Market leader Facebook was the first social network to surpass one billion registered accounts and currently sits at more than three billion monthly active users. Meta Platforms owns four of the biggest social media platforms, all with more than one billion monthly active users each: Facebook (core platform), WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram. In the third quarter of 2023, Facebook reported around four billion monthly core Family product users. The United States and China account for the most high-profile social platforms Most top ranked social networks with more than 100 million users originated in the United States, but services like Chinese social networks WeChat, QQ or video sharing app Douyin have also garnered mainstream appeal in their respective regions due to local context and content. Douyin’s popularity has led to the platform releasing an international version of its network: a little app called TikTok. How many people use social media? The leading social networks are usually available in multiple languages and enable users to connect with friends or people across geographical, political, or economic borders. In 2025, social networking sites are estimated to reach 5.42 billion users and these figures are still expected to grow as mobile device usage and mobile social networks increasingly gain traction in previously underserved markets.

** percent of U.S. respondents answer our survey on "Most used social media platforms by type" with "Social networks (e.g., Facebook)". The survey was conducted in 2023, among 60,267 consumers. Find this and more survey data on most used social media platforms by type in our Consumer Insights tool. Filter by countless demographics, drill down to your own, hand-tailored target audience, and compare results across countries worldwide.

This statistic displays the results of an online survey regarding the most used social networks. In May 2019 it was found that 47 percent of american internet users use Facebook the most.

According to a survey on digital usage in China, around 91.8 percent of respondents had used WeChat as of the third quarter of 2023. The short video app Douyin, the social commerce site Xiaohongshu, and the Twitter-like site Weibo, were among the most popular social media platforms in China. How successful is WeChat in China? The country’s most popular messaging app, WeChat, boasts over one billion monthly active users. For many Chinese consumers, WeChat is part of daily life, helping them to organize tasks such as paying bills, ordering food delivery, and calling a taxi. On average, WeChat users spent about an hour and 20 minutes per day on the app. Large user base with high engagement The social media scene in China is huge and mobile-centric. In 2023, the social media penetration rate amounted to 74 percent in China, slightly higher than in countries like the United States and Japan. While the user number has shown signs of reaching a saturation point, Chinese consumers have been spending more time online, with a considerable daily usage of social media.

A survey conducted in Japan during fiscal year 2023 showed that the messaging app LINE was used by almost ** percent of the respondents. While globally leading networks such as Instagram, X, and Facebook do get their fair share of popularity within the Japanese social media market, the only platform able to compete with LINE in terms of penetration rates is YouTube, which was used by almost ** percent of the respondents. What makes LINE so popular?The success story of the messaging service LINE started back in 2011 during the Great East Japan Earthquake. While conventional communication channels in affected areas had broken down to a large degree due to damages brought about by the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami, official sources as well as private individuals turned to online options for communicating news and confirming the safety of friends and family members. The LINE app, which was initially developed for communication between employees at NHN Japan, a Japanese subsidiary of the South Korean internet powerhouse Naver, was released for public use later that year. It appealed greatly to Japanese consumers due to its unique and customizable design, which allowed for both private and business usage. Today, the app is operated by LY Corporation, which is part of a joint venture between SoftBank Group and Naver.How do Japanese use social networks?As a comparison of social network penetration rates of different countries shows, a vast majority of people in Japan use social networks. People in Japan on average spend several dozen minutes per weekday on social media, making social media one of the most time-consuming online activities. According to a survey, the leading reasons for using social media are communicating with already existing acquaintances as well as searching for information.

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.

According to a May 2024 survey, WhatsApp was the most popular social media platform in Mexico. At that time, ** percent of those interviewed said they had an active account on the messaging app. Also owned by Meta Platforms Inc., Facebook and Instagram ranked second and third, being used by ** and ** percent of respondents, respectively.

Social media penetration and demographics Close to ** percent of the Mexican population was expected to be on Facebook by the end of 2023 (slightly below the estimated ***** percent for the United States during the same period). Its popularity in the North American country relies heavily on young internet users: when it comes to the distribution of Mexican Facebook users by age group, more than ** percent were between 18 and 34 years old. All news just a click away According to a February 2022 survey, half of internet users in Mexico used Facebook for news consumption, while YouTube is used by ** percent of the country's online audiences for the same function. This preference was also observed across all age groups: more than a third of the country's news consumers across all demographics turned to the Meta-owned social network to find, read, watch, share, or comment on the news.

