41 Key Social Media Statistics (2024 Data & Trends)

Need the latest social media statistics to help you develop a better marketing strategy?

Maybe you’re just curious about how the general internet user uses social media.

In this post, we cover top social media statistics from reports around the web. We’ve organized them into a few different categories, including general stats, usage stats, stats on different platforms and more.

General social media statistics

1. The social media market size will reach $251.45 billion in 2024

According to a study conducted by The Business Research Company, the global social media market size will reach $251.45 billion in 2024.

The market size was $219.06 billion in 2023, giving it a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.8% between 2023 and 2024.

The market size will reach $413.16 billion by 2028, which means it’ll have a CAGR of 13.2% between now and 2028.

Source: The Business Research Company

2. The global social networking app market will reach $310.37 billion by 2030

According to research conducted by Grand View Research, the global social networking app market will reach $310.37 billion by 2030.

The market will have a CAGR of 26.2% between now and 2030.

The global social networking app market size was valued at $49.09 billion in 2022.

Source: Grand View Research

3. There are 5.04 billion social media users around the world

According to DataReportal’s report, there are 5.04 billion social media users worldwide.

The report also states that there were only 25 million global users in the year 2000, though it should be noted that global social media websites as a whole were less prevalent at the time.

Source: DataReportal

4. 94.21% of internet users are social media users

DataReportal’s report also states that there are 5.35 billion internet users around the world.

This means that 94.21% of internet users are social media users.

Source: DataReportal

5. 93.2% of internet users use social media

DataReportal’s latest report on digital media revealed that 93.2% of internet users are using social media.

88.7% watch linear and broadcast TV while 76.6% watch streaming and on-demand TV.

Source: DataReportal

6. The number of social media users in the world has increased by 169.45% since 2014

DataReportal’s report includes data on the number of social media user identities that existed within each year since the year 2000.

Their data reveals that there were 1,869 million, or 1.87 billion, social media users in the world in 2014.

Because there are now 5,036 million, or 5.04 billion, social media users, this means there has been a 169.45% increase in the number of global social media users who exist.

Source: DataReportal

7. 30% of the top 20 websites in the world are social media websites

Semrush keeps track of the web’s top websites.

When DataReportal evaluated Semrush’s data between September and November of 2023, they discovered that 30% of the top 20 websites in the world are social media sites.

This translates into six out of the top 20 websites.

Those websites are YouTube, Facebook, Twitter (X), Instagram, Reddit and TikTok.

Source: Semrush

8. 49.5% of social media users use social media to keep in touch with friends and family

In a survey published in DataReportal’s latest report on the digital age, it was revealed that the majority of social media users, or 49.5%, use social media to keep in touch with friends and family.

38.5% use it to fill in spare time, 34.2% use it to read news stories, and 30.2% use it to discover content, such as articles and videos.

Source: DataReportal

9. 37.6% of internet users between the ages of 45 and 64 use social media to read news stories

In DataReportal’s report, they discovered that although all age groups primarily use social media to stay in touch with friends and family, older generations are more likely to use social media as a news source than younger generations.

37.6% of internet users aged 45 to 64 use social media to read news stories compared to 33.03% of internet users aged 16 to 44.

Source: DataReportal

10. 40.13% of internet users between the ages of 16 and 44 use social media to fill in spare time

DataReportal’s report revealed that younger generations are more likely to use social media as a way to fill in spare time throughout the day.

40.13% of internet users aged 16 to 44 use social media to fill in spare time compared to 33.8% of internet users aged 45 to 64.

Source: DataReportal

11. 47.8% of social media users follow friends and family on social media

According to DataReportal, the majority of social media users, or 47.8%, follow friends and family on social media.

Source: DataReportal

12. 64.79% of all web traffic referrals originate from Facebook

DataReportal’s latest report on the digital world included a pretty surprising statistic: a huge majority of all web traffic referrals originate from Facebook alone.

64.79% of all web traffic referrals originate from Facebook.

The second biggest source, Instagram, makes up 10.03% of web traffic referrals.

Source: DataReportal

13. 97.6% of internet users own smartphones

DataReportal’s research states that an overwhelming majority, or 97.6%, of internet users own smartphones.

Source: DataReportal

Social media usage statistics

14. 30.1% of the global social media population are based in Eastern Asia

DataReportal discovered that the majority of social media users in the world are from Eastern Asia.

30.1% of the global social media population are from this region.

Source: DataReportal

15. 71.3% of the North American population are on social media

DataReportal’s research states that 71.3% of North America’s population have at least one social media account.

