Social Media (Global Market)
The social media market is one of the largest segments in the total global audience of Internet users.
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Social Networking and Collaboration Software Market
2024: The volume of the global software market for managing social networks for the year exceeded $27 billion
In 2024, the global social media management software market reached $27.03 billion. About 40% of this amount fell on the North American region. Industry trends are addressed in the Fortune Business Insights survey presented April 1, 2025.
Tools for managing social networks are used to create and publish content on various platforms and analyze results. Creating pages on social networks helps companies increase brand awareness and attract new customers. It is estimated that in 2024, total advertising spending on social networks reached $219.8 billion.
The positive impact on the market, as noted in the study, had a pandemic. COVID-19 Being in self-isolation, people around the world began to spend more time on social networks. This led to an acceleration in the development of social commerce, which, in turn, gave rise to an additional need for tools for managing social networks.
One of the significant drivers of the industry is generative artificial intelligence (GENI). Such systems help improve the user experience by offering personalized recommendations and content. Genia analyzes the preferences of visitors and selects posts that are most appropriate to their interests. In addition, AI helps companies identify popular topics, identify industry trends and publications that strike maximum response from audiences. GeniI optimizes promotions on social networks, forming personalized offers: this helps companies increase sales. AI-based chatbots are being actively introduced: they are becoming more complex, understanding natural language and context, and providing real-time answers. As a result, companies are able to improve user support, which increases customer satisfaction and helps to retain them.
According to the deployment model ON , it is divided into cloud and local segments for managing social networks. The former holds the largest share and is expected to grow at the highest CAGR. The cloud model provides flexibility, scalability, and economic benefits. Thanks to cloud infrastructures, companies can significantly reduce initial capital costs.
Depending on the application, the market is segmented into sales and marketing management, customer experience management, risk management and fraud detection, competitive intelligence, etc. In 2024, the first of these areas dominated - it accounted for 40.2% of global revenue. In terms of industry segments, analysts call retail, travel and hospitality, health and fitness, beauty and fashion, media and entertainment, education and others, including real estate. The media and entertainment sector brought maximum revenue in 2024. From a geographical point of view, North America leads, where costs are estimated at $10.75 billion. At the same time, the Asia-Pacific region is showing the highest growth rates. Significant players on a global scale are named:
- HubSpot;
- Sprout Social;
- Hootsuite;
- Zoho Corporation Pvt. Ltd.;
- SOCi;
- Vista Social;
- Meltwater;
- Sprinklr;
- Semrush;
- SocialDog.
Fortune Business Insights analysts believe that the CAGR in the social media management software market will be 21.2% in the future. As a result, by 2032, spending could rise to $124.63 billion.[1]
Global Market Leaders
2024
The table below provides a list of all social networks with an audience of over 100 million people as of August 2024. The audience indicator is a very conditional and manipulative indicator, since each social network has its own accounting methodology and the concept of "active user" differs, and a huge number of bots are also included, so these are approximate.
2019
Chronicle of sunrises and sunsets of social networks from 2003 to 2019
2018
Facebook is the most popular social network with 2.3 billion users.
More than a billion users are "sitting" on YouTube, Instagram and WeChat. Next come Tumblr and TikTok with more than half a billion users.
The latter launched in September 2016, and by mid-2018 it had already reached half a billion users.
2016
2012: Google + comes in second most popular
Launched in June 2011, the social network Google + ranked second in popularity after Facebook. In addition to these two networks, the list includes many social platforms, including Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Tumblr and others. In Q4 2012, according to Trendstream, Google + 's monthly active audience reached 343 million active users, compared to Facebook's 693 million.
As of the end of 2012, about 25% of people who go online used the Google + social network. Facebook's share, in turn, amounted to over 50% of the Internet audience. In third place is the YouTube video exchange service, and in fourth place is Twitter. Business social network LinkedIn ranked tenth. The social network VKontakte is located on the twentieth, and Odnoklassniki is in twenty-third place.
