Social Media & User-Generated Content

Social media and user-generated content define interactive technologies designed to create and share information, ideas, and interests among virtual communities. Social media varies by text posts, images, videos, comments, and network platforms. Social media global penetration reached nearly 60 percent in 2023. Northern and Western Europe had the largest penetration rate, followed by Southern Europe and Northern America.

Social media consistently expands, advances and grows around the world. The total number of social media users is expected to hit over 5.85 billion individuals by 2027, which would be over half of the world population.

Market size

Geographical distribution of users

Distribution of worldwide social media users in 2022, by region

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Further details: Visit original statistic Distribution of worldwide social media users in 2022, by region

Given that Asia accounts for nearly 60 percent of the global population, it is no surprise that the continent has the largest number of all social media users. In fact, 26 percent of all global social media users were in Eastern Asia, followed by Southeast and Southern Asia. The number of social network users equaled almost 4.6 billion worldwide in 2022 and the figure is projected to increase to over 5.8 individuals by 2027: an increase of 26 percent over five years.

Social media worldwide
Social media in Asia Pacific
Social media in the United States

Market segments

Types of social media

Number of social media users worldwide from 2017 to 2027 (in billions)

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Further details: Visit original statistic Number of social media users worldwide from 2017 to 2027 (in billions)

There is a wide range of social media, but the leading type is social networking. Whether one needs to connect with friends, to follow the news, or to expand one’s business network, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn keep attracting users. Additionally, social video platforms like YouTube and short-form sensation TikTok have been carving out their space among mainstream social networking platforms. In 2022, TikTok was estimated to count over 1.7 billion users worldwide.

Number of global TikTok users
Facebook
YouTube

Industry leaders

Meta is king

Most popular social networks worldwide as of January 2024, ranked by number of monthly active users (in millions)

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Further details: Visit original statistic Most popular social networks worldwide as of January 2024, ranked by number of monthly active users (in millions)

Facebook is the biggest existing social network with 2.96 billion monthly active users recorded in early 2023. In 2022, Facebook's parent company Meta reported annual revenues of 116.6 billion U.S. dollars, more than doubling its revenues in 2018. Despite losing ground to its social video competitors, especially with young audiences, the number of Meta's Family of Apps users -Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus - has experienced a positive growth trend since 2018.

Facebook
Most used social media platform as of 2023
Meta Platforms

Industry trends

Social media influence

Distribution of YouTube video views in the United States between January and July 2022, by creator category

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Further details: Visit original statistic Distribution of YouTube video views in the United States between January and July 2022, by creator category

Digital content creators and influencers are very visible on social media. Short-form videos like Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts have seen influencers generate billions of views. As of 2021, over half of content creators on TikTok had between 1,000 and 5,000 followers, while less than one percent reported having over one million followers.

Social media marketing
Online video content creators
Distribution of TikTok influencers worldwide

State of the industry

  • Social media advertising and marketing worldwide
  • Social media and global events
  • Social media: Facebook users in the United States
  • Social media: YouTube users in the United States
  • Social media: Instagram users in the United Kingdom
  • Social Media Advertising: market data & analysis
  • Social media usage in the United States
  • Misinformation on social media
  • Social media and politics in Brazil
  • Social media usage worldwide

Industry Definition

Statista offers a broad range of statistics, facts, and market data on social media and user-generated content. In this section, customers will find up-to-date information on the number of social media users, mobile user shares, and data surrounding online user demographics and behavior.

The platform provides industry data for the world’s most popular social media platforms and apps. It covers key social media metrics, ranging from reach and penetration rates of leading social networks to revenue figures and engagement rates. Breakdowns of the most-followed accounts and channels are also available to provide further insights into the latest social media trends and technologies.

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