50+ Actually Useful Social Media Statistics in 2026

I grew up during a time when social media was just starting out. Back then, AIM and MSN were how to keep in touch regularly, and being in someone’s Top 8 on MySpace was the place to be. At least until Facebook took center stage, which brought along pokes, Farmville, and stickers plastered all over people’s walls. (I probably lost the Gen Z readers there.)

Looking back, Facebook’s explosive growth should have been an indicator of just how big a role social media would eventually play in our lives. But just how big has social media become?

We combed through dozens of studies and surveys to pull together more than 50 social media statistics you may not have seen before, showing just how much it has changed the way we connect, shop, consume news, discover products, and spend our time online.

Social media is everywhere — literally. There are 5.79 billion social media user identities worldwide, which equates to more than two-thirds of the global population. It’s also equivalent to 94.7% of all internet users¹. And somehow, we’re still adding an average of 9.3 new social media profiles every second!

Apparently, the world has decided that scrolling is a full-time job. People spend 15 billion hours combined consuming social media content every day — that’s enough time to equal more than 1.75 million years of human existence¹.

For the average internet user, that’s about one full waking day every week spent on social media.

The average social media user actively uses or visits 6.5 different platforms each month¹. So if you’re ever wondering why there feels like there’s always another app to check, it’s because there probably is.

Instagram has a huge age divide: 80% of adults ages 18-29 use Instagram, compared with just 19% of adults 65 and older — a whopping 61-percentage-point gap².

Facebook is nearly the polar opposite, with 80% of 30- to 49-year-olds using it, compared with 68% of 18- to 29-year-olds.

Snapchat is very much a young person’s game: 58% of adults ages 18-29 use the platform, compared with just 4% of adults 65 and older². In other words, younger adults are more than 14x as likely to use Snapchat than any other age group.

Nearly half of teens (48%) say social media has a negative effect on people their age, which is up from 32% in 2022 — a pretty dramatic 16-percentage-point jump in just a few years³.

And yet, teens are also much less likely to say social media negatively affects them personally, with just 14% saying so.

Nearly half of teens (45%) admit they spend too much time on social media, which is up from 36% in 2022³.

For all the doom and gloom around social media, teens really don’t see it negative — 63% say social media gives them a place to show their creative side³. Another 74% say these platforms make them feel more connected to friends.

Nearly half of teens are making an effort to spend less time scrolling: 44% say they’ve cut back on social media use, which is up from 39% in 2023³.

About 1 in 3 high school students use social media every hour or more⁴. Usage also eases with grade level — 12th graders are significantly more likely than 9th graders to report using social media that frequently.

Plenty of young adults think they’ve crossed the line from casual scrolling to something more concerning: 3 in 10 adults ages 18-29 (30%) say they’re addicted to social media, compared with 21% of adults overall⁵.

About 1 in 5 teens (21%) say they use TikTok almost constantly⁶. Across five major social platforms — YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook — 36% of teens use at least one almost constantly.

Americans are not feeling great about social media’s effect on children: 85% say social media can be addictive for kids, while 66% support requiring age-verification tools to keep children under 16 off social platforms⁷.

More than half of Americans (52%) say they personally spend too much time on social media⁷. So no, it’s not just the teens who can’t put their phones down.

Doomscrolling who? Seventy percent of Americans say the time they spend on social media is fun⁷.

Social media makes comparisons almost unavoidable, and apparently, it’s taking a toll: 61% of Americans say they’ve felt unsatisfied with their lives when comparing themselves with others on social media⁸. Meanwhile, 66% say social media has negatively affected their mental health overall.

It’s not just their lives that Americans are dissatisfied with — 56% of Americans say social media has also negatively affected the way they feel about their bodies, while 54% say social media has made them feel pressured to be perfect⁸.

TikTok may dominate in some places, but it’s a little different in Japan: 51% of Japanese adults use X, compared with 37% who use TikTok⁹.

Facebook may not feel like the trendiest social media platform these days, but young adults in several countries clearly did not get the memo.

At least 90% of 18- to 34-year-olds use Facebook in six countries, led by the Philippines at 99%, followed by Thailand at 98%, Peru at 97%, Mexico at 96%, Chile at 93%, and Colombia at 91%⁹.

By the end of the decade, Pakistan’s social media audience could double. It’s estimated the country will grow from 130.3 million social media users in 2025 to 262.83 million in 2030¹⁰. That’s a 132 million increase in just five years.

Ever heard someone say, “I got it from the TikTok shop?” For Gen Z, social media is also about shopping — 76% of Gen Z shoppers use social platforms to discover products, compared to 70% of millennials, 46% of Gen Xers, and 36% of baby boomers¹¹. Generally speaking, 53% of shoppers now discover products on social media, which is up from 46% in 2023.

