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.

As of February 2025, the United States was the region with the largest TikTok audience by far, with almost ****** million users engaging with the popular social video platform. Indonesia followed, with around ***** million TikTok users. Brazil came in third, with almost ***** million users on TikTok watching short-videos. From Reels to Shorts: social short video takes the internet Between 2021 and 2022 some of the most popular social media platforms have been adding short-video features on the heels of TikTok’s popularity. YouTube Shorts, which rolled out to the global market in June 2021, reached *** billion monthly active logged-in users in 2023. In comparison, Instagram’s short-video format Reels, which launched in August 2020, presented a higher view rate than regular videos on the platform between June 2021 and June 2022, as well as a higher likes rate than other content types on Instagram. TikTok business model TikTok is owned by the Beijing-based ByteDance, along with the short-video app Douyin (TikTok’s version for the Chinese market), video platform Xigua, and popular news app Toutiao. While the products intended for domestic market consumption operate in the Chinese digital ecosystem and have a plurality of established monetization methods such as a live-shopping events hosted by famous influencers, TikTok’s main revenue stream comes from online advertising. In 2022, TikTok was estimated to have generated around **** billion U.S. dollars worldwide via online advertising.

TikTok comes in 6th position in a list of the world’s most-used social media sites today.

TikTok has risen through the ranks to become the 5th most popular social media network worldwide.

These TikTok user statistics tell the whole story of the new social media giant and give you some insights into the app's future.

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.

More than three-quarters of the Russian online population aged 16 years and older used the Telegram messenger, thus making it the most-used social media platform among those listed in the ranking. WhatsApp ranked second, with a penetration rate of nearly 74 percent, followed by VK and TikTok. Social media usage in Russia In 2024, the daily time spent on social media in Russia was recorded at roughly two hours and 20 minutes per user on average. After Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) were blocked in Russia at the end of February and the beginning of March 2022, a significant increase in activity was recorded on VK and Telegram. For example, the daily audience on VK increased by almost nine percent, while the number of friends requests and feed views grew by 250 percent and 25 percent, respectively. YouTube From the global perspective, YouTube ranked second after Facebook, which remained the leading social media platform with about three billion active users. The U.S.-based channel MrBeast had the highest number of subscribers on YouTube with around 343 million as of January 2025. India-based T-Series followed with 284 million subscribers as of that month.

Users spend an average of 19.6 hours per month on TikTok alone. This works out to be approximately 39 minutes per day.

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 are currently over 1.5 billion active users on TikTok worldwide.

How many active users are on Instagram? In 2023, the photo sharing site is projected to reach ***** million monthly active users in the United States, up from ***** million users in 2020. Social network reach The internet has brought about many changes in how people around the world communicate, especially through one of its most powerful inventions: social media. According to a recent study, internet users worldwide spend an average of over *********** per day on one of the many social media platforms. Such websites and apps are increasingly used not just for social sharing, but also as means to building reputation, finding career opportunities or monetary income. As of January 2021, an estimated ** percent of the world’s population was using social networking, with West and Northern Europe having the highest penetration rate – ** percent of the respective region's populations. Eastern Asia placed first in a global ranking of mobile social media penetration according to geographical region. Industry leaders Facebook is by far the most popular social network with over *** billion global monthly active users but Instagram, the mobile photo and video-sharing application launched in 2010, is quickly growing in popularity. Instagram was bought by Facebook back in 2012. As of June 2018, there are an estimated *********** Instagram monthly active users worldwide. There are an estimated *********** Instagram users in the United States alone, a number which is forecast to grow to over *** million in 2023. According to the company, the secret to their success is their unique visual storytelling approach to social media. Users registered with the platform can upload pictures and videos, to which they can also apply filters, frames and other effects. They can also attach captions, tags of other people/accounts, whether friends, celebrities or companies and hashtags, which make the media easy to find if one is looking for specific subjects. There are a reported ** million photos uploaded to Instagram every day.

Globally the average user spends 52 minutes on TikTok every day. About 90% of their worldwide users access TikTok on a daily basis.

Regional TikTok user statistics differentiate significantly. Each major region has also experienced growth a different times.

As of January 2025, TikTok creator and comedian Khabane Lame was the most followed content creator on the platform. Lame, who is based in Italy, reached ***** million subscribers. Influencer Charlie D'Amelio followed closely in second position with ***** million followers. Jimmy Donaldson - operating on YouTube as MrBeast, ranked third, with a total of ***** million followers.

