We cannot imagine the world without social networks: a statement that gains more strength every day thanks to the acceleration and continued use of various digital platforms. In this context of social media growth, Facebook has managed to remain in the lead as the social network with the most users in the world, according to the latest Digital 2024 report by We Are Social.
Facebook surpasses 3 billion users worldwide Currently, there are over 5 billion active user identities on social networks. This figure has increased by 5.6 percent over the past year, with 266 million new users starting to use social networks for the first time in 2023.
Social networks with the most users It was not the first social network in history, but for the vast majority of people, it is the reference network. Once again, the social platform with the most users in the world is Facebook. If in 2023 the report indicated that Facebook had 2.958 billion users, a 1.65% increase over 2022, for this 2024 report, Mark Zuckerberg’s social network has surpassed the threshold of 3 billion users by accumulating 3.049 billion (+3.07%). YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram accompany it once again on the podium.
Instagram stagnates, TikTok takes off Zuckerberg continues to bring together most of the social networks with the most users in the world: Facebook (3.049 billion users), WhatsApp (2.000 billion users), Instagram (2.000 billion users), and Messenger (979 million users), all of them in the top 7 of this ranking. In the case of Instagram, there is a stagnation in its growth, as it retains the same number of users as last year. This year YouTube continues to lose users (-0.91%), going from 2.514 to 2.491 billion, but still maintains its second position. Between 2022 and 2023, it had already lost 1.87% of users.
Is this TikTok growth credible? Since its origins, TikTok has shown remarkable growth, and this year the Chinese-origin social network shows a new increase in the number of users, with a staggering (and spectacular) 48.62% more users than in 2023. It occupies the fifth place in the table, thus surpassing other networks with strong presence in specific geographical areas such as WeChat (a Chinese video social network, similar to YouTube), highly prevalent in Asia.
In any case, we must question these spectacular TikTok data, as explained by We Are Social: “We see incongruent trends in the data published in the advertising tools of several social platforms (…) Let’s be careful when analyzing trends in audience data from social networks, especially for X (Twitter) and TikTok. We have changed the way we collect data for TikTok, so our latest global figures are not comparable to previous reports. However, the good news is that the data we can report now cover many more countries.”
Other Chinese platforms are also included in the ranking, such as Douyin, Sina Weibo, QQ, and Kuaishou, which have been displaced to less relevant positions compared to the previous report.
As for Elon Musk’s social network, despite all the controversies it faced X (formerly Twitter) in 2023, it managed to register an
increase of 11.33%, reaching 619 million users.
Favorite social networks of users
Regarding the favorite social networks of the public, Instagram is crowned as the favorite with 16.5% of the global market share, thus displacing WhatsApp to the second position (16.1%). The top 3 is completed by Facebook, which, although it retains the same third place as last year, shows a decrease in the percentage of users who indicate it as their preferred network (14.2% in 2023 vs. 12.8% in 2024).
WeChat, the “WhatsApp of China,” appears in the fourth position with 12.8%, while this year TikTok continues to surpass Douyin (its exclusive version for the Chinese market) in preference with 7.4% compared to 6.6%.
Users of social networks by age
If we look at the classification by age, we can see that Instagram is the favorite app among women aged 16 to 24 (25.5%), as well as those aged 16 to 24 (26.2%). On the other hand, women aged 45 to 54 (17.6%) and 55 to 64 (19.8%) prefer WhatsApp, and this latter group also prefers Facebook (16.9%).
For men, those aged 16 to 24 (26.2%) and 25 to 34 (17.5%) prefer Instagram; Facebook is the favorite for the male population aged 45 to 54 (16.3%) and 55 to 64 (18.4%). For most age ranges in the male population, between 35 and 44 (17.4%), 45 to 54 (19.3%), and those aged 55-64 (20.4%), WhatsApp is their main priority in terms of social networks.
Average social media usage time
During 2023, the daily usage time of social networks had a slight decrease worldwide, reaching 2 hours and 23 minutes, down by eight minutes. • What is the best time to post on social networks
Likewise, Spain is below the global average, with an average daily social media usage of 1 hour and 54 minutes, and South Korea (1h 06 min) and Japan (53 min) are the countries where the least daily time is spent on networks. On the other end, we find Kenya (3h 43min), South Africa (03h 41 min), Brazil (3h 37min), and the Philippines (3h 25min).
