger and WhatsApp followed with 2.1 million and 1.4 million downloads respectively.

Social media evolution

Between 2012 and 2020, the daily time spent on social networks worldwide experienced a constant increase, with users reaching an average of 145 minutes per day in 2019 and maintaining the same engagement levels throughout 2020. However, users’ favorite platforms have changed since 2019, and the power balance appears to be shifting further from Facebook’s market dominance. Not only Facebook’s user growth rate is estimated to slow down in the next years, but users belonging to Generation Z appear to prefer video-first social platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.

According to a June 2022 report, 65 percent of alternative social media news consumers have found a community of like-minded people on those platforms. On the other hand, 34 percent said they had not found a community of individuals who share similar views.

Truth Social, the Trump-owned social media platform, started trading publicly on March 26, 2024. The social network has fewer users and a lower valuation than Meta Platforms, X (formerly Twitter), and Pinterest did at their initial public offerings. The market capitalization of Truth Social when it went public was estimated to be six billion dollars, with an estimated five million monthly active users.

Around 41 percent of U.S. Baby Boomers who use YouTube find helpful content on the cost of living crisis there. Facebook (35 %) claims the second spot on this list, followed by Foursquare and Tumblr.

This statistic displays the estimated share of the total population using social media in Finland in 2021 with a forecast from 2022 to 2030. This value is forecasted to grow year on year between 2020 and 2026. In 2021, share of the total population using social media was at 84.63 percent. The value is projected to reach 98.76 percent as of 2030.

Over the last two observations, the reach by social network is forecast to significantly increase in all segments. Particularly striking is the exceptionally strong increase of the segment TikTok towards the end of the forecast period. The value amounting to 3.1 million users stands out significantly from the average changes, which are estimated at 0.9636 million users. Find further statistics on other topics such as a comparison of the social network reach in Spain and a comparison of the ad spending in the world. The Statista Market Insights cover a broad range of additional markets.

Over the forecast period until 2028, the reach by social network is forecast to exhibit fluctuations among the 11 segments. In general, the indicator appears to exhibit a positive trend, with more segments showing increasing values rather than decreasing values until 2028. Among them, the segment Facebook attains the highest value throughout the entire period, reaching 36.64 million users. Find further statistics on other topics such as a comparison of the social network reach in Europe and a comparison of the ad spending in the United Kingdom.The Statista Market Insights cover a broad range of additional markets.

Significant fluctuations are estimated for all segments over the forecast period for the reach by social network. Overall, the indicator appears to follow a positive trend, as there are more increasing values than decreasing values expected in the individual segments until 2028. Among them, the segment Facebook achieves the relatively highest value throughout the entire period, reaching 24.02 million users. Find further statistics on other topics such as a comparison of the ad spending in Spain and a comparison of the ad spending in the United States. The Statista Market Insights cover a broad range of additional markets.

Comparing the nine different segments for the year 2028, the segment 'Facebook' is forecast to led the ranking with 7.77 million users. Contrastingly, 'WeChat' is estimated to rank last, with 0.02 million users. Their difference, compared to Facebook, lies at 7.75 million users. The indicator reaches a particularly high level in the segment Facebook at the end of the forecast period. In this case, the value of the segment at 2028 is 7.77 million users, significantly above the average of the last values, which is 1.04 million users. Find further statistics on other topics such as a comparison of the ad spending growth in the United States and a comparison of the ad spending in Canada. The Statista Market Insights cover a broad range of additional markets.

In 2021, there were 1.21 billion monthly active users of Meta's Instagram, making up over 28 percent of the world's internet users. By 2025, it has been forecast that there will be 1.44 billion monthly active users of the social media platform, which would account for 31.2 percent of global internet users.

How popular is Instagram?

Instagram, as of January 2022, was the fourth most popular social media platform in the world in terms of user numbers. YouTube and WhatsApp ranked in second and third place, respectively, whilst Facebook remained the most popular, with almost three billion monthly active users worldwide.

India had the largest number of Instagram users as of January 2022, with a total of over 230 million users in the country. The second-largest Instagram audience could be found in the United States, with almost 160 million people subscribing to the photo and video sharing app.

Gen Z and Instagram

As of September 2021, Gen Z users in the United States spent an average of five hours per week on Instagram. Although Instagram ranked third in terms of hours per week spent on the platform, Gen Z users spent considerably more time on TikTok, amounting to a weekly average of over 10 hours being spent on the mobile-first video app.

Most followed accounts on Instagram

As of May 2022, Instagram’s own account had 504.37 million followers. In terms of celebrities, Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (@chistiano) had over 440.41 million followers on the social network. Moreover, the average media value of an Instagram post by Ronaldo was over 985,000 U.S. dollars.

The most liked post on Instagram as of May 2022 was Photo of an Egg, which was posted in 2019 by the account @world_record_egg. Photo of an Egg has not only exceeded 55 million likes on the platform, but it also has nearly 3.5 million comments, and the account itself has over 4.5 million Instagram followers. After mysterious posts published by the account, World Record Egg revealed itself as part of a mental health campaign aimed at the difficulties and demands of using social media.