2011
The Pew Research Center's Global Asstitudes Project provides the following data on the use of social networks in countries around the world (January 2011):
- Americans most often use social networks - 46% visit these sites.
- in Poland and in the UK, 43% of respondents use them,
- in South Korea - 40%.
- Russia - 33% of respondents are users of social networks. At the same time, only 10% of the total number of Russian respondents, who at least sometimes have access to the Internet, do not use social networks.
According to Comscore data from December 2008, the largest social network in the world is Facebook:
- Facebook - 400 million users worldwide. Page views per month is 80 billion.
- MySpace - 125 million people. 43 billion page views.
At the same time, according to TechCrunch, the leader is the Chinese social network Qzone. Below is the network audience as of March 2009.
- Qzone - 376m registered
- Facebook - 175 million people use in the world
- 51 - 130 million people
- Baidu - 110 million people
- Xiaonei - 40 million people
- Baidu Kongjian - 27.5 million people
Social networks in Russia
Main article: Social networks (Russian market)
Social media in the US
Main article: Social Media (US Market)
Social media audience
2024
The world's 15 largest social media networks by audience size
As of 2024, Facebook remains the largest social network on a global scale (owned by Meta, which is recognized as an extremist organization; activities on the territory of the Russian Federation are prohibited). The number of users of this platform exceeds 3 billion, as stated in the Statista review, which TAdviser got acquainted with at the end of January 2025.
It is estimated that about 3.07 billion active subscribers work with Facebook every month. In second place in popularity is video hosting YouTube with 2.5 billion active users per month. Instagram The platform, also owned by Meta and banned in the territory, closes the top three: in Russia 2024, this social network had about 2 billion subscribers.
In general, as noted, Meta owns the four largest social media platforms, each of which has more than 1 billion active users per month: these are the mentioned Facebook and Instagram, as well as WhatsApp (about 2 billion users) and Facebook Messenger (1.01 billion).
Most highly rated social networks with more than 100 million users originated in the United States. At the same time, Chinese services such as WeChat, QQ and video sharing app Douyin have gained significant popularity. Moreover, the rapid expansion of Douyin's audience in the PRC market has led the platform to create an international version of its network, TikTok. The latter in 2024 in the ranking of Statista was in fifth position (after WhatsApp) with 1.58 billion active users per month. At the same time, Douyin (tenth place in the list) had approximately 755 million subscribers. It is also noted that the popular Telegram messenger in Russia took the eighth position with 900 million users.[2]
Ronaldo first in the world to gain a billion followers on social networks
In mid-September 2024, Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo announced that the number of his subscribers on various social networks exceeded 1 billion. This achievement was recorded for the first time in world history. Read more here
Countries most dependent on social networks
The average number of hours per day spent on social networks in January 2024:
1️⃣ Kenya: 3: 43h
2️⃣ South Africa : 3: 37h
3️⃣ Brazil: 3: 34h
4️⃣ Philippines: 3: 33h
5️⃣ Nigeria: 3: 23h
6️⃣ Colombia: 3: 22h
7️⃣ Chile: 3: 11h
8️⃣ Indonesia: 3: 11h
9️⃣ Saudi Arabia: 3: 10h
Argentina: 3: 08h
Russia: 2: 22h
2023: The number of users of social networks in the world has exceeded 5 billion people
At the end of 2023, the number of users of social networks on a global scale for the first time exceeded 5 billion people, reaching 5.04 billion. For comparison, a year earlier this figure was 4.77 billion. Thus, growth was recorded at 5.6%, as stated in a study by Meltwater and We Are Social, the results of which were published on January 31, 2024.
According to the UN, the population of the Earth by the end of 2023 reached 8.08 billion people. Thus, 62.3% of the world's inhabitants use social networks. During 2023, the total number of people in the world who interact with social networks increased by 266 million. That is, on average, 8.4 new users of social platforms appeared per second.
