88 Social Media Statistics You Can’t Ignore: 2024 Data Analysis & Market Share

In 2020, people spent an average of 6 hours and 59 minutes online, and much of that time was spent on social media. This, coupled with the fact that there are already 4.2 billion active social media users makes it high time for businesses to leverage these platforms. This also means closely monitoring social media statistics.

As more and more people are joining the global social media space, it has become inevitable for every business to have an effective online presence on some of the top social platforms, which you can optimize by using the best social media management software in the market today. So to help you stay ahead in the game, we’ve gathered these social media statistics for you to consider and use to your advantage, especially now that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses to fast-track their digital transformation journey. 

1. Social Media Market Growth Statistics

Social media has changed how people live their lives today. From how we receive news to how we relate with other people, almost everything has changed and is now being done through social media. Here are some current social media market size and other related social media data that matter:

• 98.8% of all social media users or 4.15 billion access social networks via mobile. (We Are Social, 2021)
• The average internet user has accounts on eight different social and messaging services. (DataReportal, 2021)
• Social media ad spending is estimated to grow from $40.34 billion in 2020 to about $49 billion by the end of 2021, at a CAGR of 21.3%. (eMarketer, 2020)
• In line with this prediction, worldwide social media ad spending increased by 26.1% in 2020 Q2 compared to 2020 Q1. (Socialbakers, 2020)
• With over 2.74 billion active monthly users as of January 2021, Facebook continues to be the most widely used social media platform globally. (We Are Social, 2021)
• Meanwhile, YouTube, with 2.29 billion users worldwide, is the second-largest social network. (We Are Social, 2021)
• Altogether, the world’s social media users will spend a total of 3.7 trillion hours on social media in 2021, which is the equivalent of more than 420 million years of combined human existence. (We Are Social, 2021)

Today’s social media market share continues to be dominated by Facebook, based on global reach and total active users. So, along with the other top social media sites, it’s important to know how you can use your social media marketing to enhance your leads conversion, how your content may potentially perform and how you can optimize your organic and paid reach.

2. Demographics of Social Media Users Statistics

The best way to create an effective social marketing strategy is by knowing the demographic makeup of your social media audience. It’s also prudent to figure out how much time users are spending on messaging and social networks. Check out these important Instagram data to help you better fine-tune your marketing campaigns.

General Social Media Demographics

• In 2020, 90.8% of Millennials used social media. Meanwhile, the number of Gen X social media users remained the same from 2019 at 77.5%. The percentage of Baby Boomers using social media also increased from 48.2% in 2019 to 50.9% in 2020. GenZers are the newcomers, with 64.4% of them now on social media. (eMarketer, 2020)
• As of December 2020, 54.5% of Facebook users in the U.S. are female and 45.5% are male. (NapoleonCat, 2020)
• The age group breakdown of Facebook users is as follows: 13 to 17 years, 51%; 18 to 24 years, 76%; 25 to 30 years, 84%; 30 to 49 years, 79%; 50 to 64 years, 68%; and 65+ years, 46%. (Sprout Social, 2020)
• 51% of U.S. adults use Facebook several times a day, while 23% use it about once a day and 26% use it less often in a day. (Sprout Social, 2020)
• 80% of 18-49 year-olds worldwide watch YouTube several times a month. (Brandwatch, 2020)
• In 2019, around 55% of YouTube watchers are men. (Hootsuite, 2021)
• More than 74% of 8 to 15-year-olds use YouTube. (Ofcom, 2020)
• Facebook usage among teens is dropping gradually. From 71% of teenage Facebook users in 2015, their number has gone down to 51%. (Sprout Social, 2021)
• As of 2020, 34% of U.S. teens named Snapchat as their favorite social media app, followed by TikTok (29%), and Instagram (25%). This also shows that TikTok has surpassed Instagram’s popularity among teens. (CNBC, 2020)
• However, Instagram had the most teen engagement at 84%, followed by Snapchat with 80%, and TikTok with 69%. (CNBC, 2020)
• 45% of people who earn over $75,000 annually are LinkedIn users. (Pew Research Center, 2018)
• 57% of LinkedIn users are men. (Hootsuite, 2020)
• 59.9% of LinkedIn users are in the 25 to 34 years age group. (Hootsuite, 2020)
• 40% of LinkedIn users change their job or switch industries every 4 years. (Hootsuite, 2020)
• 80% of people who use Twitter are Millennials. (Omnicore, 2021)

Users in the U.S.

