Social Media Statistics 2026: Users, Time, Engagement
About 5.79 billion people use social media in 2026, roughly 70% of everyone on Earth, and the average user spends 18 hours and 36 minutes a week on it across 6.5 different platforms. In the United States, 254 million people are on social media and 84% of adults use YouTube. Here are the social media statistics worth knowing, each sourced inline with the year noted.
How many people use social media in 2026
5.79 billion social media user identities were active worldwide in April 2026, equal to 69.9% of the global population (DataReportal, 2026). The count tracks identities rather than people, because duplicate accounts inflate every platform-reported total.
294 million new user identities appeared over the preceding 12 months, growth of 5.4%, which works out to 9.3 new users every second (DataReportal, 2026).
94.7% of the world’s internet users are on social media each month, drawn from a total of 6.12 billion internet users, or 73.8% of the world’s population (DataReportal, 2026).
How much time the average user spends on social media
18 hours and 36 minutes per week is what the typical user spends browsing social networks and watching video on them (GWI data published by DataReportal, 2026). Against a normal sleep schedule, that is more than one full waking day every week.
6.5 platforms is what the average user visits or actively uses each month (GWI, 2026).
15 billion hours a day is the world’s combined time on social platforms, the equivalent of more than 1.75 million years of human existence burned daily (DataReportal, 2026).
Which social platform has the most users
There is no single answer, because surveys, app-usage panels and advertising tools each rank the platforms differently.
2.65 billion is YouTube’s reported monthly advertising reach, the largest of any platform, ahead of Facebook at 2.39 billion, TikTok at 2.21 billion and Instagram at 1.99 billion (DataReportal, 2026).
56.3% of adult internet users aged 16 and above said they had used Facebook in the past month, narrowly ahead of YouTube (55.3%), Instagram (54.6%) and WhatsApp (54.4%) (GWI Q4 2025 survey, published 2026).
More than 1 billion members in over 200 countries is LinkedIn’s own published figure (LinkedIn, 2026). Its 1.43 billion advertising-reach figure counts registered members, not monthly actives, so it does not compare with the numbers above.
Social media use in the United States
254 million social media user identities were active in the US in October 2025, or 73.0% of the total population (DataReportal, 2026). Among adults, 222 million identities aged 18 and above equal 80.8% of the adult population.
84% of US adults use YouTube and 71% use Facebook, the only two platforms a majority of every age group uses (Pew Research Center, 2025, from a survey of 5,022 adults). Instagram sits at 50%, TikTok at 37%, WhatsApp at 32% and Reddit at 26%.
About half of US adults visit Facebook and YouTube daily, including 37% who open Facebook several times a day. A quarter (24%) use TikTok daily and 10% use X daily (Pew, 2025).
80% of adults ages 18 to 29 use Instagram, against 19% of those 65 and older (Pew, 2025). TikTok now reaches 37% of US adults, up from 21% in 2021.
Teenagers spend 4.8 hours a day on social apps
4.8 hours a day is the average US teenager’s time across seven social platforms, and 51% of teens spend at least four hours daily (Gallup, 2023, from surveys of 1,591 adolescents).
5.8 hours a day is the figure for 17-year-olds, the highest of any age, and girls average 5.3 hours against 4.4 for boys (Gallup, 2023). YouTube takes 1.9 hours a day of that, TikTok 1.5 hours and Instagram 0.9 hours.
What social media engagement rates actually look like
A 48% drop in engagement rate hit X, the steepest of the four platforms measured, with Facebook down 36%, TikTok down 34% and Instagram down 16% (Rival IQ 2025 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report, 2025). That study analyzed more than 4 million posts and 9 billion likes, comments and shares. TikTok still carried the highest rate of the four.
0.48% was Instagram’s median engagement rate per post in 2025, down from 0.50% in 2024 and still more than three times Facebook’s 0.15% (Sprout Social, 2026). Anyone benchmarking a brand account should expect a number below 1%, not above it.
Where the business money in social media goes
$117.7 billion in US social media advertising revenue was booked in 2025, up 32.6% year over year, an increase of $29 billion (IAB and PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report, 2026). Social was the fastest-growing major format inside a $294.6 billion US digital ad market.
$37 billion went to creator advertising in 2025, with spend projected to reach $44 billion in 2026 (IAB and PwC, 2026).
53% of US adults at least sometimes get news from social media, with 38% regularly getting news on Facebook, 35% on YouTube and 20% each on Instagram and TikTok (Pew Research Center, 2025). Among TikTok users specifically, 55% get news there, up from 22% in 2020.
The calendar work hiding behind a content schedule
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FAQ
How many people use social media? About 5.79 billion user identities worldwide as of April 2026, equal to 69.9% of the global population and up 294 million in a year (DataReportal, 2026). In the United States the figure is 254 million, or 73.0% of the population.
How much time do people spend on social media? The average user spends 18 hours and 36 minutes a week across 6.5 platforms (GWI, published by DataReportal, 2026). US teenagers are far heavier users, averaging 4.8 hours a day, with 51% spending at least four hours (Gallup, 2023).
Which social media platform has the most users? It depends on the measure. YouTube reports the largest advertising reach at 2.65 billion, ahead of Facebook at 2.39 billion (DataReportal, 2026), while GWI’s survey finds Facebook the most widely used at 56.3% of adult internet users.
What is a good social media engagement rate? Low single digits at best, and falling. Instagram’s median ran 0.48% in 2025 and Facebook’s 0.15% (Sprout Social, 2026), while Rival IQ measured year-over-year declines of 16% to 48% across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X (2025).
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