Regarding average usage time, users spend more time on TikTok with an average usage time of 34 hours per month, with a clear advantage over YouTube, which accumulates 28h 05min of usage time. The top 5 closes with Facebook (19h 47min), WhatsApp Messenger (17h 06min), and Instagram (15h 50min).
Why do we use social networks
Staying in touch with family and friends (49.5%) was the main reason why many turned to social networks in 2023, followed by spending leisure time (38.5%), reading news (34.2%) in third place, looking for content (30.2%) in fourth place, and seeing what’s trending (28.7%) in fifth place.
Bonus track: what happened in previous years
This is not the first year that we share the data from this study with you. What is clear is that Facebook reigns in the world of social networks, but for how long? Is there any social platform capable of posing an immediate threat to Facebook? Let’s see the results from the past years:
2023 In Digital 2023, Zuckerberg brought together most of the social networks with the most users in the world: Facebook (2.958 billion users), WhatsApp (2.000 billion users), Instagram (2.000 billion users), and Messenger (931 million users), all of them in the top 7 of this ranking. In the case of Instagram, the rise was notable and it emerged as the main protagonist in terms of growth: the app had 522 million more users (+35.3%).
The United Arab Emirates was the country with the most social media usage relative to its population, recording a 105.5% usage of these platforms in the last year. Although it may seem overwhelming for a country to have more users than population, we must not forget that a person can have multiple profiles even on the same social network, so ultimately it is not so far-fetched. Spain was the sixth country with the most users on social networks, with 85.6% of its population.
2022 In the 2022 study, Facebook maintained its crown as the social network with the most users in the world, specifically 2.910 billion (6.2% more than in 2021). Completing the podium, and also maintaining positions, were YouTube and WhatsApp.
Despite the controversy surrounding its security, Meta’s CEO continued to position his platforms among the social networks with the most users in the world: WhatsApp (2.000 billion users), Messenger (988 million users), and Instagram (1.478 billion users), all of them in the top 7 of this ranking. In the case of Instagram, the rise was notable: 250 million more users (+21%).
TikTok was the main protagonist in terms of growth: the Chinese-origin social app reached 1.000 billion users, 45% more than in 2021. Meanwhile, after years of stagnation, Twitter recorded significant growth (+23%), reaching 436 million users.
In the 2022 study, it was revealed that the United Arab Emirates once again led in terms of social media usage relative to its total population, surpassing its population with a 106.1% usage of these platforms in the last year, followed by Malaysia (91.7%), South Korea (91.2%), Sweden (90.8%), and the Netherlands (90.7%). Spain climbed positions from 30th place the previous year and became the eleventh country with the most users on social networks, with 87.1% of its population: 7 points more than in the 2021 edition.
2021 In the 2021 report, Facebook obtained 2.740 billion users in January 2021, 11.8% more than in 2020. YouTube ranked second with 2.291 billion users, 14.5% more than the previous year. The pandemic boosted the use of Instagram, which went from sixth place in 2020 (1.000 billion users) to fourth place in 2021 with a total of 1.220 billion users (+22%). However, this was also because WeChat, the most popular instant messaging platform in China, which occupied the fifth position, showed only slight growth, going from 1.151 billion users in 2020 to 1.213 in 2021.
The United Arab Emirates continued to lead in terms of the percentage of social media users relative to its total population, with 99%, closely followed by South Korea, which rose one position this year with 89.3% of its population connected to social networks. Taiwan fell to third place with 88.1%. The Netherlands (88%) and Malaysia (86%) rounded out the top 5. As for Spain, it quickly rose from 30th place in 2020 to 14th place with 80% of its users connected to at least one social network in 2021.
2020 In the 2020 edition of the study, Facebook reached 2.449 billion users, 7.8% more than the previous year. As you can see, in second place is YouTube, with 2.000 billion users. In 2020, the United Arab Emirates maintained its leadership in terms of social media users relative to the total population, with 99%, followed by Taiwan with 88%, South Korea (87%), Malaysia (81%), and Singapore (79%). In the case of Spain, it fell to 30th place: 62% of the population used social networks, a two-point increase compared to the previous year. Among the countries with the lowest penetration rates of social networks are North Korea, Eritrea (0.6%), and Sudan (0.7%).