• As of 2019, 79% of the U.S. population use at least one social media network. (Edison Research, 2019)
• 76% of U.S. females and 72% of males use social media. (Backlinko, 2021)
• Among American adults, 73% use YouTube, 68% use Facebook, 35% use Instagram, 29% use Pinterest, 27% use Snapchat, 25% use LinkedIn, 24% use Twitter. (Business2Community, 2019)
• 69% of U.S. adults use Facebook. (Pew Research Center, 2019)
• Among Americans aged 18-24, 78% are Snapchat users. (Pew Research Center, 2018)
• The number of U.S. adults who reported that they are using Facebook remained the same from 2016 to 2019. (Pew Research Center, 2019)
• Among American teens who go online, 96% are YouTube users. (Business2Community, 2019)
• 73% of the U.S. population use YouTube, while 69% use Facebook. (Backlinko, 2021)

Understanding these social media statistics will help marketers better use each type of social network in their campaigns, thereby increasing their leads conversion and expanding their market reach. To help you conduct more efficient market segmentation and other related marketing strategies, it is highly recommended that you use one of today’s most effective marketing automation platforms. This will help you ensure that you make the most of your targetted social media campaigns.

3. Business Use of Social Media Statistics

Social media is developing and expanding nonstop, a development that is a boon to businesses. In fact, 73% of marketers say that social media marketing is basically effective. These social media statistics will show the extensive impact of these communications and marketing platforms on businesses of any type or size:

General Business Use

• As of January 2020, the leading social media platforms used by marketers worldwide are Facebook (94%), Instagram (76%), LinkedIn (59%), Twitter (53%), YouTube (53%), Pinterest (25%), Messenger bots (13%), Snapchat (5%), and TikTok (5%). (Social Media Examiner, 2020)
• Meanwhile, marketers rank the social media platforms they use according to importance as follows: Facebook (59%), Instagram (17%), LinkedIn (14%), YouTube (5%), Twitter (3%), Pinterest (1%), and Messenger bots (1%). (Social Media Examiner, 2020)
• As of 2019, businesses say that the top benefits they derive from social media marketing are increased exposure (86%), more traffic (78%), generated leads (67%), gained loyal fans (60%), and enhanced sales (59%). (Social Media Examiner, 2020)
• 69% of marketers say that increasing brand awareness is their primary goal for using social media. Other goals are increasing web traffic (52%), growing their brand’s audience (46%), promoting content (44%), increasing community engagement (43%), driving sales (40%), connecting with their audience (30%), providing customer support (28%), and tracking competitors (27%). (Sprout Social, 2020)
• The top factors that influence marketers’ approach to social media are the performance to date (59%), social goals and objectives (57%), customer feedback (52%), trending topics and interests (45%), and business goals and objectives (36%). (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2020)
• 62% of small businesses consider social media as a key element of their effective marketing strategy. (Visual Objects, 2019)
• Furthermore, marketers primarily use social media data to: understand their target audience (56%), develop creative content (49%), assess campaign performance (43%), foster communication with consumers (39%), support other departments (33%), report results to manager and team (31%), and analyze trends (30%). (Sprout Social, 2020)
• However, only 23% of marketers use social media data to measure ROI while only 16% use the data to gain competitive insights. (Sprout Social, 2020)

Consumers and Social Media Use

• 55% of customers who learned about a product on social media usually proceed to buy the product. (Kleiner Perkins, 2018)
• 78% of consumers say they are influenced by the posts of brands they follow on social media. (Power Digital, 2020)
• 89% of consumers say they will buy from a brand they follow on social media, while 84% will typically choose that brand over a competitor. (Sprout Social, 2020)
• 75% of consumers say they’re likely to increase spending with brands they follow on social media. (Sprout Social, 2020)
• 40.4% of internet users aged 16 to 54 use social media for their jobs. (We Are Social, 2021)
• 54% of businesses say that all their operational units now use social media. (Hootsuite, 2018)
• The top reasons why people follow brands on social media are: to learn about new products and services (57%), to stay current with company news (47%), to learn about discounts and promotions (40%), to be entertained (40%), and to be educated (34%). (Sprout Social, 2020)
• Interestingly, only 18% of consumers say they follow brands on social media for communication. (Sprout Social, 2020)
• Consumers unfollow brands on social media due to a number of reasons: poor quality of product or support (49%), poor customer service (49%), irrelevant content (45%), too many ads (45%), privacy concerns (39%), negative press (29%), corporate scandal (26%), and too many posts (24%). (Sprout Social, 2020)

