UK Social Media Statistics That Demonstrate Its Massive Impact
With a usage penetration rate of 84.3%, social media usage in the United Kingdom is pretty big, as it is worldwide. These UK social media statistics reveal detailed insights about British social media users, their demographics and behaviors, what platforms they use, exactly how much they use them, and how those figures compare against global data.
Top 10 UK Social Media Statistics and Facts
The total number of social media users in the UK is 57.6 million.
Users from the UK spend an average of one hour and 52 minutes on social media per day.
25.2% of social media users in the UK are aged between 25 and 34.
56% of Brits like posts by other users or send private messages on social media.
53.6% of Brits cite keeping in touch with friends and family as the main reason they use social media.
79% of Brits between 16 and 24 say social media is their main news source.
YouTube is the most popular social media platform in the UK, with 96% of Brits recognizing its logo.
The average British user spends 27.3 hours each month on TikTok.
Five out of the top 20 most visited websites for 2021 in the UK are social media platforms.
Brits collectively spent 12,503,700,000 hours on social media apps in 2021.
General Social Media Statistics for the UK
The total number of social media users in the UK is 57.6 million.
This means that 84.3% of the 68.35 million population in the UK are social media users. In addition, 98% of the UK’s population, or 66.99 million Brits, are internet users, and close to 86% of them have at least one active social media account. Compared to the number from the previous year, in 2022, the number of social media users in the UK has increased by 8.7%.
(Data Reportal)
Users from the UK spend an average of one hour and 52 minutes on social media per day.
UK social media usage statistics show that the average daily use of social media in the UK is well below the global average of two hours and 28 minutes. Countries with daily averages close to the one in the UK are Italy, with one hour and 49 minutes, Denmark, which has the same average of one hour and 52 minutes, and Czechia, with one hour and 53 minutes.
Users from Nigeria have the highest daily average in the world, at four hours and 20 minutes, while users from Japan have the lowest, at only 49 minutes per day.
(Data Reportal)
25.2% of social media users in the UK are aged between 25 and 34.
While Millennials account for more than a quarter, the UK social media usage by age stats further reveal that 3.8% of the social media profiles belong to teenagers between 13 and 17, and 18% to young adults, between 18 and 24 years of age. Furthermore, 18.4% of British social media users are aged between 35 and 44, 14.5% are between 45 and 54, and 10.2% are between 55 and 64 years old. Users older than 65 account for 8.9% of the entire UK social media user base.
(Statista)
56% of Brits like posts by other users or send private messages on social media.
Social media use statistics for the UK obtained in a study analyzing Brits’ usage of social media during four-week intervals reveal that a slightly smaller percentage of 49% have commented on posts, while 40% followed new people in the same time period.
Furthermore, 38% posted pictures or videos, 30% posted status updates, and 33% shared posts posted by other users. Only 27% liked posts posted by companies, 22% followed new company profiles, and just 14% shared posts posted by business profiles in the last four weeks.
(Statista)
53.6% of Brits cite keeping in touch with friends and family as the main reason they use social media.
In addition, social media usage stats show that 37.1% of British users say they only use social media as a way of filling their spare time, while 26.7% say it is where they get their news stories from.
Furthermore, social media is how 22.7% of Brits find content, 21.8% say it allows them to find out what’s talked about, and 20.8% say they look for things to do or buy on social media platforms. Only 18.8% of British users use social media to find like-minded people, 18.5% use it to post about their life, and finally, 16.8% use it because they don’t want to miss out on things.
(Data Reportal)
79% of Brits between 16 and 24 say social media is their main news source.
UK Gen Z social media statistics reveal that close to four out of five users from this generation get their news from social media platforms. Furthermore, the likelihood that users get their news from social media decreases, in parallel to how their age increases.
Namely, 62% of users between 25 and 34 cite social media as their primary news source, while 53% of users between 35 and 44 say the same. The percentage drops to 41% for users aged between 45 and 54 and drops again to 32% for users between 55 and 64.
(Ofcom)
Key Stats for Each of the Biggest Social Media Platforms in the UK
As of February 2022, there are 35.05 million UK Facebook users.
The latest Facebook statistics further reveal that 54.1% of its British users are female, while 45.9% are male. The total number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom translates to 51.3% of the entire population in the country, or 60.5% if people under 13 are excluded.
Additionally, female users are significantly more active on Facebook than males. On average, British women like one page and 17 posts, leave 11 comments, share two posts, and open 23 ads per month. British man, on the other hand, like one page and nine posts, leave four comments, share one post, and open 15 ads monthly, on average.
(Data Reportal)
The number of YouTube users in the UK is 57.6 million.
Data on YouTube demographics for the UK show that the British YouTube user base is evenly split among both genders, with 50.6% of the users being female and 49.4% being male. The number of YouTube users in the UK is equivalent to 84.3% of the population in the country.
Moreover, 49.8 million British YouTube users are over 18, which means that they account for 92.2% of the adult population in the UK. Lastly, the data shows that the words ‘song’, ‘songs’, and ‘music’, are the top three words included in YouTube search queries by Brits.
(Data Reportal)
56% of UK Instagram users are female, and 44% are male.
Instagram statistics from February 2022 reveal that the number of Instagram users in the United Kingdom has reached 31.75 million. Data indicates that this figure is equivalent to 46.5% of the total population in the UK and 47.4% of the internet users in the country. If persons under the age of 13 are excluded, the share of Instagram users jumps to 54.8%.
