Stacy Jo Dixon
Research expert covering social media usage worldwide
User-generated content - Statistics & Facts
User-generated content (UGC) refers to online media created and published by users, in the frame of social media posts and comments, video content, gaming content, photographs, selfies, and online reviews. UGC makes up a huge part of the internet, and other users rely on this type of information when making decisions as consumers or finding like-minded people to engage with.
On TikTok, Bella Poarch's lip-syncing "M to the B" by Millie B was the most engaged with video on the app as of March 2023, amassing 61 million likes. TikTok has also become popular with influencers and holidaymakers alike and users like to show off their vacation destination of choice. Barcelona is TikTok’s most viewed European city, followed by London and Paris, respectively.
BeReal, released in 2020, gives users just two minutes to post a daily, filter-free snapshot, so there is no opportunity for a time-consuming selfie session, aiming for a more genuine user experience than Instagram, for example. Overall, one third of U.S. users agreed or strongly agreed that the app was ‘authentic social media’.
The process of taking, editing, and posting photos on social media is so simple that many users are oblivious to just how many images there are of them on the internet. In fact, 27 percent of adults in the United States said they were unsure of how many photographs of them were online. Furthermore, UK social media users were estimated to leave behind over nine thousand photos throughout their lifetime on social media as part of their online footprint.
What are internet users talking about?
Facebook and Instagram are home to discussions surrounding important and current topics. From 2022 to 2023, conversations around sustainable cities on Instagram rose by 2,143 percent, and on Facebook, ecovilliage conversations rose by 1,132 percent. Technology and AI are also popular topics for online users. Haptic communication and generative art were widespread subjects on the Meta platforms and as of May 2023, the most popular server on Discord was the server dedicated to generative AI program Midjourney, with almost 16 million members. 1327141Online video is taking center stage
TikTok and YouTube are the social media video giants, and although TikTok focuses on short-form video whilst YouTube can host hours of content, these two services prove that online consumers want video - and the good news is, there is no shortage of user-generated video content. In February 2022, YouTube saw around 500 hours of video uploaded every minute. Additionally, YouTube shorts reached two billion monthly logged-in users as of July 2023.On TikTok, Bella Poarch's lip-syncing "M to the B" by Millie B was the most engaged with video on the app as of March 2023, amassing 61 million likes. TikTok has also become popular with influencers and holidaymakers alike and users like to show off their vacation destination of choice. Barcelona is TikTok’s most viewed European city, followed by London and Paris, respectively.
Good news for online gamers
A welcome development for the online gaming community is that people love to upload gaming video content. Streaming platform Twitch, which is very popular with gaming audiences, had 7.59 million active streamers in July 2023. Moreover, in 2022, Twitch audiences viewed 1.35 trillion minutes of video content on the streaming platform. Twitch is not the only platform popular with gamers - in April 2023, virtual YouTuber Usada Pekora was the most popular YouTube Gaming streamer, with 3.1 million hours of watch time and Japanese VTuber Kuzuha Channel was the second-most popular YouTube gaming streamer.Time for a selfie?
Photo sharing is one of the most popular content creating activities. Photos, including selfies and pictures of friends and family, are widely shared on social media. Not only do users enjoy taking selfies and posting photos, but they also like editing them. Remini – AI Photo Enhancer was the most downloaded photo editor app in the United States in July 2023, amassing over 4.5 million downloads during that month.BeReal, released in 2020, gives users just two minutes to post a daily, filter-free snapshot, so there is no opportunity for a time-consuming selfie session, aiming for a more genuine user experience than Instagram, for example. Overall, one third of U.S. users agreed or strongly agreed that the app was ‘authentic social media’.
The process of taking, editing, and posting photos on social media is so simple that many users are oblivious to just how many images there are of them on the internet. In fact, 27 percent of adults in the United States said they were unsure of how many photographs of them were online. Furthermore, UK social media users were estimated to leave behind over nine thousand photos throughout their lifetime on social media as part of their online footprint.
How much do we rely on online reviews?
There are many platforms upon which consumers can communicate their feedback on almost every product, service, or experience. As of March 2023, 34 percent of surveyed U.S. adults said they relied on customer reviews to get information about products. In the United States, 43 percent of users said they regularly read online reviews of local businesses, and 34 percent said they always did. In addition, holidaymakers have plenty of opportunities to express their feelings about their vacations too – in both 2021 and 2022, there were one billion user reviews and ratings published on travel comparison platform TripAdvisor.
