Stacy Jo Dixon
Research expert covering social media usage worldwide
Social media usage in the United Kingdom (UK) - statistics & facts
It is hardly surprising that social media usage has increased yearly in the United Kingdom and that prominent platforms have maintained their high user counts. Nevertheless, newcomers to the market have claimed niches and started new trends, establishing themselves as competition for social media juggernauts in the fight for UK social media users’ attention.
Which social network is most popular in the UK?
For now, the usual suspects of the social media market are still holding on to the top spots in the UK. WhatsApp was the most used social media service in the UK as of 2022, with almost three-quarters of the country using the instant messaging app. Facebook ranked closely in second position, followed by Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and Twitter. In 2023, the total number of social media users in the United Kingdom stands at 62 million.The UK’s social media audience
In the UK, social media is most popular amongst Gen Z and Millennials. Social media has a 94 percent reach with both generations, and usage drops steadily with age, with 74 percent of Baby boomers being present on social networks. In terms of education, 29 percent of social media users had achieved a bachelor's degree or equivalent, and one in five users were of secondary level education. Additionally, 12 percent of social media users in the UK reported having a household income of under 15.6 thousand GBP.How do Brits use social media?
The UK population’s overall usage of social media reveals just how integrated it has become into the everyday lives of the vast majority. A survey found that as of March 2022, 73 percent of respondents used social media every day, whilst just two percent said that they never used it. Although it has many purposes, social media is often used as a news source. In 2022, an online survey conducted in the UK found that 32 percent of news consumers said they used Facebook as a source of news, making it the third most popular source after broadcasters BBC and ITV. Additionally, as of early 2023, 13 percent of social media users used Twitter as a source of news every week, whilst nine percent used WhatsApp.Are younger audiences using Facebook?
As Facebook was launched in 2004, its success in terms of user numbers and reach is strongly linked to the fact that it was one of the first online networks of its kind. While it is often thought that Facebook is used mostly by older generations, it still has more teen users than Instagram. As of June 2023 in the UK, 1.8 million teens were using Facebook, compared to 1.5 million using Instagram. Currently, there are around 46 million Facebook users in the UK, which accounts for approximately 68 percent of the country’s population and people aged 25 to 34 make up a quarter of all users.TikTok – the Gen Z favorite
Gen Z’s social app of choice is TikTok, and the ByteDance service has experienced steady growth in user numbers throughout the past few years. The platform has taken its place amongst the likes of YouTube and Facebook and was the most used social media app in the country in 2022, with users spending on average 27 hours per month on the service. TikTok’s design, usability, and entertainment style - focusing mainly on short videos - have filled gaps in the market which is highly appealing to younger audiences. Moreover, 68 percent of Gen Z users in the UK reported engaging with TikTok daily. The most popular videos on TikTok in the UK have amassed hundreds of millions of views. In 2022, the most viewed TikTok video in the UK was posted by @samdracot_farrier - a professional farrier who documents his daily work – reaching over 270 million views.Social media brands in the UK
In June 2023, video platform YouTube ranked first in terms of being the most well-known social network in the UK, followed by Facebook and Instagram. Although Twitter’s awareness rate amongst social media users in May 2022 was 92 percent, just 34 percent of respondents reported using the micro-blogging service. Since CEO Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company in October 2022, Twitter has spent a considerable amount of time in the media spotlight. However, the buzz surrounding the platform lay at a modest 21 percent, relatively low compared to Facebook’s buzz score of 41 percent.