OK — finding products is one thing, but pulling out Apple Pay/Google Pay is another: 39% of Gen Z shoppers say they’ve purchased a product through social media, compared with 76% who use social platforms to discover products¹¹.

Social media doesn’t have to actually make a sale to actually influence what people buy: 90% of Gen Z have had social media content — ads, influencer posts, brand content — influence a purchase in the past six months¹². That’s much higher than the 76% reported among social media users in general.

For more than a third of consumers, product research starts with a social media platform instead of Google: 37% prefer to turn to social media first when looking for product reviews and recommendations¹².

Adults ages 18-26 spent an average of $478 over the past year on products they first discovered via social media, compared with $392 among respondents overall¹³.

Gen Z and Millennials are almost identical here — $478 vs. $393 — while Gen X falls pretty dramatically to $138.

Social media is officially competing with holiday TV ads: 39% of shoppers recalled first seeing or hearing about a product they later bought as a holiday gift on social media, making it the top product-discovery channel¹⁴! In-store displays and television tied at 32% each.

Seventy-three percent of shoppers say they regularly discover products while browsing social media, yet only 10% go on to purchase directly through the platform¹⁵. Instead, 38% head to marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, or AliExpress to make the purchase.

The creator economy market was projected to hit $37 billion in U.S. creator-economy ad spending in 2025, up 26% from the year before¹⁶. That’s about 4.6x the growth rate of the overall media industry, which was projected to grow by 5.7%.

Having a massive follower count is no longer the verification that users look for anymore. Only 17% of consumers check a creator’s follower count before deciding to engage with them¹⁷. People are paying more attention to the topics creators cover, their brand partnerships, and the quality of their posts.

It looks like authenticity is still the strongest sales pitch: 64% of consumers say genuine reviews are the influencer content most likely to compel them to make a purchase compared with 55% who say the same about discount codes¹⁷.

Most (77%) of consumers prefer influencer-created content over traditional advertisements, while 79% say they’ve purchased a product after seeing an influencer use it¹⁸.

Almost all (85%) of consumers are more likely to trust a sponsored post from a social media influencer than one from an A-list celebrity¹⁸. That’s up from 61% the previous survey year, a 24-percentage-point increase.

More than half (53%) of consumers have less trust in a product recommendation when the influencer is paid, yet 87% also believe influencers have actually used the products they’re promoting. It looks like getting paid makes the recommendation feel less genuine¹⁹.

Despite how influential influencers (pun intended) are when it comes to buying products, 41% of consumers aren’t sure whether they trust an influencer’s product recommendation more than a brand’s¹⁹.

The creator economy may be a $250 billion industry, but most creators aren’t making a living from it: 62% of creators say content creation isn’t their primary source of income, while 67% earned less than $10,000 from content creation over the past year²⁰.

Nearly 70% of marketers already work with influencers or plan to start, while more than 60% expect to increase their influencer marketing investments in 2026²¹.

The average TikTok user can watch 75 short-form videos in the time it takes someone to watch a single long-form video elsewhere²¹. Really puts losing yourself in TikTok into a whole new perspective, huh?

That last statistic should make this one no surprise: 73% of marketers say short-form video drives the highest engagement on TikTok, compared with just 9% who say the same about long-form video²¹. Instagram isn’t far behind, with 62% saying short-form video is its most popular form of engagement.

More than a third (37%) of social media professionals use more than four AI tools, up from just 14% a year earlier²².

AI is giving social media pros a lot of their time back: 65% save between 1 and 6 hours per week with AI, while nearly 25% save 7 hours or more²². No wonder 75% use AI daily!

Most (86%) of social media professionals use AI to write posts, captions, and other copy, while 84% use it to generate content ideas²².

Three-quarters of Americans say they’ve visited a social media page containing an AI reference during a single month²³. Many of those visits involved Facebook pages that included a link to Meta’s AI tool, which means that you no longer have to go looking for AI to run into it.

Most (88%) of consumers say they can recognize AI-generated images, and 81% say they can recognize AI-generated videos, compared with just 44% who recognized AI-powered feed algorithms and 40% who recognized AI influencers²⁴.

Recognizing an AI-generated image is one thing; knowing when AI is influencing your social media experience is another.

When breaking news happens, social media is becoming the first destination people go to — especially for younger Americans: 19% of U.S. adults turn to social media first when they want more information about a breaking news event, but that jumps to 31% among adults under 30²⁵.