Even though Brits between 25 and 34% are the most numerous age group of Instagram users, with a share of 29.4%, users between 15 and 24 are the most active users, with 60% of them using it daily.
(Data Reportal, Statista, Ofcom)
56.3% of LinkedIn users in the UK are male, and 43.8% are female.
According to the most recent LinkedIn statistics, 34 million Brits are active users of the platform. That’s close to half, or 49.7%, of the UK population, 50.8% of the internet users in the country, and 62.9% of its adult population.
Data also indicates that the LinkedIn user base in the UK is rapidly growing, having added four million new users between 2021 and 2022. Users between 25 and 34 are by far the largest portion of the user base, with a 57.2% share, while those between 35 and 54 account for another 22.3% of it.
(Data Reportal, Napoleon Cat)
The number of Twitter users in the UK has decreased by 3.4% between Q4 of 2021 and Q1 of 2022.
In absolute value, this 3.4% drop translates to close to 650,000 fewer active users in the UK’s Twitter user base. Having said that, the number of Brits on Twitter is still huge, with 18.4 million active users who account for 26.9% of Britain’s total population and 31.8% of its population over 13.
As a result of its recent dip in popularity, Twitter is no longer among the top ten most visited websites in England and Wales, though it remains in the top ten for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
(Data Reportal, Ofcom)
20.65 million Brits use Snapchat in 2022.
Furthermore, Snapchat statistics reveal that 55.5% of Snapchat users in the UK are female, while 44.1% are male. The stats also show that 14% of British Snapchat users are aged between 15 and 17, which is the highest share that users from this age group have in any social media platform.
In addition, 30% of the UK Snapchat user base is aged between 18 and 24, which means 44% of UK Snapchat users are Gen Zers. In regards to Snapchat’s growth in the UK, its user base grew by 2.7% between Q4 of 2021 and Q1 in 2022 but overall decreased by 2.1% between these two years.
(Data Reportal, Ofcom)
Interesting Facts About Social Media in the UK
YouTube is the most popular social media platform in the UK, with 96% of Brits recognizing its logo.
According to a recent study on social media brand awareness in the UK, YouTube is just two percentage points in front of Facebook and Instagram. These two platforms are tied for the second-most popular social media in the country, with 94% brand awareness, while Twitter’s logo was recognized by 91% of the respondents. TikTok and Snapchat were among the most popular platforms as well, with brand awareness rates of 90% and 88%, respectively.
(Statista)
The average British user spends 27.3 hours each month on TikTok.
Statistics about social media platforms reveal that British users spend the most time watching videos on TikTok, followed by watching videos on YouTube, with 16.1 hours per month. The average time they spend using Facebook each month is very close, at 15.5 hours, while another 8.8 hours they spend messaging on WhatsApp.
Stats show that their average monthly use time of Instagram is the lowest among the big five, at 7.9 hours per month. Additionally, data reveals that the average time British users spend with TikTok has increased by 37% compared to last year, while it has decreased for all four other platforms.
(Data Reportal)
50% of UK social media users of all ages view Facebook as their main social media profile.
However, UK social media stats show an interesting shift between users from different generations as to which profile they consider their main one. Namely, 30% of the youngest Brits, aged between 16 and 24, view their Instagram, 23% view their Snapchat, 21% see their TikTok, and only 12% of them consider their Facebook profile as their main one.
Users from the next age bracket, between 25 and 34, are evenly split between Facebook, with 34%, and Instagram, with 32%, while no other platform is considered main by a significant portion of users. From age 35 onwards, Facebook dominates across all age groups with a considerable percentage difference.
(Ofcom)
17% of UK users say they rarely like or post content on social media.
The social media engagement stats for UK users reveal that 17% of them tend to use social media passively and use it to get information rather than to like, comment, or share. In comparison, 20% of users say they only like content without commenting or sharing, 29% say they often share, post, or comment, and the largest portion, or 33%, of users say they sometimes share, post, or comment on social media websites or apps.
(Ofcom)
Five out of the top 20 most visited websites for 2021 in the UK are social media platforms.
This is one of the social media facts that best illustrate the popularity of social media among Brits. YouTube.com was ranked second on the overall list, with 14.5 billion visits, while Facebook.com was the third most visited website in the country, with 9.98 billion visits.
Furthermore, Twitter.com made it to the seventh spot on the list, with 4.02 billion visits for that year, Instagram.com ranked 11th, with 2.15 billion, and Reddit.com was 18th, having been visited 1.46 billion by British internet users in 2021.
(Data Reportal)
Brits collectively spent 12,503,700,000 hours on social media apps in 2021.
Social media statistics reveal that the time British users spent using social media apps is very close to the time they spent on apps from all other categories combined. Namely, they used photo and video apps for 3,991,500,000 hours, played mobile games for 3,611,400,000 hours, used entertainment apps for 974,400,000 hours, and spent another 5,853,100,000 hours on apps from other categories.
In total, British users spent 14,430,400,000 on all apps from other categories, which is only 15% higher than the 12,503,700,000 hours they spent using social media apps.
(Data AI)
FAQs on UK Social Media Statistics
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The Summary
With the global social media user base recording a 4.2% growth in 2020, the corresponding figure for the UK stands at 8.7% and firing from all cylinders. With the exclusion of Twitter, every other big social media platform is adding Brits to its tally, particularly TikTok and LinkedIn.
And the end of social media’s domination is nowhere in sight. With social media statistics for the UK revealing an 84.3% penetration rate among 98% of British internet users, it is just a matter of time before this ratio narrows down even further.
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