Facebook Maintains Its Lead

• On average, a user spends 58 minutes on Facebook every day. (BroadbandSearch, 2020)
• As of 2019, there are more than 90 million small businesses on Facebook. (Facebook, 2019)
• Meanwhile, more recent data shows that 67% of B2C and 46% of B2B organizations name Facebook as their most important social media marketing channel. (Social Media Examiner, 2020)
• However, Facebook’s popularity among marketers has been on the decline since 2019. From 67% of marketers saying it is their most important social media marketing channel in 2018, the percentage went down to 61% in 2019 and further down to 59% in 2020. (Social Media Examiner, 2020)
• Brands see a 0.09% median engagement rate for every Facebook post. (Rival IQ, 2019)
• As of 2020 Q4, the average total Facebook post engagement for all types of posts was 0.11%. (We Are Social, 2021)
• Average Facebook engagement rates seem to lower as the fan base grows. Pages with fewer than 10,000 fans have an average engagement rate of 0.45%, while pages with 10,000 to 100,000 fans get 0.25%. Pages with more than 100,000 fans only have 0.08% average engagement. (We Are Social, 2021)
• As of 2019 Q3, Facebook ad impressions increased by 37%, while the average price per ad decreased by 6%. (AdvertiseMint, 2020)
• The average cost per click (CPC) for ads on Facebook was $0.39 as of 2020. (AdEspresso, 2020)
• 78% of American Facebook users have discovered something to buy via the social network. (Kleiner Perkins, 2018)
• 48% of small businesses use Instagram and YouTube while 41% use Twitter, 33% use LinkedIn, 21% use Pinterest, and 18% use Snapchat. (Visual Objects, 2019)
• Social media marketing newcomers focus on Facebook (89%) and Instagram (66%), while more seasoned marketers have a more diversified approach. (Social Media Examiner, 2020)
• 83% of marketers pay for ads on Facebook, making it the most effective ad channel. (Kleiner Perkins, 2018)
• Instagram ad spending is 23% more than Facebook. (Digiday, 2018)

The impact of this compilation of social media statistics on business is compelling. Gone are the days where a marketer needs to make a sales pitch every time he/she needs to convince people to buy his/her products. You must be prepared to convert any social media lead to a sale. An efficient way to optimize the massive amount of data that this social media report provides is by integrating them with the benefits of business intelligence solutions.

Best Social Media Management Software

1. HubSpot Marketing is a dynamic platform that brings your marketing efforts together in one place, including social. You can even use this on any device, as it adapts well to any screen size, allowing you to do your work comfortably.
2. Facebook Pages Manager is the marketing management app of the biggest social media site in the world. It lets you oversee a page or several pages from a single interface with robust features similar to other marketing platforms.
3. monday.com is a cloud-based software that is an all-arounder. Since it is highly customizable, it can serve as your social media marketing software as well.
4. Zoho Social is a smart tool that can help you grow your social media following and increase engagement with your audience. It integrates with other Zoho products, enabling you to streamline your entire marketing process.
5. Hootsuite makes it easy for you to execute social media strategies. That is because it is designed specifically to manage your social network presence.

4. Country-Related Social Media Statistics

Social media has changed the entire world. It’s unavoidable, it’s powerful, and it’s here to stay. It is present 24/7 in almost all parts of the world.

• 7 out of every 10 Americans use social media to connect with people. (Pew Research Center, 2018)
• For years, US users have made up the most number of Facebook accounts, but by 2018, Indian users became number one with 294 million users, while the US’ 204 million users are now number two. (DataReportal, 2021)
• In the UK, the top most used social media networks are Facebook, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. (Cast From Clay, 2018)
• From 2016 to 2020, the Philippines has the highest social media usage rate in the world. As of 2020, there were 73 million social media users in the Philippines. (DataReportal, 2020)
• As of January 2019, the highest active social network penetrations among countries worldwide are in UAE (99%), Taiwan (89%), South Korea (85%), Singapore (79%), and Hong Kong (78%). (DataReportal, 2020)
• Meanwhile, places with the fastest growing social media use are Saudi Arabia (32%), India (31%), Indonesia (23%), Ghana (22%), South Africa (20%), and Vietnam (20%). (We Are Social, 2018)
• More recent studies have shown that the most active mobile social penetrations worldwide are in Taiwan (89%), South Korea (85%), Maldives (78%), Malaysia (74%), and Singapore (72%). (We Are Social, 2020)

