Ages 16-24 Prefer Instagram, Middle-Aged Prefer WhatsApp
Statistics show that more than 60% of the global population use social networking services (SNS). The average daily usage time of SNS users was 2 hours and 26 minutes.
On the 20th (local time), AFP news agency reported this citing the quarterly "Digital Report" released this month by marketing and consulting firm Kepios. According to the report, currently 4.88 billion people, equivalent to 60.6% of the global population, are using SNS.
Also, the number of internet users worldwide was estimated to be about 5.19 billion, and based on this, 94% of internet users are using SNS. This means that 5.5 new users are joining every second, and the proportion of SNS users increased by 3.7% compared to last year.
SNS users were analyzed to use SNS for an average of 2 hours and 26 minutes per day. Assuming 8 hours of sleep per day, they spend about 15% of their 16 waking hours connected to and using SNS.
The number of SNS users and usage time showed different patterns depending on the country and region.
In India, the country with the largest population in the world, one-third of the total population were SNS users, whereas in East and Central Africa, only one out of 11 people reported using SNS. Also, Japanese people used SNS for less than 1 hour per day on average, but Brazilians used SNS for an average of 3 hours and 49 minutes per day, nearly four times longer than Japanese people.
The average number of platforms SNS users utilize monthly was 6.7. The most used SNS platform was Facebook, with 2.989 billion monthly active users. Following were YouTube (2.527 billion), WhatsApp (2 billion), Instagram (2 billion), WeChat (1.319 billion), and TikTok (1.081 billion) in that order.
Preferences for SNS also differed by age group: those aged 16 to 24 preferred Instagram, while middle-aged and older adults aged 55 to 64 favored WhatsApp the most.
Meanwhile, according to the "SNS Usage Status by Generation" report from the Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) released last year, 83.5% of the domestic millennial generation (ages 25?38) and 72.4% of Generation Z (ages 9?24) use SNS. Among Generation Z, 39% responded that they use SNS for more than 1 hour per day, and 6.8% said they use SNS for more than 3 hours per day.
Looking across all generations, SNS usage rates have been increasing annually: 47.7% in 2019, 52.4% in 2020, and 55.1% in 2021.
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