Kepios ‘ analysis suggests that there were 4.62 billion people using social media throughout the world in January 2022. This is 58.4 percent of the global population.
The number of users of social media has seen an impressive increase over the last 12 months also, with 424 million people now using social media since the beginning of the year.
Recent statistics show that more than 9 of of 10 internet users are using social media every monthly (learn more information about wider internet-related behaviors by visiting the Global Digital Overview page).
This corresponds to an annual growth of 10.1 percent which is equivalent to an average of 13 users per second.
However, it is important to be aware that the numbers for social media users may not be representative of specific individuals. Due to issues like duplicate accounts created by Inflact Social media users’ numbers may be higher than those we release on behalf of internet users or the overall population.
However it’s important to note that measuring the number of people who use on social media with the total population may not accurately reflect the extent of usage on social media because large majority of the social media companies restrict their services to people who are 13 or older.
For some context, the most recent figures suggest that the amount of people of social media across the world is now more than 75 percent of all the people who can be part of it.
The data from GWI suggests that the average social media user surfs 7.5 different social media sites each month. They also spend around 2 1/2 hours a day using social media.
If we assume that individuals sleep between 7 and 8 hours per day, these figures suggest that they spend roughly 15 percent of the time of their lives using social media.
Together, the world uses around 10 billion of hours on social media every day. That’s equivalent to 1.2 millions years human life.
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Facebook is the most popular social media platform. However, there are six social media sites with over 1 million active monthly users per. All of them are controlled by Meta.
In addition, 17 websites on social networks will boast more than 300 million active users from January 2022.
Facebook claims to have 2.910 billion monthly active users (see more Facebook statistics here)
The potential reach of the advertising on YouTube is estimated to be 2.562 billion(a)
WhatsApp has at the very most 2 . billion of active users every month
The possible audience for Instagram’s ads can exceed 1.478 billion(a) (see additional Instagram information here)
WeChat (inc. Weixin Wei Xin ) has 1.263 billion active users each month
TikTok boasts 1 billion active users each month (see more TikTok stats here)
The potential reach of Facebook Messenger’s ads could be as high as 988 million(a) (see for more Facebook Messenger stats here)
Douyin (Dou Yun ) is home to 600 million active users per day (note that the number of active users per month could be higher)
QQ (Teng Xun QQ) has 574 million active monthly users.
Sina Weibo (Xin Lang Wei Bo ) has 573 million active users every month
Kuaishou (Kuai Shou ) has 573 million active users who are active every month.
The possible effect of Snapchat’s advertising may have a potential reach of 557 million(a) (see more Snapchat data here)
Telegram has more than 550 million active users who utilize it every month.
Pinterest has 444 million users active that use the site every month (see more Pinterest statistics here)
The possible audience for Twitter’s advertising is approximately 436 million(a) (see more Twitter stats here)
Reddit has an active monthly user count of 430 million users(b)
Quora offers more than 300 million monthly active users(b)
Please note LinkedIn doesn’t publish daily data on active users, so we’re not allowed to include it on the list. However, it is possible to find more specific information about LinkedIn users around the globe here.
Audience overlaps
The various numbers of users on social media platforms offer a convincing explanation of the rapid growth of social media around the globe, but by them themselves, they don’t give the full picture.
The global population of connected people is making use of various social networks every month, which means that there’s going to be plenty of crossover between the user base and the audience for ads on every one platform.
The graph below illustrates the degree of overlap with the most current information from GWI giving valuable data to those looking to create an online strategy or mix of digital media.
The most important takeaway of this fascinating research is that it isn’t necessary for marketers to be on every platform simultaneously in order to to reach their largest potential audience.
If reaching out is your primary aim, then you should focus on a handful of most popular platforms, ensuring that you’ve got the chance to reach out to the majority of the social media users.
Reach isn’t just the one aspect to consider when creating an effective marketing plan in fact, this data can help us consider a different approach to how we design the mixture of media channels.
For instance, various users may utilize different platforms for different reasons, and it’s worthwhile to analyze the needs of their users to determine the platforms most appropriate for specific campaigns and objectives.
The graph below offers a great insights into the motivations the reasons people use social media. But keep in mind that the reasons for users may differ according to the country the age range, as well as also , depending on the platform, be sure to check the market data for your local area as well.
Social media preferences
It’s also important to understand that the number of users who are popular doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re more popular.
Also, the data taken from GWI will help us make sense of which platforms users are interested in most. the graph below shows the global preferences for social media platforms around the world.
As you’d expect, the preferences of individuals differ depending on age and gender.
As you can see from the graphic below, the GWI study shows that younger users tend towards being more inclined to say that they think Instagram is their «favourite» online social network (at the very least in most Western markets) While older generations are more likely to use Facebook in addition to WhatsApp.
But, there are significant variations in these preferences at an individual level. These local differences are crucial for marketers trying to get their message to the right people in the correct location at the right timing.
Social media behavior in different countries
As you’ve seen in the past, the habits of social media platforms differ across countries and that’s why it’s crucial to investigate the data to understand the trends at a local scale.
If you’d like to know more about the usage of social media in particular countries like the local ranking of social media platforms as well as the profiles of members of the audience according to gender and age or gender, you can take the time to browse through our entire review of the media in local areas.
There are pages that offer the most up-to-date statistics for many of the most famous social networks around the globe which you can explore by clicking the links below:
Facebook: Click here
Instagram Click here
TikTok Click here to join TikTok
Facebook Messenger Click here to sign-up to join Facebook Messenger.
LinkedIn Click here
Snapchat Click here for Snapchat
Twitter: Click here
Pinterest Click here for more information.
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Notes:
(a) in the situation when platforms do not release daily active user counts or do not have recent update information on the number of monthly active users. We’ve relied on the most up-to-date figures on advertising reach as published by the self-service tools of each platform for advertising in order to give a comparable basis to compare.
(b) (b) (b) (b) websites haven’t posted any new data on users in the last 12 months, this means that the data for users listed here aren’t as reliable like the figures that we’ve included for other platforms on this list.
LinkedIn has removed its monthly active user counts and its monthly ad audience reach figures are based on the number of registered members, but not on the number of active monthly users (MAUs). It is therefore difficult to estimate the amount of users active LinkedIn has each month. Our calculations suggest that LinkedIn doesn’t have enough active users to be eligible for the top spot in the rankings above.
Please be aware that we’ve included the number of active users per month and potential reach figures for advertising for various websites on the social media in our analysis. It is worth reading through each slide to learn about the metrics that we’ve chosen to use for each platform.
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