How Many People Use Social Media?

Worldwide, 3.8 billion people used social media in January 2020 (the majority of whom used their mobile device). That number has jumped by 1 million people a day in 2018. The average person spends six hours and 43 minutes a day online. Of that time, one third of that is on social media.

Facebook alone reaches 69 percent of American adults, 1.9 billion users visit YouTube monthly, 67 percent of people between the age of 18 and 29 use Instagram, and 73 percent of those aged 18-24 are using Snapchat.

A good share of custom attention is now online – the good news for businesses is that people are willing to follow company accounts. For example, 80 percent of Instagram users follow at least one brand. That share of attention can lead to awareness and purchases, particularly with new in-app shopping and download features.

The truth is, social media is now mainstream media. Channels like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and even Snapchat are where you consume pop culture and news. How could this not be the case when 88 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds are actively using social media to consume content from brands, news outlets, family, and friends?

79 percent of people in the U.S. use social media to connect with one another, engage with news content, share information, and entertain themselves, representing a two percent increase from the 77 percent usage the previous year. That means that in 2019, there were approximately 247 million social media users in the U.S.

The number of worldwide social media users reached an estimated 3.5 billion in April 2019. Overall, Facebook is still the most popular social network based on active users. Facebook had 2.32 billion accounts as of May 2019, followed by YouTube and WhatsApp with 1.9 billion and 1.5 billion users respectively.

Eastern Asia and North America have the highest penetration of social media users. In the United States, an estimated 244 million people used social media in 2018, a number forecast to exceed 257 million by 2023.

A 2019 report showed that younger Americans were more likely to use social networks than older generations. Social media users in the United States use different social networks for different reasons. A 2019 survey showed Instagram as the top social network for viewing photos, whereas Facebook was more popular for sharing content.

The 18-to-29 age group uses social media the most, with 90 percent of people in that age bracket reporting that they use social media.

As more Americans have adopted social media, the social media user base has also grown more representative of the broader population. Young adults were among the earliest social media adopters and continue to use these sites at high levels, but usage by older adults has increased in recent years.

82 percent of the 30-to-49 age bracket is on social media, while 69 percent of the 50-to-64 bracket uses social media and 40 percent of the 65-and-up group are on social media. It’s worth noting that a decade ago, only seven percent of older Americans used social media.

The most popular apps among the 18-to-29 generation? Well, 91 percent use YouTube, 79 percent have Facebook, 67 percent use Instagram, and 62 percent use Snapchat.

Indonesia uses social media the most, with 83 percent of its population saying that they use the internet for social media.

A survey by Ipsos found that Indonesia was followed by Argentina at 76 percent and Russia at 75 percent. Japan musters a low 35 percent of users partaking in social media. That puts them in the bottom of the rankings.

Where does the United States rank in this survey? Only 61 percent of Internet users visit social networks or blogs.

Worldwide, 3.8 billion people used social media in January 2020 (the majority of whom used their mobile device). That number has jumped by 1 million people a day in 2018. The average person spends six hours and 43 minutes a day online. Of that time, one-third of that is on social media.

Women use social media more than men, with 71 percent of women reporting that they use social media compared with 62 percent of men. Further, women spend 2.08 hours a day on social networks while men spend 1.81 hours per day. Also, 24 percent of women said they prefer meeting via social networks rather than face-to-face.

75 percent of women use Facebook compared to 63 percent of men, while 43 percent of women use Instagram compared to 31 percent of men. Vastly more popular with women than men is Pinterest, which is used by 42 percent of women and only 15 percent of men.

One social media platform that appeals more to men than women? Twitter, which is used by 24 percent of men and 21 percent of women. Another is YouTube, which is used by 78 percent of men and 68 percent of women.