The power of social media to drive business success is undeniable. From small businesses to global enterprises, savvy marketers are harnessing the potential of this powerful tool. But it can be hard to keep up with all the latest trends and stats – until now.
We’ve compiled a list of essential social media statistics to make the most of your digital strategies. From YouTube and Facebook to Twitter and Instagram, here are the top social media stats you must know.
How Many People Use Social Media?
Social media has become a global phenomenon. More than half the world is hopping online and connecting with people from all corners of the globe! That’s 4.76 billion people using social media.
In the past 12 months alone, 137 million new users have joined in. The increase in usage of social media platforms since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown has been remarkable. According to a special report by Datareportal, social media usage saw an unprecedented surge as people worldwide turned to digital spaces for information and connection.
Interestingly, this growth came after two years, when social media usage seemed to slow down. This trend can be linked to the changes in user behavior during the Covid-19 lockdown, with people searching for ways to stay connected and informed without the need for physical contact.
How Much Time Do People Spend on Social Media?
We’ve all been there—staring at our phones, scrolling through endless social media feeds and stories. It turns out using social media a lot more common than we realize. According to social media statistics, the average person spends 147 minutes, or almost two and a half hours and per day on social media.
The Philippines is leading the way in consuming social media, with an average of three hours and fifty-three minutes spent daily. The United States is only a few steps behind, having clocked in an average time of two hours and three minutes daily.
Are Customers Using Social Media?
Social media is no longer just for keeping up with friends and family. It’s become an essential tool for businesses to reach out to their customers, as the lower cost of advertising on social media than traditional methods has boosted social selling opportunities. With most internet users now using social media, companies have an incredible opportunity to market themselves and engage with their customers.
The most popular platforms people use are Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, with 75% of the customers using these platforms for online shopping and exploration. Businesses can leverage these multiple platforms to reach customers and boost brand awareness. The data shows that customers are actively looking for inspiration, reviews, and content from the brands they follow, so businesses must take advantage of this opportunity.
Social Media Platforms’ Daily Usage by Generation
The highest social media usage can be seen among people aged 18-29 at 84%. This number drops slightly for people aged 30-49, with 81% active users. But there’s a further drop in usage for the 50-64 age range, which only has 73% of people actively using social media. Unsurprisingly, US adults aged 65 and above use social media the least.
Young adults are more engaged with social media than other generations – largely due to their broad access to smartphones. Older generations are likelier to use tablets and other such devices for their social media needs.
If you want to target different generations for your product or service, you should use this information to consider which platforms they’re using and what kind of device they prefer. This is also an important step in refining your social media marketing strategy.
Which Are the World’s Biggest Social Media Platforms?
When we hear of social media, Facebook is the household name that comes to mind. Other major platforms include YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, and Twitter. But how do these platforms compare according to statistics?
Here, we discuss key statistics for the biggest social media platforms to see how they compare.
YouTube Statistics
- YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google.
- Over one billion hours of content are watched on YouTube every day.
- YouTube has over 1.9 billion logged-in monthly users who actively watch videos..
- Nearly five billion videos are watched each day on YouTube.
- There are currently over 500 hours of content uploaded to YouTube every minute.
- Over 70% of YouTube watch time comes from mobile devices.
- YouTube’s ad revenue decreased by seven percent by the end of 2022, accumulating to $7.96 billion.
- YouTube accounts for over a third of all internet traffic (35%) worldwide.
- The average watch time per session on YouTube is now 40 minutes.
- Over 70% of video views come from suggested videos.
- There are 51 million active channels on YouTube, which continues to grow rapidly.
- An average viewer watches 50-60% of a YouTube video.
- Over 60% of marketers use YouTube for content marketing.
- Music videos make up 10% of all views on YouTube, with viewers spending an average of eight minutes per view.
Facebook Statistics
- Facebook has over 2.96 billion monthly users as of April 2023, a growth of 10% from 2020 figures.
- As of April 16, 2023, Facebook is worth $574.24 billion, making it one of the most valuable companies in the world.
- The platform brings together 2.6 billion active users who spend an average of 33 minutes on the site daily.
- People aged 18–24 and 25-35 comprise Facebook’s biggest age groups, representing 18.4% and 23.8% of total users, respectively.
- Mobile devices account for 93% of Facebook’s advertising revenue, with $2.6 billion in total ads spent on the platform in 2022.
- Video content is hugely popular on Facebook, with eight billion daily video views from 500 million users.
- Over 200 million businesses have Facebook pages for marketing purposes.
- Facebook Messenger is the world’s second most popular messaging app, after WhatsApp, boasting 1.3 billion monthly users sending over 20 billion messages daily.
- Over 1.5 billion people use Facebook’s (now Meta) other services monthly, such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus virtual reality headsets.
- India is the biggest user base of Facebook, with 416.6 million total users. The United States ranks second with 240 million users, and Indonesia third with 176.5%.
Instagram Statistics
- Instagram currently has 2.35 billion active monthly users.
- Over 500 million people use Instagram Stories every day.
- 60% of users log in daily, and 75% take some action, like visiting a profile or liking or commenting on a post.
- There are over 200 million business profiles on Instagram.
- Two million advertisers use Instagram to reach audiences.
- 90% of users follow at least one business on Instagram, and 200 million people visit a business profile daily.
- Over 500 million people watch videos on Instagram daily.
- 96% of US fashion brands are on Instagram, followed by 83% technology, 57% automotive, and 53% beauty brands.
- Content from influencers is 10x more likely to spark conversation than brand-created content.
- Instagram posts with at least one hashtag average 12.6% more engagement than those without.
- Instagram ads are one of the most cost-effective social media ads, yielding an average cost per click of $0.20 to $0.50.
- Instagram users are 5x more likely to click an ad than users on any other social platform, and the cost per action is 1-2x lower than that of other channels.
- On average, videos get 38% more engagement than images on Instagram.
- The best time to post on Instagram is 9 to 12 am on weekdays, 11 to 12 am on Fridays, and 9 am to 3 pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
- The optimal length of an Instagram caption is 125 characters or less.
- Instagram supports up to 90 languages, making it one of the world’s most widely used social media platforms.
Twitter Statistics
- Twitter has 330 million monthly active users.
- 500 million tweets are sent every day.
- 79% of Twitter accounts are outside the U.S.
- 80% of users access Twitter only from their mobile phones.
- 38% of users check in with Twitter multiple times a day.
- Over 85% of Twitter users find ads helpful in discovering new brands.
- Over 65 million businesses use Twitter for advertising.
- 67% of Twitter users are more likely to purchase from a small business with a strong presence on the platform.
- Twitter demographics are dominated by males, with 71.2% of total accounts.
- Over 73% of consumers feel more positive about a brand when their tweet is replied to.
Key Takeaways
The nature of statistics of different social media platforms varies widely, from demographics and usage to engagement and finances. Knowing the key social media statistics of the more popular platforms will help your knowledge and trends about them, helping you streamline your marketing strategies.
Here are the key stats comparing the scale of the biggest social media platforms:
- YouTube is the world’s second-most visited website, with over two billion active monthly users who watch an average of one hour and four minutes of content daily.
- Facebook is the most popular social media platform, with 2.6 billion active monthly users who spend an average of 33 minutes on the site daily.
- Instagram has 2.35 billion active monthly users and 500 million daily Instagram Stories views.
- Twitter boasts 330 million monthly active users, 500 million tweets sent daily, and 79% of accounts outside the U.S.
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