Benchmark Report 2019
Statistics, Trends, and Interesting Facts
Social Media Statistics Benchmark Report (2019)
About 15 years ago, social media became a part of the internet. And since then, it's been growing in leaps and bounds.
Even though the main aim of social media is for people to connect with one another, we can all agree that social media has found even more uses.
People interact with friends, read the news, connect with professionals, look for job opportunities, interact with brands, etc.
Social media has become part of many people's lives. But what do we know about social media? How many people actually use it? What do they use it for?
There are probably hundreds of questions you can add to those. And what better way than to reply to some of those questions with hard numbers?
You'll find the latest social media statistics here. Through these numbers, you'll find some trends in the social media industry.
Stats and Trends
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
Social Media Statistics and Trends
#1. #1.
There are 3.356 billion social media users worldwide
This is up 13 percent of the previous year. Considering that there are 4.119 billion internet users, more than 75% of internet users are on social media.
For context, this is still far from half of the world population which stand at about 7.7 billion.
That said, there's a viable argument that many underdeveloped and developing countries have no or poor internet connection.
7 out of 10 Americans are on social media
You can see here that a higher percentage of Americans are present on social media when compared to the percentage of the general world population on social media.
Internet users on social media have an average of 7 accounts
According to a study by the GlobalWebIndex, people explore many social media platforms. This number has risen from an average of 3 accounts in 2012 to 5.54 in 2015, and 7 in 2016.
81% of small and medium businesses have social media accounts
This figure was released by email marketing software provider, Yesmail from a study of marketers.
Social media advertisers spent $19.3 billion in the United States in 2018.
This ad spend on social media channels is expected to reach $25 billion by 2020 in the U.S. alone.
It's expected that social advertising worldwide will grow to $48 billion by 2021
The world is catching on with social media advertising. Businesses are reaching their audience through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms. The cost of a social media ad is lower than a traditional ad, hence, more businesses are getting on board.
People between the ages of 55 and 64 are more than twice as likely to engage with a brand's content
At certain age brackets, most consumers are already tired of receiving marketing messages. They just want to get in, buy the product, and get out. That's where a brand's content come in.
Engagement with shared content is 49% higher on weekdays than weekends.
That's because people spend most of their time at work in the weekdays and are ready to engage with your content. They tend to relax with family members and friends on weekends.
Of the people who discuss a brand on social media, 96% of them do not follow the brand
Analysis by Brandwatch showed that many brands miss what people are saying about them as these people don't follow the brand's official social media accounts.
#10. #10.
67% of marketers find it difficult to assess the effectiveness of their social media activities
TAccording to eMarketer, this is the biggest challenge that social media professionals face. Other challenges faced include designing an overall social media strategy (62%), taking data gathered from social media and turning it into something actionable (61%), educating staff on how to use social media (59%), etc.
Only 32% of Fortune 500 CEOs are present on any of the 5 major social media networks
These are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+. Majority of those on social media are on LinkedIn with 25.4%.
Unsurprisingly, Mark Zuckerberg is the only CEO with an account on all the 5 networks. And he owns two of them.
74.5% of small and medium businesses use social media to promote their businesses
One of the challenges that small business owners face is getting the word out. It all starts with generating demand for products and services. If it's difficult to cut through the noise online, getting sales will be difficult.
That's why social media is important because there are hundreds of millions of ideal buyers already active there.
68% of Americans get news on social media platforms
However, most people who receive news from this platform do not trust its accuracy. In other words, they think it's usually "fake news."
The largest social media network has a monthly active user base of 2.32 billion
Facebook is by far the largest social network and this shows in its user figures. Added to this, Facebook had a daily active user base of 1.52 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018.
79% of Americans online use Facebook
In terms of social media, Facebook dominates in the number of people that use the network. This number also accounts for 68% of all American adults.
Facebook users spend an average of 35 minutes on the social network daily
Only YouTube boasts of a higher number of minutes among the major social networks.
74% of American Facebook users say they use the social platform at least once a day
The average Facebook user has 155 friends
A study shows women on the average have more friends than men with 166 while men have 145.
Facebook revenue per user doubled between 2015 and 2018
One of the main worries for Facebook initially was its ability to gain revenue from mobile users. The social media giant was able to overcome that challenge and was able to double its revenue per user from $16 to $34 in just 3 years.