In 2024, Facebook remained the most popular social media network for news worldwide, with 26 percent of respondents to a survey held in February that year saying that they had used the platform for news in the last week. Usage decreased however from previous years, whereas TikTok news consumption is on the up and was eight times higher in 2024 than in 2020.

As of the third quarter of 2024, WhatsApp and Facebook were the most used social media platforms in Mexico, reaching **** percent and **** percent of the country's online audiences. Instagram and TikTok followed, being used by **** percent and **** percent of Mexican internet users each. Messenger was accessed by around ****, while X, Telegram, and Pinterest accounted for smaller shares.

Despite a tumultuous 2018, Facebook is still the top social network in the United States, with 169.76 million mobile users accessing the Facebook app in September 2019. The company’s other properties Instagram and Facebook Messenger ranked second and third with 121 and 106 million users respectively. Cambridge Analytica scandal 2018 The biggest social media company in the world had a difficult 2018. The platform has long been accused of enabling the spread of fake news during the 2016 election and beyond. One of the first and biggest negative Facebook stories of 2018 was the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which unfolded from March 2018. The Guardian, The Observer, and The New York Times simultaneously reported on political data firm Cambridge Analytica harvesting data of millions of Facebook users worldwide without their knowledge before the 2016 election, which led to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg having to testify before Congress in April 2018. Facebook usage behavior changes Due to the revelations about Facebook and the company’s treatment of private user data, many U.S. users are planning to use the social network much less and to be much more careful about what they post . During an April 2018 survey, only 20 percent of respondents stated that their Facebook usage has not changed, and they were planning on continuing to use the social platform as much as they always had in the past.

As of the third quarter of 2024, WhatsApp was the most active social network among internet users in the United Kingdom (UK), with 79.9 percent of internet users reporting use of the service. Facebook was very close behind, with a rate of 72.3 percent, followed by Facebook Messenger with 56.6 percent. YouTube’s broad audience in the United Kingdom YouTube reaches a broad audience in the UK, making it an attractive partner for advertisers of almost any product. More than 75 percent of individuals of every income bracket watch YouTube, with the likelihood of watching increasing with the pay-grade. Whether advertising basic items or luxury products, marketers should be able to connect with UK audiences through YouTube. There are almost no people in the UK to not use YouTube at least monthly. According to a survey conducted in the third quarter of 2020, 46 percent of respondents went on YouTube on a daily basis. Facebook in the United Kingdom  Facebook enjoys a healthy market position in the UK, holding an estimated  55 percent share of the market. The service attracted  50.6 million UK users during May 2021, and Facebook UK Limited  generated 1.1 billion British pounds in revenue  during 2019. The UK division of the company  posted an operating profit of 121.9 million British pounds that year. 

Survey findings showed that Facebook was the most frequently used social network for news access in France in 2024, with more than ** percent of respondents using the platform for news every week. YouTube and WhatsApp rounded out the top three that year. Social media usage is soaring in France The number of social media users in France has steadily increased since the start of the new millennium. Today, an estimated ** million people have an account on one of the various social networks to post pictures and videos, communicate with friends and strangers, stay up to date with their favorite celebrities and influencers, or catch up on news headlines. While video-sharing apps such as TikTok have shaken up the scene and amassed millions of users recently, Facebook remains the most popular social media platform in France, followed by Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram – all Meta-owned properties. Audiences lack trust in social media news Even though millions of social media users check their feeds for news each day, recent reports have indicated that a significant share of French online users are wary of news reports circulating on platforms such as Facebook. Less than ** percent of survey respondents felt confident about the accuracy of posts shared on social media by official channels in 2021. Meanwhile, French adults' trust in news on social media was even lower for information shared online by friends. Many French social media users stated they regularly encountered false news on their feeds, explaining why social media stands out as the least trustworthy news source according to French consumers.

