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 34 hours and 15 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 930 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 |
34 hours 15 minutes |
69 minutes |
|
2 |
YouTube |
29 hours 21 minutes |
59 minutes |
|
3 |
|
18 hours 44 minutes |
37 minutes |
|
4 |
|
16 hours 52 minutes |
34 minutes |
|
5 |
|
16 hours 49 minutes |
34 minutes |
|
6 |
Line |
7 hours 25 minutes |
15 minutes |
|
7 |
X (Twitter) |
5 hours 19 minutes |
11 minutes |
|
8 |
Telegram |
4 hours 25 minutes |
9 minutes |
|
9 |
Discord |
3 hours 43 minutes |
7 minutes |
|
10 |
Snapchat |
3 hours 34 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 34 hours and 15 minutes per month, which equates to 69 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 29 hours and 21 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 18 minutes and 44 minutes (37 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 930 times per month, around 31 times daily. Meanwhile, Instagram, in second place, registers just 351.1 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 seven hours and 25 minutes of users’ time every month, or 15 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). Eighth on the list is Telegram, on which the average user spends four hours and 25 minutes. Rounding out the top 10 are Discord and Snapchat, with users spending just under four hours a month (or seven minutes a day) on each app.