Per Continent/Region Statistics

• Western and Northern Europe have the highest social media penetration by region at 79%. (We Are Social, 2021)
• In Europe, many people tend to get their news from social networks. Half of Italy’s population, for example, use social media for their daily news. (Pew Research Center, 2018)
• Active social media users per continent: Africa 216 million (17% penetration), the Americas 673.1 million (66%), Asia-Pacific 1.9 billion (47%), Europe 462.5 million (55%), and the Middle East 136.1 million (53%). (We Are Social, 2019)
• In advanced societies like Europe, there are more female social media users than males. In Sweden, for example, 72% of women use social media compared to 63% of men, while in Spain, 63% of women use social media compared to 54% of men. (Pew Research Center, 2018)

As more people use social media every day, the more it is logical for businesses to connect with their customers using social sites.

5. Content & Posting in Social Media Statistics

Social media allows brands to access cost-effective marketing, interact with their audience, and build brand loyalty.

By Content Statistics

• 71% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend the brand to their friends and family. (Lyfe Marketing, 2019)
• 49% of consumers worldwide say that they rely on influencer recommendations on social networks regarding their buying decisions. (Digital Marketing Institute, 2018)
• During the COVID-19 pandemic, video content increased across all three platforms, and it reached its peak on Facebook (15.8%) and Instagram (14.2%) in April 2020. (Socialbakers, 2020)
• An Instagram video creates 21.2% more interactions versus images. (Quintly, 2018)
• From 2019 to 2020, more than 20% of tweets from brand pages with more than 1,000 followers contained video, and that figure moved as high as 27.3% in June 2020. (Socialbakers, 2020)
• Stories—the vertical, disappearing Snapchat-invented videos—are now growing 15 times faster compared to feed-based sharing. (Block Party, 2018)
• The types of content that inspire social media engagement the most are images (68%), videos (50%), text-based posts (30%), stories (26%), polls (26%), live video (22%), and GIFs (17%). (Sprout Social, 2020)

By Posting Statistics

• Nearly a billion users across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat are already sharing ephemeral content (more popularly known as Stories) to their friends over social networks. (TechCrunch, 2018)
• At least 995 photos are uploaded on Instagram every second. (Omnicore, 2021)
• The number of daily active Instagram Stories users has increased from 150 million in January 2017 to more than 500 million as of October 2020. (Omnicore, 2021)
• 98.8% of all people who use social media do it via mobile devices. (We Are Social, 2021)
• On average, the best time to post on Facebook is from 12 pm to 4 pm, while the best days to post are on Thursdays and Fridays. (Falcon, 2020)
• Visual content is shared 40x more versus other content types. (HubSpot, 2020)

As social media becomes more integrated into our daily lives, it opens an extensive array of opportunities for businesses that are seeking to connect and interact more with their audience through social media marketing. One such opportunity is using these social platforms to optimize the efficiency of sales tools that they’re already using or are planning to deploy in their business.

Planning Your Social Media Business Strategy by Leveraging These Statistics

Social networks now have a decidedly strong social, economic, and cultural impact. Results of our social media research clearly indicate that businesses can remain relevant, succeed, and gain competitiveness in this digital marketplace by taking advantage of the benefits of social media. Here are some of the key takeaways of this compelling compilation of social media statistics:

• More than half of the entire human population is using social media. Its use for businesses is compelling for relevance and survival.
• As social media continue to permeate deeper into our society, the long-standing divide between young and old users gradually diminishes across all age groups.
• Businesses remain among the top beneficiaries of social media as consumers increasingly turn to social media to help them with their shopping needs.
• Social media is transcending geographic and cultural boundaries as its per-country penetration continues to rise across the world.
• Just like with any other marketing channel, marketers must know how to properly use social media to achieve optimal results, especially at this time when most businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are competing for users’ attention.

There you have it, a compelling and carefully selected collection of the latest social media statistics worldwide, which can provide you with key considerations that can be useful in improving your social media marketing campaigns. As a final note, your knowledge of these key social media statistics becomes more optimized when you integrate it with the most efficient marketing solutions that are available in the market today.

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By James Anthony

A senior FinancesOnline writer on SaaS and B2B topics, James Anthony passion is keeping abreast of the industry’s cutting-edge practices (other than writing personal blog posts on why Firefly needs to be renewed). He has written extensively on these two subjects, being a firm believer in SaaS to PaaS migration and how this inevitable transition would impact economies of scale. With reviews and analyses spanning a breadth of topics from software to learning models, James is one of FinancesOnline’s most creative resources on and off the office.