About half of American teens use Facebook
With the popularity of Instagram and Snapchat, teens have opted for these options rather than Facebook. They also use Facebook less often than these other networks.
43% of U.S. adults get news from Facebook
Facebook boasts of 60 million active business pages
Out of this large number of business pages, 4 million advertise actively on Facebook.
There are 5 million active advertisers on the social media network
Advertising on Facebook affords businesses the opportunity to reach their ideal audience through targeting. Both the Lookalike and Custom audiences are features that no other social media network gives to advertisers.
There are 8 billion average video views on Facebook daily Twitter
Video content tops the chart when it comes to engaging with social media users. The earlier you make video an integral part of your social media strategy, the more significant your results will be.
Twitter has a monthly active user base of 326 million
The social media platform had revenue of $758 million in the third quarter of 2018
An average Twitter user has 707 followers
A study into 96 million Twitter users who have tweeted on their account at least once in the past 6 months found that the average number of followers is 707.
Twitter users send over 500 million tweets daily
This equates to about 6,000 tweets per second. Twitter has come a long way with about 5,000 tweets per day in 2007, a year after the company was founded.
The company was able to hit 300,000 tweets per day in 2008, and 340 million tweets per day by the sixth anniversary of Twitter in 2012.
24% of the American population use Twitter
A study by Pew Research Center reveals the percentage of Americans on each social media network. Even though this looks small in comparison to Facebook, about 1 in 4 Americans use the platform which is still a large number.
Only 43.3% of brands in the U.S. and 50.9% of brands in the U.K. engaged with Twitter users who tagged them in a tweet
Only 11.2% of retail brands respond to users' questions within an hour
72% of Twitter users expect brands to respond to their complaints within an hour
Research by Lithium showed that 53% of Twitter users expect brands to respond to their queries within an hour. This rises to 72% when they have a complaint.
For brands that respond on time, 34% of users are more likely to buy from the company and 43% are likely to recommend their products to friends and family.
This platform has 1 billion monthly active users
The photo-sharing app has grown faster than other social media apps in the past few years. It has grown much faster than Snapchat which is a similar app and even its parent platform Facebook.
The network hit 1 billion monthly active users in June 2018. This is up from 800 million in September 2017. The platform also boasts of 500 million daily active users.
80% of Instagram users are outside the United States
This is a unique statistic for Instagram as the platform can boast of a diverse user base, especially for international advertisers.
Having said that, the United States still has the highest number of Instagram users with 120 million monthly users. This is followed by India with 75 million, Brazil with 69 million, Indonesia with 62 million, etc.
39% of female and 30% of male U.S. internet users are on Instagram
This shows that more of the female population use this app than the male.
35% of Americans use Instagram
This shows the social app as popular as it's only behind Facebook and YouTube in terms of the number of users.
34% of U.S. millennials use Instagram daily
According to a study by CivicScience, about 3 in 10 U.S. millennial use the social network daily. This value beats Snapchat which is its competitor. This number has increased from 27% in the first quarter of 2016.
Instagram users share more than 95 million photos and videos daily
With the massive engagement levels on Instagram, these posts end up getting more than 4.2 billion "likes" daily.
There are 500 million daily active Instagram stories users
This is a feature that Instagram started using after it was first released on Snapchat. Since then, Instagram has increased the number of its stories users to the extent that it now has more daily users than Snapchat.
There are two million monthly advertisers on Instagram
With different advertising options, this platform is a great way for brands to get their products in front of potential customers.
Time spent watching videos increased by 80% in 2017
Instagram introduced video content in 2013 and it has been a popular part of the social media network. Video watch time increased in 2017 by 80% and the trend will likely continue.
72% of Instagram users say they've bought a product they saw on the app
With the image and video content, Instagram has been a lucrative platform for luxury brands as they can show their products easily. They can also use shoppable posts to help users choose a product.
80% of Instagram users follow a business on the platform
This is another reason businesses find Instagram as an effective avenue to reach more potential customers.
LinkedIn has over 500 million users
The social media for professionals reached over half a billion users in 2017.
LinkedIn has 260 million monthly users in 2017
According to a study by Apptopia, it claimed that the company had 260 monthly users in March 2017. It must be noted that LinkedIn doesn't reveal its monthly active user numbers.
1 in 4 American uses LinkedIn
According to the Pew Research Center, 25% of American adults use the professional social media network.
