What percentage of Americans use social media?

Research highlights: 73% of Americans use social media, with the average American spending 2 hours and 9 minutes on social platforms daily. While Facebook has the broadest reach in terms of active users, TikTok dominates engagement with American users spending 43 hours and 53 minutes per month. 

Related research: Which country has the most Instagram users? | How many people use social media in 2024 (+ age & country) | Facebook age demographics: who uses Facebook the most? | What's the average time spent on social media each day? | What are the top social media platforms in the world? 

How many people in the US use social media?

• As of 2025, 253 million people in the US use social media, representing 73% of the American population

• A sharp rise occurred in late 2024, with users jumping from 238 million in July to 253 million in October, a 6.32% increase

• User numbers held steady at 246 million from January to July 2023, before dropping to 239 million by October

• Growth stalled through most of 2024, with no gains between January and July, and a slight dip in April

• The recent plateau from October 2024 to January 2025 suggests that social media user growth in the US may be stabilizing

Most popular social media platforms in the US

• Facebook is the most widely used platform in the US, with 74.4% of internet users aged 16 and above accessing it monthly

• Messenger (59.3%) and Instagram (57.8%) follow closely, giving Meta three of the top four spots

• TikTok reaches only 45.1% of users monthly despite ranking highest in time spent

• iMessage (40.2%) is the most used messaging app after Messenger, outpacing WhatsApp (29.4%) and Telegram (14.1%)

• Pinterest (35.8%) and X (34.6%) have broader monthly reach than Snapchat (32.4%), although lower engagement metrics as shown in the datasets indicating average time spent

• Reddit (31.1%) and LinkedIn (30.6%) have similar reach

• Nextdoor (16.2%), Discord (14.9%), and Telegram (14.1%) see modest use, mostly under 1 in 6 users

Average daily time spent on social media by Americans

• The average American spends 2 hours and 9 minutes on social media

• 2024 saw the highest average daily time over the past four years, at 2 hours and 18 minutes, though daily social media time fell by 6.6% a year later

• 2025 marks the first drop in daily usage since at least 2022, reversing the upward trend

How much time do Americans spend on social media each month?

• TikTok leads all platforms by a wide margin in average time spent, with American users spending 43 hours and 53 minutes per month, nearly double YouTube’s 24 hours and 43 minutes

• Snapchat has the second-highest number of sessions per month (259.9), but users spend only 7 hours and 22 minutes monthly, indicating short, frequent check-ins rather than long viewing sessions

• Facebook remains highly active with 201.8 sessions and 16 hour and 24 minutes of use per month

• Instagram users spend 11 hours and 2 minutes monthly over 187.1 sessions

• WhatsApp exceeds Facebook and YouTube in terms of average monthly sessions (221.6), though total time spent is comparatively low at 3 hours and 59 minutes

• Reddit and X have lower time spent (~4 hours/month) and fewer sessions than the top platforms

• LinkedIn sees the least activity overall, with just 44 minutes per month across 28.1 sessions

• Content-heavy platforms like TikTok and YouTube dominate time spent, while messaging apps dominate in session counts

Main reasons why Americans use social media

• Keeping in touch with friends and family is by far the most common reason Americans use social media, cited by 58.8% 

• Leisure is a major driver, with 38.9% of Americans using social media to fill spare time

• Content discovery and consumption form a major secondary cluster of usage: 29.4% use social media to find content, 27.4% to read news stories, and 25.8% to see what’s being talked about

• Just over one in four users (25.3%) turn to social media for inspiration on things to do or buy

• Engagement seems more observational rather than participatory, with only 22% of users saying they use social media primarily to post about their own lives

• Community and opinion-sharing are significant but less dominant motivators: 21.4% use it to find like-minded groups, while 18.9% use it to share or discuss opinions

• 20.3% use social platforms for live streams and 18.8% for sports content

• Only 18.3% use social media to find products, and 17.7% follow brands

• Fear of missing out (FOMO) drives behavior for a smaller subset of users and 16.6% cite it as a reason to stay active on social media

• Following celebrities and influencers is the least cited reason, selected by just 14.6% of respondents

Sources:

• Digital 2025: The United States Of America

• Digital 2024: The United States of America

• Digital 2023: The United States of America

• Digital 2022: The United States of America