Social media use is highest among Northern Europe where 81.7% of the population are on social media.

Source: DataReportal

16. 94.3% of internet users visit social media networks every month

DataReportal’s research revealed that 94.3% of internet users between the ages of 16 and 64 visit social media networks every month.

This makes social media the second most popular type of website/app internet users visit on a monthly basis.

Chat and messaging websites/apps came in first at 94.7%.

Source: DataReportal

17. Internet users visit an average of 6.7 social media platforms every month

According to DataReportal’s data, internet users who use social media tend to visit an average of 6.7 social media platforms each month.

Source: DataReportal

18. Internet users spend two hours and 23 minutes on social media per day on average

DataReportal discovered that internet users spend an average of two hours and 23 minutes on social media per day.

They also discovered that internet users spend six hours and 40 minutes using the internet on average every day.

Source: DataReportal

19. Active TikTok users spend an average of 34 hours on the platform every month

DataReportal’s report includes details on the average amount of time active users spend on each social media platform.

Their data reveals TikTok to be the most popular social media platform in terms of actual use.

Active TikTok users spend an average of 34 hours on TikTok every month.

Only YouTube comes in at a close second with active users spending an average of 28 hours and five minutes on the platform every month.

Source: DataReportal

20. 96.9% of internet users aged 16 to 24 visit social media network websites and apps every month

DataReportal’s data on website/app usage included breakdowns of each type of website and app popularity among different age demographics.

They discovered social network websites and apps to be most popular among internet users between the ages of 16 and 24.

96.9% of internet users in this age demographic visit these types of websites and apps at least once a month.

Source: DataReportal

21. 53.5% of social media users are male

DataReportal’s research states that a slight majority of social media users, or 53.5%, are male.

Source: DataReportal

Social media marketing statistics

22. 45% of marketers predict organic social media will play an important role for their businesses in 2024

In Meltwater’s latest survey of marketers, they discovered that the majority, or 45%, believe organic social media will play an important role for their businesses in 2024.

Only 6.3% of marketers say organic social media will not play an important role in 2024.

Source: Meltwater

23. 25.2% of marketers will increase their budgets for influencer marketing in 2024

According to Meltwater’s survey, 25.2% of marketers will increase their budgets for influencer marketing in 2024.

26.3% will dedicate the same amount to this marketing strategy in 2024 while 41.4% aren’t sure.

Only 7% of marketers will decrease their influencer marketing budgets in 2024.

Source: Meltwater

24. 55.5% of marketers use TikTok for influencer marketing campaigns

According to a survey run by Influencer Marketing Hub that was featured on Startup Bonsai, the majority of marketers use TikTok to deploy influencer marketing campaigns.

55.5% of marketers use TikTok for this purpose.

50.8% use Instagram, 42.1% use Facebook and 38.3% use YouTube.

Source: Startup Bonsai¹

25. 25% of marketers say Instagram and Facebook are most effective when it comes to building an active community

According to HubSpot’s latest Social Media Trends report, 25% of marketers say Instagram is most effective for building an active community on social media and another 25% say Facebook.

Source: HubSpot¹

26. 69.5% of companies handle social media marketing in house

According to Meltwater’s survey, the vast majority of companies, or 69.5%, handle social media marketing in house rather than outsourcing to a third party.

Source: Meltwater

27. Only 2.7% of companies outsource all social media tasks to third parties

While 69.5% of companies say they handle all social media tasks in house, 2.7% outsource all social media tasks.

17.9% outsource less than 50% of social media tasks while 6.9% outsource more than 50%.

Source: Meltwater

28. 61.4% of companies use external social media tools for scheduling, publishing and community management

According to Meltwater’s survey, a huge majority of companies use external social media tools to handle scheduling, publishing and community management tasks.

61.4% use external tools for these tasks.

Source: Meltwater

Social media platform statistics

29. Facebook is the most active social media site in the world with 3.05 billion active users

DataReportal’s report includes data on the number of active users each social media platform has.

Their data reveals Facebook to be the most active social media platform in the world as the platform has 3,049 million global active users.

This translates to 3.05 billion active Facebook users.

YouTube is in second with 2,491 million active users while WhatsApp and Instagram are tied for third with 2,000 million active users each.

Source: DataReportal

30. 16.5% of internet users say Instagram is their favorite social media platform

In spite of DataReportal’s data that reveals Facebook to be the most active platform in the world, the majority of internet users, or 16.5%, say Instagram is their favorite platform.

16.1% say WhatsApp is their favorite social media platform.

