Wordwide Social Users Estimates
January 18, 2018
One in three people—2.48 billion—worldwide used a social network in 2017, eMarketer estimates. Rising social network use in emerging markets in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa drove an 8.7% gain over 2016.
Social media use in digitally advanced markets in North America and Western Europe is widespread. Future growth will primarily come from widening and improving internet access in developing markets, thanks to increasingly affordable smartphone models and government investments in mobile broadband coverage.
Mobile phones are the primary device used by new internet users to go online and to access social media. Last year, 74.7% of mobile phone internet users worldwide used their device to access social media. Overall social media use is primarily a mobile activity, and 82.5% of social network users worldwide used a mobile device for access at least once a month.
Meanwhile, nearly 594 million people worldwide used Instagram regularly in 2017, representing about a quarter (24.0%) of total social network users. Penetration among social network users and the population as a whole was highest in North America and Western Europe.
Facebook is by far the top social network in the world. More than 1.54 billion people, or 62.2% of social network users, went on Facebook at least once a month in 2017.
Courtesy of eMarketer