TikTok global users Popular video-sharing platform TikTok has gained immense popularity globally. As of April 2024, TikTok had over one billion monthly active users, making it one of the most widely used social media platforms worldwide. Around ** percent of the total user base on TikTok were women, while approximately ** percent of the popular social video platform users were men. In addition, TikTok has become a go-to platform for young people. As of July 2024, most of TikTok's global user base consisted of younger age groups, with **** percent of TikTok's users being men aged between 18 and 24 years. TikTok usage and audience Since its launch in 2016, TikTok’s audience has increased significantly. As of July 2024, Indonesia and the United States were the countries with the largest TikTok audiences. Indonesia led with ***** million users, followed by the United States with ***** million users. The app has managed to catch users’ attention and keep its base entertained. So much so that, as of the second quarter of 2022, global users were spending around ** minutes daily on TikTok, making it the most engaging among social media apps. Additionally, TikTok has quickly become one of the most popular platforms across different app stores. In September 2022, the video app had almost ** million downloads on Google Play Store, making it the most downloaded app for Android users worldwide. In contrast, TikTok was the fifth most downloaded app on Apple App Store, with approximately **** million global users downloads in June 2023.

Teenagers make up the largest group of active users on TikTok.

As of September 2023, YouTube as the most popular social media platform for global users, with 97 percent of respondents reporting to use the popular video platform. YouTube was also the most popular social media among Gen Z users, with 96 percent of respondents in this age group reporting to have used the video platform as of the examined period. Facebook's usage kept steady among among the general digital population, with around eight in 10 reporting to have used the platform. In comparison, the social media's popularity was in free fall among gen Z users with only four in 10 among those surveyed reporting to engage with the Meta-powered platform.

The vast majority of TikTok users are below 30 years old. Approximately 37 million Gen-Zers used TikTok in the US.

During the first quarter of 2024, TikTok content recorded an average of ****** views, making the platform rank as the most engaging for social and short-form video content. Instagram was the second most popular platform, with its Reels generating ****** average views. Facebook short form videos, also called Reels, ranked third. In comparison, YouTube Shorts ranked the lowest based on average video views - approximately *** as of the examined time. TikTok as a profession: from followers to career goals In 2024, TikTok had an average reach of around ****** users on the platform, though accounts’ reach exhibited an upward trend as the follower count increased. Tiny TikTok accounts with up to *** followers had a reach of 10,000 users, while huge accounts with over ****** followers recorded a reach of ****** users during the same examined year. As of July 2024, Khabane Lame, who is known for his silent comedy about life hacks, held the crown of the most followed TikToker with around *** million followers. American social media star Charli D’Amelio and MrBeast followed with over *** and ** million followers, respectively. As of September 2023, Charli D’Amelio was the highest earning TikTok creator, with estimated annual earnings of ** million U.S. dollars. Khabane Lame’s followed with estimated annual earnings of **** million U.S. dollars. But do TikTok users consider content creation as a job? As of March 2024, *** percent of the TikTok users in the United States reported considering content creation as a full-time job, while ** percent reported planning to adopt content creation as a profession. If TikTok had to face a ban in the country, around ** percent of U.S. TikTok influencers would consider YouTube, and Facebook as their potential alternatives for content creation as of April 2024. Instagram followed, as ** percent of respondents reported they would adopt the platform in the case of the TikTok ban. Who uses TikTok? As of July 2024, over 54 percent of the global TikTok audience were men, while women comprised around 45 percent of the audience share. Men between the ages of 25 and 34 held the largest share of ** percent of total TikTok users during the same examined period. Indonesia was the country with the highest number of TikTok users, as around *** million users based in the region reported accessing the platform as of July 2024. The United States, and Brazil followed with over *** and *** million TikTok users, respectively. In terms of TikTok penetration rate, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia dominated other regions, as virtually everyone based in these countries registered using the famous short-video platform during the same period.

TikTok has a significantly larger female user base globally.

During the first quarter of 2023, internet users in Brazil spent an average of three hours and 49 minutes per day on social media. Nigeria and the Philippines also reported high usage levels. By comparison, internet users in Japan spent less than 50 minutes per day on social media. Low levels of daily usage were also recorded in South Korea and the Belgium.

As of January 2023 social network Facebook was ranked first worldwide in terms of active users with almost three billion MAU. Other popular social media include mobile messaging platforms YouTube and WhatsApp, as well as social content sharing networks such as Instagram and social video platform TikTok.

Most social networks are accessible through multiple platforms, but many popular social media started out as mobile apps, demonstrating the growing trend of mobile first development. Examples include Instagram, which initially was launched as an iOS photo editing and discovery app as well as mobile social messenger, as well as TikTok, which recorded 23.7 million downloads worldwide via the Google Play Store alone in June 2023.

Social networking does not only enable users to connect with other people but also with brands and celebrities. Social media has also become a growing source of news for internet users in many countries.