Chart of the Average Time Spent On Social Media (by App)

Average Time Spent On Social Media (by App)

There’s no question that social media marketing is one of the most popular ways to grow a business. The numbers say it all—there are 5.17 billion social media users worldwide in 2024, with a social media penetration rate of 66.76%

To effectively market your products, it’s essential to know not only what the most popular social media platforms are, but also how consumers are allocating their time among them.

So just what’s the average time spent on social media per day and how does it vary across apps? 

Key highlights of the average time spent on social media

  • Social media users spend the most time on TikTok’s app, clocking 31 hours and 47 minutes per month.
  • TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram are the only five social media apps on which users spend more than 15 hours a month.
  • Three of the top 10 platforms on this list ranking the average time spent on social media by app are owned by Meta: Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.
  • WhatsApp has the highest number of app sessions, with the average user launching it 922.6 times per month.

Average time spent on social media: table

Rank

Social media platform

Average time spent on social media per month

Average time spent on social media per day

1

TikTok

31 hours 47 minutes

64 minutes

2

YouTube

27 hours 43 minutes

55 minutes

3

Facebook

19 hours 27 minutes

39 minutes

4

WhatsApp

16 hours 58 minutes

34 minutes

5

Instagram

16 hours 28 minutes

33 minutes

6

Line

8 hours 4 minutes

16 minutes

7

X (Twitter)

5 hours 19 minutes

11 minutes

8

Telegram

3 hours 56 minutes

8 minutes

9

Discord

3 hours 47 minutes

8 minutes

10

Snapchat

3 hours 35 minutes

7 minutes

Average amount of time spent on social media: ranked by apps

According to the latest data on time spent on social media, global users spend the most time on TikTok, averaging 31 hours and 47 minutes per month, which equates to 64 minutes per day. This is noteworthy given that TikTok was only launched in 2017. Over the past few years, the time spent on TikTok has surged, allowing it to surpass its competitors. It’s the only app where monthly usage exceeds one hour per day.

At 27 hours and 43 minutes, the platform on which social media users spend the second most amount of time is YouTube. This is followed by Facebook, whose figures on monthly time spent are significantly lower, at 19 minutes and 27 minutes (39 minutes per day). WhatsApp and Instagram users spend around 17 hours a month on their respective apps, translating to just over half an hour daily. Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram are all owned by Meta. 

Despite ranking fourth in average time spent on social media, WhatsApp holds a commanding lead in the number of sessions. The average WhatsApp user opens the app 922.6 times per month, around 31 times daily. Meanwhile, Line, in second place, registers just 354.1 app opens monthly.

Sixth on this list ranking social media apps by the average time spent is the popular messaging platform Line. The app captures eight hours and four minutes of users’ time every month, or 16 minutes per day. Line is followed by X, formerly known as Twitter, with five hours and 19 minutes (equivalent to approximately 11 minutes per day). Rounding out the top 10 are Telegram, Discord, and Snapchat, with users spending just under four hours a month (or eight minutes a day) on each app.

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