The State of Social Media: Global Trends & Platform Behaviors
Social media's global map is being redrawn — but penetration rates alone don't tell you what's actually happening. This report tracks platform adoption across 40+ countries from Q4 2017 through Q1 2026, then goes deeper: measuring what users in six major markets actually do on each platform. The result is a resource built for marketers, strategists, and media planners who need to move beyond reach numbers and understand behavior.
Authors
Bobby Blanchard
Sr. Director of Audience Development
What's Inside the Report
The global platform landscape, updated. Facebook leads in the majority of tracked countries, but Instagram and TikTok have closed the gap across Latin America and Southeast Asia. In several markets TikTok has taken over entirely among younger demographics.
Where TikTok is still growing, and how fast. Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia now exceed 70% weekly usage. Brazil added nearly 10 percentage points in a single year. The US continues its steady climb.
The generational divide and where it disappears. In Germany, the UK, and the US, TikTok's Gen Z vs. Boomer usage gap exceeds 50 percentage points. In Mexico and Brazil, it's under 20.
What really happened when Elon Musk bought Twitter. Despite years of headlines about advertiser boycotts and mass defections, US and UK weekly hasn’t changed all that much.
Threads and Bluesky: the challengers that haven't broken through. Threads peaked at 19.7% weekly usage in Q3 2025 and has since fallen back. Bluesky surged and retreated.
What users actually do, platform by platform, market by market. Behavioral data across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit, X, and LinkedIn covering six markets: the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, and Spain.