Discover our data
Key insights
Time spent on social media
How has it changed over the course of the
pandemic? Did lockdowns create lasting habits?
Which communication styles can help brands
keep consumers engaged?
The top performing platforms
Which apps are becoming more popular?
What keeps their users coming back?
The main differences
between markets
What trends are taking hold in China, and will
they move West? What can other markets teach
us about the future of social media?
Keeping tabs on behavioral trends
Which audiences prefer short-form content
over longer videos? How are Stories and AR
tools evolving?
Speaking of social commerce
Are influencers going out of fashion? Is social
commerce taking off?
More from GWI
Appendix
Notes on methodology
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In this
report
GWI’s Social flagship provides
the most important insights on
the world of social media, from
keynotes on how attitudes are
changing, to the very latest fig-
ures for platform engagement.
It offers an update on long-stand-
ing trends, but also highlights
any noteworthy changes over
the past year.
Methodology
& definitions
All figures in this report are drawn from
GWI’s online research among internet users
aged 16-64. Our figures are representative of
the online populations of each market, not
its total population. Note that in many mar-
kets in Latin America, the Middle-East and
Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region, low inter-
net penetration rates can mean that online
populations are more young, urban, affluent,
and educated than the total population.
Each year, GWI interviews over 700,000
internet users aged 16-64 via an online
questionnaire for our Core dataset. A pro-
portion of respondents complete a shorter
version of this survey via mobile; hence the
sample sizes presented in the charts may
differ as some will include all respondents,
and others will include only respondents
who completed GWI’s Core survey via
PC/laptop/tablet.
When reading this report, please note that
we focus on data from our ongoing global
quarterly research, but also draw on other
research: GWI Zeitgeist, GWI USA, GWI
Work, and GWI Custom. GWI Zeitgeist is a
recontact study that we carry out monthly
in 9 markets; GWI USA surveys over 20,000
internet users in the U.S. aged 16+ each
quarter; GWI Work is conducted in 17 coun-
tries, and interviews over 28,000 business
professionals aged 16-64; and GWI Custom
is a recontact study that we carry out in the
U.S. and UK only.
Throughout this piece of work, we refer to
indexes. Indexes are used to compare any
given group against the average (1.00),
which unless otherwise stated refers to the
global average. For example, an index of
“1.20” means that a given group is 20%
above the global average, and an index
of “0.80” means that an audience is 20%
below the global average.
China is excluded from most global charts
that track specific platforms. This is due
to the unique nature of the Chinese social
media industry, which maintains its own
ecosystem of homegrown platforms, and
has official restrictions on many global
social services. We have a section dedicated
to this market on page 30.
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