12.8% say Facebook is their favorite platform while another 12.8% say WeChat.

Source: DataReportal

31. TikTok was downloaded over 1 billion times in 2023

According to Statista’s data on TikTok, the popular short-form video app was downloaded 1,000.57 million times in 2023, which translates to over 1 billion downloads across four quarters.

The app had over 250.14 million downloads per quarter on average.

Downloads peaked in Quarter 1 and Quarter 2 of 2020 when downloads reached 313.53 million and 291.99 million respectively.

Source: Statista¹

32. 360,000 Twitter posts are published every minute

In an internet minute, 360,000 Twitter (now X) posts are published every minute.

In that same amount of time, 41.6 million WhatsApp messages are sent, 4 million Facebook posts are liked and 694,000 Instagram Reels are sent via DMs.

Source: Statista²

Statistics on social media advertising

33. 50% of consumers aged 25 to 34 research products on social networks

According to data obtained by GWI and published by Startup Bonsai, using social media to research products is most popular among consumers between the ages of 25 and 34.

50% of consumers in this age bracket use social media to research products.

Note to editor: third statistic from this image

Source: Startup Bonsai²

34. 83.1% of active social media users use social media for brand research

DataReportal’s report states that 83.1% of active social media users use social media for brand research.

62.7% use Instagram, 54.3% use Facebook and 44.9% use TikTok.

Source: DataReportal

35. 31% of consumers aged 25 to 34 discover products through social media ads

GWI’s research also revealed that discovering products through social media ads is also popular among the 25 to 34 age bracket.

31% of consumers in this age bracket discover products via social media ads.

Note to editor: first statistic from this image

Source: Startup Bonsai²

36. 26% of consumers aged 25 to 44 discover products through social media recommendations

GWI’s research also revealed that discovering products from social media recommendations is also popular among consumers between the ages of 25 and 44.

26% of consumers aged 25 to 34 discover products in this way as do consumers aged to 35 to 44.

Source: Startup Bonsai²

Statistics on social media-based ecommerce

37. 80% of social media marketers say consumers are more likely to purchase products on social media

HubSpot’s latest report on social media trends included data on social media-based ecommerce, such as businesses who sell products through TikTok Shop.

They discovered that 47% of social media marketers sell products directly within the social media apps they market to.

Even better, 80% say consumers buy products directly within social media apps more often than they do on brand websites or through third-party resellers.

Source: HubSpot¹

38. 33% of social media marketers say Instagram has the highest ROI when it comes to selling products directly through social media

33% of social media marketers say Instagram has the highest return on investment (ROI) out of all apps they use to sell products directly.

However, it’s important to note that this survey was conducted before TikTok Shop was released globally.

At the time, 12% of marketers said TikTok had the highest ROI for selling products directly through social media.

Source: HubSpot¹

39. 54% of consumers are concerned that sellers on social media aren’t legitimate

HubSpot’s report also included a survey of consumers’ concerns about buying products on social media.

They discovered that consumers are mostly worried about sellers not being legitimate. 54% of consumers are worried about this aspect of buying products on social media.

Source: HubSpot¹

AI in social media statistics

40. The global market size for artificial intelligence in social media will reach $12 billion by 2031

The global market size for AI in social media was valued at $992.7 million in 2021.

It’s expected to reach $12 billion by 2031, giving the market a CAGR of 28.7% between now and 2031.

Source: Allied Market Research

41. 31% of marketers use AI for social media

According to HubSpot, 31% of marketers are using AI for social media.

The company’s report states that marketers are using AI for the following social media tasks:

• Generate a professional LinkedIn caption based on an image’s original Instagram caption.
• Create social media ads that are optimized for each platform based on each platform’s required image specs.
• Generate ideas on what to post to social media based on a specific industry.
• Generate ideas on what to post to achieve a specific goal, such as getting your target audience to subscribe to your newsletter from a LinkedIn post.
• Create social media posts for company announcements, such as new team members and products.

Source: HubSpot²

Sources

• The Business Research Company
• Grand View Research
• DataReportal
• Meltwater
• Startup Bonsai¹
• HubSpot¹
• Statista¹
• Statista²
• Startup Bonsai²
• Allied Market Research
• HubSpot²

Final thoughts

Social media is one of the most influential facets of daily life in this day and age. The social media statistics in this post only prove that fact.

These stats proved that social media is as important to consumers as it is to marketers.

This is why it’s important for you to learn how your target audience uses social media and optimize your social media marketing strategy in this way.

Check out our post examining examples of social media marketing for more tips.