92% of B2B marketers claim they use LinkedIn as part of their digital marketing mix
In a study by DemandWave, LinkedIn was the most used channel by B2B marketers.
59% of marketers claim LinkedIn generate leads for them
There are 61 million senior-level influencers and 40 million decision makers on LinkedIn
If you run a B2B business, then LinkedIn is a platform that you should exploit as most company decision-makers are here.
About 50% of college graduates in the United States are LinkedIn users.
These users are prospective business owners. They perceive that connecting to top brands will give them the opportunity to learn the pros and cons of winning in business.
44% of LinkedIn users earn more than $75,000 per year, which is above the national median in the United States.
Since the majority of them are business professionals, they are owners and dictate the pace. So it's a lot easier to earn what they're worth.
LinkedIn is 277% more effective at generating leads than Facebook and Twitter.
The latter social media networks are great for getting the word out — but not for lead generation.
LinkedIn hosts 10 million active job postings.
Job seekers can have great times on LinkedIn if they update their public profile and make it attractive to potential hires.
150 million people use Pinterest every month
Even though Pinterest doesn't have the popularity that its competitors enjoy, it's still effective at pulling in a huge amount of users monthly.
From people looking for food, housing, clothing, and other ideas, this platform is a place to be.
60% of new signups on Pinterest are women while men account for 40%.
Also, the median age of an average Pinterest user is 40 – but the vast majority of active pinners are below 40.
70 million Pinterest users are in the U.S. while 80 million are outside the U.S.
The study has shown a trend on how businesses can benefit by targeting their audience on Pinterest instead of other social networks that have fewer users from U.S.
86% of millennials who use Pinterest use it to plan life moments, big and small.
These memorable moments can be a birthday celebration, wedding, graduation, events, or a sporting activity.
29% of American adults are present on Pinterest.
They're using it mostly to discover new brands and connect with new users.
80% of all pins on Pinterest are repins.
This shows the level of engagement on the platform and user's response to pins from brands they love.
79.5% of Pinterest users in the United States are women
If you have products for women, then Pinterest is a great platform to reach a huge number of them.
Pinterest has more than 250 million monthly active users as of September 2018
This is a massive growth from the 178 million active users in 2016. There are strong growth trends for the company.
Pinterest market value is $15 billion in 2018.
This is based on secondary market trading. The valuation has also revealed that Pinterest was then projecting sales of $2.8 billion by 2018.
40% of New Signups on Pinterest are Men; 60% New Signups are Women.
There are 10 billion video views on Snapchat daily
A report which was published by Bloomberg showed that Snapchat has reached 10 billion video views each day. It grew from 8 billion views per day to 10 billion and still growing.
47% of American teens consider Snapchat as their favorite social media app
Even though Snapchat has a lower user base than Instagram, American teens claim it's their favorite app in a survey.
27% of American adults are on Snapchat
About 69% of UK adults have never used Snapchat. This shows that more people in US are fond of Snapchat.
28% of U.S. millennials use Snapchat daily
This is close to Instagram's number with 34%. Snapchat has reached this figure from 24% in the first quarter of 2016.
Snapchat's Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is $1.53 as of Q4 2017.
This is inspiring because the social media company has recorded up to 5% growth rate year-over-year and there are indications that it'd grow even more.
30% of Gen Y men use Snapchat compared to roughly 50% of Gen Y women.
The survey showed that women like the interface of the platform and how they mostly use it to connect with fans and friends.
As of February 2018, Snapchat is the 6th most popular social app in the US.
Although Instagram and Pinterest are still waxing strong, there are signs that Snapchat would become a prominent social app in the near future.
57% of brand content on Snapchat is video.
Video content has always played a key role in creating awareness online. Snapchat users prefer to watch videos rather than read a block of text, research shows.
Over 2 million snaps are sent on the app every minute.
That's expected since mostly Gen Y women are fond of Snapchat and prefer to send snaps.
Snapchat has 80 million users in North America, 60 million users in Europe, and 47 million in the rest of the world.
This data shows that the global audience is interested in Snapchat. It's also a great opportunity to reach more people all over the world, just by leveraging the social media tools.
The interesting thing about statistics is that numbers lead to different translations depending on the person looking.
One general view that's evident is that social media serves more function than just connecting individuals for personal relationships. It also helps businesses acquire more customers and serve them better.