The average social media subscriber spends 2 hours 23 minutes daily on their chosen platforms. At the same time, monthly subscribers interact with an average of 6.7 social resources. The most popular service among Internet users aged 16 to 64 is Instagram (owned by Meta, which is recognized as an extremist organization; activities on the territory of the Russian Federation are prohibited): the share of this site at the end of 2023 is estimated at 16.5%. WhatsApp is in second place with a result of about 16.1%. Closes the top three Facebook (also owned by Meta; banned in Russia) with 12.8%.
TikTok has the highest average time per user of Android-based devices of any social platform in the world: 34 hours a month, which corresponds to more than an hour a day. In second place among social Android apps is YouTube, with an average of just over 28 hours per month. The third place goes to Facebook with almost 20 hours a day. In general, the average Internet user spent 6 hours 40 minutes on the network every day in 2023 - 3 minutes a day, or 1% more than a year earlier.[3]
US market
2019: Traffic from social media to online stores grows rapidly in the US
2012
According to estimates by the research firm Nielsen, over the year (from July 2011 to July 2012), US residents spent 121 billion minutes on social media sites. This is 37% more than last year. A third of this time was spent working with applications.
The most visited social network, as expected, was Facebook. The time spent by Americans on Pinterest increased dramatically, more than 1,000%. The time spent on Google +, Tumblr and Twitter is also growing. Visits to social networks are uplifting - 76% of users report it.
One of the main topics of conversations on social networks is the content of television programs. In June 2012, a third of Twitter users wrote about this. According to Nielsen, 44% of tablet owners and 38% of smartphone owners watch TV with mobile devices in their hands.
Almost half of the respondents noted that they use social networks in order to contact customer support services of various companies.
Traffic from social sites on personal computers decreased by 5% over the year, but the time spent by users increased by 24%.
2010
In 2011, advertisers in the United States will spend $3.08 billion on advertising on social networks, which is 55% more than in 2010 in the amount of $1.99 billion. In 2012, advertising spending on social networks will grow by another 27.7% to $4 billion (January 2011 forecast)
As noted in eMarketer, thanks to such a significant increase in costs, this year social networks will account for about 10.8% of the entire American online advertising market. Worldwide, advertising spending on sites of this kind will grow even more - by 71.6% to $5.97 billion. However, the share of social networks in the overall global online advertising market will be only 8.7%.
According to experts, they revised their forecast for advertising spending on social networks in the United States, increasing it by $1 billion compared to the August 2010 report. One of the main reasons for the increase in projected spending was the growing popularity of advertising on the Facebook social network site, which remains the largest player in this market.
2009
In July 2009, 55.6 million adults in the United States or 33% of the total population use social networks, while in 2007 there were only 15%. At the same time, less than 20% of Americans read blogs, according to a report by Forrester Research.
Americans devote 17% of all time spent by them on the Internet, social networks and blog posts. This is stated in a new August (2009) study by Nielsen.
According to the authors of the study, the amount of time that US residents devote to these services has almost tripled over the year. Back in August 2008, this figure was only 6%.
Social media ads in the US
Advertising spending on social networks and blogs more than doubled over the year - from $49 million in 2008 (from August to August) to $108 million in 2009. Thus, among all online advertising, the share accounted for by such services increased from 7% to 15%.
"In addition to, perhaps, video services, social networks have been the main factor in the growth of the Internet recently," said Jon Gibs, vice president of media analytics at Nielsen Online. "It is not surprising that there is a trend of increased cash flow in this direction."
Nielsen also notes that Facebook's popularity has grown significantly among social networks over the past year. If in August 2008 the American audience of this network was 38.2 million users, then a year later 103.8 million. On average, each Facebook user now spends five hours and 46 minutes a month on the site, while a year ago this figure was only one hour and forty minutes.
The number of views of ads on the site has significantly increased - the share of Facebook amounted to 14.7% of all views of banner ads in the United States. Earlier, the administration of the resource announced that the global audience of the social network exceeded 300 million users.