In a fall 2023 survey, it was found that TikTok was the most important social network for 38 percent of U.S. teens. Snapchat ranked second, with 28 percent of teenagers in the United States stating it to be their favorite, ahead of Instagram. Teens and the internet in the United States It is no secret that the young really know what’s what when it comes to new technologies these days. Especially those born in the internet era and who only know of analog telephones and cameras from stories of their elders seem to be constantly online and always following the latest tech trends. In fact, a recent survey shows that some 92 percent of American teens accessed the internet on a daily basis, where 56 claim to connect several times a day, and 24 percent are connected almost constantly to the internet. Furthermore, the move from desktop computers to mobile devices insured that teenagers would be some of the most fervent users of mobile internet, anytime, anywhere.

When it comes to the most well-known social networks in the United States, YouTube and Facebook are leading the pack with a brand awareness of 96 and 95 percent respectively, among internet users. For this study, brand awareness was surveyed employing the concept of aided brand recognition, showing respondents both the brand's logo and the written brand name.

In March 2025, ******** accounted for ** 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. ********* ranked second with ***** percent of all U.S. social media site visits, while X (previously Twitter) accounted for ***** 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 ** percent of Facebook users across the globe were using the platform’s social networking services exclusively via mobile phone, while only *** percent reported using their desktop or laptop devices. In September 2022, three Facebook Inc. products occupied some of the leading positions as most downloaded social networking apps on the Apple App Store in the United States. WhatsApp’s messaging platform ranked second with more than *** million downloads, while Facebook and the instant-messaging service Messenger followed ranking third and fifth with *** million and **** million downloads respectively. Social media evolution Between 2012 and 2024, the daily time spent on social networks worldwide experienced an almost constant increase, with users reaching an average of *** minutes per day in 2023, with a decrease to *** daily minutes of engagement in 2024. 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.

In the third quarter of 2023, Facebook was the leading social media in France with more than 72.3 percent of French online users accessing the social media platform on a monthly basis. The most popular messaging platform was WhatsApp, with 63.7 percent of surveyed French internet users reporting to have used the platform. Additionally, Instagram was used by 60.3 percent of respondents.

We asked U.S. consumers about "Social network usage by brand" and found that "Facebook" takes the top spot, while "WeChat" is at the other end of the ranking.These results are based on a representative online survey conducted in 2025 among 62,982 consumers in the United States.

The relevance of social media in today’s society is unprecedented, with user penetration reaching high values globally, but especially in Europe. Portugal is no exception, and, in 2024, WhatsApp was the most used social media platform, chosen by over 90 percent of internet users. Close behind was Instagram, selected by a rate of 82.4 percent of respondents. Social media platforms such as TikTok and Pinterest were used by a similar ratio of respondents, between 49 and 40 percent. Threads, on the other hand, was the platform with the lowest usage rate, as it was used by only 11 percent of the online population. In Portugal, social media is mostly for young people and women Social media use is common to all age groups, which exemplifies the democratization of these online platforms. Nevertheless, it is especially between the ages of 25 and 34 that social network penetration is the highest, followed by the age range between 18 and 24 years. Instagram, in particular, is very much used by the youngest generations, and it is women that record the highest usage shares, among all age groups. The Portuguese spend hours on social media daily, especially exchanging messages In Portugal, using social media is among the most time-consuming media activities performed daily. In 2024, the Portuguese spent on average 2 hours and 18 minutes using these social platforms, more than listening to music or reading news online. They mostly dedicated their time on social media sending private messages, and liking and commenting on posts by other users. Posting pictures or videos was performed by less than a half of the population in Portugal, which demonstrates that social platforms are mostly used to communicate with acquaintances.

In May 2022, YouTube was France's most used online network, with ***** million monthly active users. Meta-owned Facebook and WhatsApp ranked second and third, with ***** and ***** million monthly active users, respectively. In addition, Pinterest and Twitter each had around ** million monthly active users in the country.

As of April 2024, Bahrain was the country with the highest Instagram audience reach with 95.6 percent. Kazakhstan also had a high Instagram audience penetration rate, with 90.8 percent of the population using the social network. In the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Brunei, the photo-sharing platform was used by more than 85 percent of each country's population.