By comparison, just 14% of adults under 30 turn first to their preferred news organization, while 31% go to search engines.

More than half (61%) of consumers consider YouTube more trustworthy for accurate information, compared with 47% for Reddit and just 32% for Instagram²⁶.

Politicians are not the most popular people on social media: 45% of consumers don’t follow any politicians, while another 26% follow just one or two²⁷.

Even so, political content isn’t being ignored: 33% say politicians' posts make them seem more approachable, and 55% say a social media post has informed or changed their opinion on something.

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of U.S. Gen Zers discover new media content on social platforms like TikTok and Instagram, while 71% discover content on YouTube²⁸. Thanks, algorithms!

In some regions, the gap between how much time Gen Z and older generations spend on social media is enormous: Gen Z spends between 2 hours 31 minutes and 3 hours 58 minutes on social media each day²⁹. Baby boomers, meanwhile, range from just 1 hour 13 minutes to 2 hours 56 minutes.

Here’s why I mentioned regions: In North America, Gen Z averages 3 hours 7 minutes a day compared to 1 hour 51 minutes for boomers. That’s about 68% more time on social media every day.

Half (50%) of Gen Z have already blocked, muted, or unfollowed a brand or creator because its content felt like low-effort, AI-generated “slop”³⁰. Another 56% of consumers say they see AI slop on their social feeds often or very often.

Google may still be the search king, but TikTok is growing: 49% of U.S. consumers have used TikTok as a search engine, including 65% of Gen Z, 55% of millennials, 40% of Gen X, and 12% of baby boomers³¹.

The reasons people turn to TikTok for search are telling: 26% said they liked the platform’s short-video format, while 21% cited its storytelling, and 17% liked the interactive experience. Looks like they’re also looking for practical stuff like recipes, DIY tips, beauty advice, music, and product recommendations.

Two in 3 TikTok searchers say a main reason they use it as a search engine is that they discover things beyond what they were originally searching for³².

For example, you might open TikTok to find a recipe and somehow end up learning how to identify your “makeup type” 20 minutes later. Makes sense — TikTok says searches are up more than 40% from the previous year!

1. https://datareportal.com/social-media-users
2. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/
3. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/04/22/teens-social-media-and-mental-health/
4. https://www.cdc.gov/yrbs/youth-health-in-focus/index.html
5. https://www.civicattention.org/research/social-media-survey-spring-25
6. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/12/09/teens-social-media-and-ai-chatbots-2025/
7. https://www.reuters.com/world/three-five-americans-favor-stronger-oversight-social-media-companies-2026-08-09/
8. https://www.cybersmile.org/resource/digital-wellbeing-report-2026/
9. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2026/10/01/social-media-platform-use-around-the-world/
10. https://www.statista.com/statistics/278341/number-of-social-network-users-in-selected-countries/
11. https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/social-shopping-stats-2025/
12. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/press/new-research-from-sprout-social-finds-social-media-is-the-top-place-gen-z-turns-to-for-search-surpassing-traditional-search-engines/
13. https://www.self.inc/info/social-media-shopping/
14. https://tinuiti.com/research-insights/research/2025-holiday-shopping-trends/
15. https://www.chiefmarketer.com/many-discover-products-on-social-media-but-few-purchase/
16. https://www.iab.com/news/creator-economy-ad-spend-to-reach-37-billion-in-2025-growing-4x-faster-than-total-media-industry-according-to-iab/
17. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/influencer-marketing-statistics/
18. https://izea.com/resources/insights/2025-trust-in-influencer-marketing/
19. https://clutch.co/resources/trust-in-influencers
20. https://www.creatoriq.com/press/releases/creatoriq-state-of-creators-report-2026
21. https://offers.hubspot.com/social-media-trends-report
22. https://metricool.com/impact-of-ai-social-media/
23. https://www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/2025/05/23/what-web-browsing-data-tells-us-about-how-ai-appears-online/
24. https://clutch.co/resources/ai-social-media-report
25. https://www.pew.org/en/trust/archive/summer-2026/where-do-americans-turn-first-for-information-about-breaking-news
26. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-10-13-gartner-consumer-survey-identifies-most-trusted-social-media-platforms-for-information-accuracy
27. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/?p=173051
28. https://www.emarketer.com/content/social-media-youtube-dominate-discovery-gen-zers
29. https://www.gwi.com/reports/social-media-trends/explore
30. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/press/social-media-is-now-the-top-source-for-breaking-news-new-sprout-social-research-finds/
31. https://www.jckonline.com/editorial-article/report-tiktok-search-engine/
32. https://ads.tiktok.com/business/library/TikTok_Next_2026_Trend_Report_NA.pdf