According to analysts, although representatives of many industries have reduced their spending on online advertising (among them companies in the fields of tourism, B2B, software, financial services and telecommunications), in general, advertising costs on popular social networks have increased significantly. Thus, the expenses of representatives of the entertainment industry on social networks increased by 812%, and the expenses of travel agencies - by 364%.
Social media trading
2022: Annual social media purchases to reach $1.2 trillion by 2025
Accenture's Shopping Revolution study found that the $492 billion global social media shopping industry will grow three times faster than traditional e-commerce - to $1.2 trillion by 2025. The growth will come mainly from Gen Z social media users and millennials, who will provide 62% of global spending on social media commerce by 2025. This became known on January 18, 2022.
Just under two-thirds (64%) of those surveyed said they shopped on social media in 2021, which Accenture estimates equates to nearly two billion shoppers worldwide.
The Accenture report showed that by 2025 the largest number of purchases on social networks is expected in the sphere clothes (18% of all purchases), (13% consumer electronics) and home decor (7%). Food also represents a large commodity category (13%), although buying in this category is typical exclusively for. China Beauty and personal care products, although they occupy a smaller share of total sales, are predicted to gain momentum quickly. And by 2025, they will account for more than 40% of digital spending in this category in key markets.
 | The rise in time people spend on social media reflects how important these platforms are in everyday life. They are changing the way people buy and sell, which opens up new user experience and revenue opportunities for platforms and brands, "noted Robin Murdoch, global software and platform industry leader at Accenture. |  |
Smaller brands can also benefit from social media commerce. More than half (59%) of those surveyed said they were more likely to support small and medium-sized businesses through social media purchases than when shopping on e-commerce sites. In addition, 63% of respondents said they were more likely to buy the product from the same seller again, which indicates the advantages of such commerce in building loyalty and stimulating repeat purchases.
| | Those who do not yet use social commerce say that one of the reasons is the lack of trust in the authenticity of sellers, while active users of purchases on social networks note a poor policy of returning goods. Mistrust is a problem that will take time to overcome. But sellers who focus on these areas will have more room to increase market share, "said Oliver Wright, head of global consumer goods and services at Accenture. | |
Consumers in developing countries are more likely to buy on social networks. Eight in 10 social media users in China actively use this type of shopping. At the same time, most users of social networks in the UK and the USA have not yet made purchases through social networks.
Shoppers in China, India and Brazil care more about features that help them discover and value the best deals, while UK and US residents place more value on prices and discounts.
Trust is more important for older generations than for younger generations. Older shoppers focus on safety and appreciate the brand's visibility, while younger adults attract live streams and customer feedback.
| | Social networks were initially a good channel for sales for Russian business at their core: they are visited by more than two-thirds of the country's population. Initially, brands used them as a field for advertising, but direct sales are even more efficient in terms of the cost of attracting a buyer. The transformation of social networks into direct sales points is a trend that has several objective prerequisites. This is the development of business ecosystems, and the possibility of targeting individual communities by interest, and the likely appearance of metaverse, which can offer customers a fundamentally new shopping experience, - said Sergei Kireev, head of technology consulting at Accenture's consumer goods and retail department in Russia and Kazakhstan. | |
Political advertising
Social media games
According to the research group eMarketer, the turnover of the game market in social networks in 2011 will exceed $1 billion due to the increasing number of users and the projected increase in advertising. This is 28% of the increase in income compared to 2010, when the market turnover was $856 million.
eMarketer reports that approximately 62 million American users (this is 27% of all Internet visitors) will play at least one of the games on the social network in 2011 per month. In 2010, there were 53 million such players.
Income from the sale of various digital "devices" for games will continue to increase further, as well as the total income of social networks. Marketers believe that users will spend $192 million, for example, to make an announcement on social network games. This is 60% higher than the same indicator last year.
See also
- Social media
- Social networks (Russian market)
- Social Media (Global Market)
- Corporate Social Networks
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