Social Media is everywhere now. Whether it is urban or rural, it is imagined that it has touched the lives of at least one member of a family. Since 2004, social media have grown exponentially and is yet to reach the peak of its popularity.
Social Media are now a major way to communicate in society. It is also the main source of news and information.
As we are at end of 2021, we thought sharing some amazing Social Media statistics that will help you make a marketing strategy.
China has banned many social media platforms. So we have excluded China in the below report.
1. How many people use Social Media in 2021?
Social Media usage around the world is ever-increasing and has been the most engaging online activity.
Currently (Oct 2021), there are 4.55 billion total active Social Media users. This equates to 57.6% of the global population. Amazingly, this is 9% more than what was expected in 2020. As per Hootsuite, the annual change in the number of global social media users is +9.9% i.e. +409 Million.
This includes 2.895 billion Monthly Active Users (MAUs) on Facebook, 1.39 billion on Instagram, 2 billion MAUs on Whatsapp, WeChat has 1.25 billion and TikTok has 1 billion MAUs. Telegram has 550 million monthly active users.
Also Read – 6 Best free tools to check your Website performance in 2021
2. What is potential Social Media Advertising reach?
Social Media is marketers’ favorite tool to reach their audiences. They always can increase their reach using Social advertising which is also the most affordable way to reach the maximum audience.
Facebook and YouTube are top in the list with a global advertising audience size of 2.276 billion and 2.291 billion respectively. On the other hand, Instagram`s potential advertising reach is 1.393 billion. Twitter can reach roughly 436 million users via advertising. Snapchat`s potential advertising reach is 538 million.
3. Why do people use Social Media?
Based on a survey report offered by Datareportal 48% said that the main reason to use social media is to stay in touch with friends and family. Below 5 reasons were also cited by considerable amount of people:
1. Filling ups spare time.
2. Reading new stories
3. Finding funny or entertaining content
4. Seeing what’s being talked about
5. Finding inspiration for things to do and buy
4. Which is your Favourite Social Media Platform?
23% of internet users aged 16 to 64 said that WhatsApp is their favorite social media platform. While 22.2% of the same audience preferred Facebook. 20.6 said that Instagram is better than Facebook and Whatsapp. Only 4.2% preferred Twitter. TikTok was prefered by 3.5% people.
However, these preferences vary much by age and by gender. GWI`s research finds that younger people prefer Instagram whereas the older generation prefers Facebook and Whatsapp. 37.6% Female and 31.2% male aged between 16-24 prefer Instagram. 25.7% Females between 25-34 age prefer Instagram most but males in the same age group prefer (24.7%) Whatsapp. Females between 35-64 marked Facebook as their Favourite while only males aged between 35-44 preferred this giant platform. The remaining older male generation preferred Whatsapp in the survey.
5. How Much Time Do People Spend on Social Media?
Believe it or not, we are now social media addicts. We are addicted to scrolling down our bottomless Facebook and Instagram feeds. We are addicted to clicking and posting photos before eating anything, traveling, shopping, and so on. Social Media is now inescapable.
As per GWI data, people spent 2 hours 27 minutes on the average amount of time per day using social media. This is huge in comparison to 58 minutes that was just before the world was hit by pandemics.
This also means that now marketers have more opportunities to reach their potential audiences. This exponential growth in time spent on social media also implies that people will now consume more content and have more time to get engaged with good content available.
6. Social Media Audience Overlaps – People also using other social media platforms
As the world is connected, the population use variety of different social media platforms each month. This means that there will be overlaps between the user bases and advertising audiences. GWI`s fresh data provides valuable insights for anyone looking to build a social media mix or a social media plan.
0.7% of users are unique to the platform
75.2% also use YouTube
77.6% also use Instagram
49.2 also use Twitter
YouTube
1.0% of users are unique to the platform
79.9% also use Facebook
77.8% also use Instagram
52.1% also uses Twitter
0.1% of users are unique to the platform
83.1% also use Facebook
78.8% also use YouTube
55.0% also uses Twitter
0.2% of users are unique to the platform
83.8% also use Facebook
80.9% also use YouTube
87.5% also uses Instagram
Summary: Social Media Statistics for 2021
1. There are 4.55 billion social media active users around the globe in Oct 2021.
2. Facebook has 2.895 billion MAUs in 2021
3. Youtube’s Potential ad reach is 2.291 billion whereas Facebook can reach 2.276 billion via its ads.
4. Social media saw a positive annual change of 9.9% in Oct 2021.
5. People spend 2H 27M on Social Media platforms.
6. Connecting with Family and friends is the most important reason why people use social media.
7. WhatsApp is a favorite Social Media platform. But females use Instagram and Facebook most.
8. Social media mix is important. Important to note that 75.2% of the Facebook user also uses YouTube.
