The Covid-19 lockdowns have kept us inside our homes and online for more than a year, so it is only obvious that we spent more time on social media.
Last year saw a surge in the number of social media users, with billions of people spending more time than ever on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
The growth of the world’s largest social media platforms continued in 2021 with no signs of stopping in the years to come.
According to data presented by StockApps.com, the combined number of Facebook, YouTube and Instagram users is expected to hit 5.7 billion this year.
The trend is expected to continue in the following years, with the number of users growing by another 800 million to a staggering total of 6.5 billion in 2023.
In 2019, popular social media platform Facebook had over 2.1 billion active users, revealed the Statista Key Market Indicators data.
After Covid-19 pandemic hit, the number of Facebook users rose to nearly 2.3 billion. This figure is expected to hit 2.4 billion in 2021. By 2023, the number of people using Facebook is forecast to hit 2.63 billion, a 340 million increase in three years.
Watching videos has also become a favourite pastime in lockdown and the statistics show it. Last year, around 2.1 billion people worldwide had been using YouTube. Statista data indicated the number of people using YouTube is set to jump to 2.24 billion in 2021 and continue growing to 2.56 billion in 2023, a 15% increase in two years.
And of course, lockdown is the great time for “doing it for the ’gram”. Instagram, as the third most popular social media platform in 2021, is the most rapidly evolving.
Last year, the photo and video-sharing social networking app hit 926 million users. This is up by 140 million in a year.
According to Sensor Tower data, Instagram was among the top five most downloaded apps in both the App Store and via Google Play last year.
In 2021, Instagram’s user base is forecast to hit over one billion for the first time. By 2023, the number of people using Instagram is expected to grow by another 23% and hit 1.3 billion worldwide.
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