With a plethora of thriving social media platforms to choose from, deciding which social platform is best for your brand can be tricky. Ever since Mark Zuckerberg and his Harvard University peers founded Facebook in 2004, it has become the largest social network on the planet. As such, Facebook can be a great place for brands to connect with consumers and promote their products or services.
Still not convinced? No problem! Let’s dive into exactly why Facebook should be considered in your social media strategy with some impressive stats and facts.
The Evolution of Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg wasn’t the only mastermind behind Facebook.
The platform was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow Harvard University peers, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, in 2004.
Facebook used to be called Facemash.
The idea behind Facebook originated from Facemash, an online platform for Harvard University students to judge the attractiveness of other students. It was quickly shut down after only two days for violating university policy. There was a silver lining though – the invention of Facebook!
Despite launching in 2004, Facebook wasn’t available outside of the US until 2005.
Previously, the platform had been exclusive to high school and university students in the US. In 2005, Facebook was made available to students outside of the US, propelling the platform’s monthly active users from one million to six million by the end of 2005.
Facebook became publicly and globally available in 2006 – two years after launching.
In September 2006, Facebook finally opened their doors to everyone aged 13 and older with a valid email address.
In 2008, Facebook became the most-visited social media website in the world.
With the introduction of the News Feed, the ability to tag others in photos, and the ability for companies to advertise, Facebook finally surpassed Myspace in popularity.
Demographics: Who’s Using Facebook in 2024?
Facebook has 3.065 billion monthly active users.
The most recent figures from Statista (Q4 2023) show that Facebook has 3.065 billion monthly active users, making it the largest social network in the world.
More than half of Facebook users are male.
According to recent Statista data (January 2024), 56.5% of global Facebook users are male.
Millennials make up around half of all global Facebook users.
Millennials (those between the ages of 25 and 44) make up 51.1% of all Facebook users, making them the most active age group on the platform.
Almost a quarter of Facebook users are between 18 and 24.
While the younger generation is less likely to be active on Facebook, 18-24-year-olds still make up 23.2% of all Facebook users.
Teens are less likely to use Facebook than they were a decade ago.
Despite being a favourite among American teens, only 33% of teens today use Facebook compared to 71% in 2014-2015.
Facebook usage is high among teens in lower-income households.
Teens in lower-income households use Facebook more often than teens in higher-income households.
India is home to the most Facebook users, with 385.65 million active users.
The country with the most Facebook users is India with over 385.65 million active users, followed by the US (188.6 million) and Indonesia (136.35 million).
This app has 36.8 million users in the UK.
With around 67.9 million people living in the UK, more than half of the entire population uses Facebook.
Facebook Usage and Engagement Trends
The average engagement rate on Facebook is less than 1%.
The average Facebook Page has an average engagement rate of just 0.07%.
Image posts receive the most engagement on Facebook.
Image posts have the highest engagement rate at 0.12%, followed by video posts at 0.08% and status posts at 0.06%.
Facebook users spend half of their time watching videos.
When interacting with Facebook and Instagram, users spend 50% of their time watching videos.
Three-quarters of people watch Facebook videos without sound.
74% of those who watch videos on Facebook do so without sound.
Live videos garner the most interactions on Facebook.
Live videos receive 3x the median interactions compared to carousels.
Two billion people watch Facebook videos each month.
According to Facebook, more than two billion people watch in-stream-eligible videos on Facebook each month.
Three-quarters of people watch non-skippable Facebook video ads all the way through.
74% of Facebook in-stream non-skippable video ad views are completed across the globe.
Square Facebook videos get more views than landscape videos.
On average, square videos receive 35% more views than landscape videos.
Users spend almost 20 hours a month on Facebook.
On average, users spend almost 20 hours a month on Facebook, which averages out to 40 minutes per day.
More than 80% of people only use Facebook on their mobiles.
Mobile-only users represent 81.8% of all Facebook users, while only 1.5% exclusively use their laptop or desktop to access Facebook.
More than half of all internet users access Facebook each month.
Specifically, 57.53% of the world’s active internet users access Facebook every month.
Users interact with Facebook on weekdays.
In terms of engagement days and times, weekdays from 10 am to 1 pm are the most popular for Facebook users.
Wednesday is the best day to post on Facebook.
More specifically, Wednesday at 9 am and 1 pm is the best time to post on Facebook.
Weekends are the worst time to post on Facebook.
Facebook posts before 5 am and after 8 pm on weekends receive the least engagement.
More than half of people use Facebook to research brands.
54% of all Facebook users engage with the platform to follow and research brands and products.
Advertising and Marketing Statistics on Facebook
Facebook is the most popular social media platform for marketers.
Almost nine in ten (89%) of social media marketers use Facebook to promote their business, while 80% use Instagram.
Ten million advertisers utilise Facebook’s paid ad services.
Over 10 million advertisers actively utilise Facebook’s ad services and tools.
Facebook Ads has a potential reach of 1.983 billion users.
Meta’s planning tools indicate that Facebook ads can reach 1.983 billion users each month.
91% of brands have a Facebook presence.
More than nine in ten (91%) businesses have a presence on Facebook.
Arts & Entertainment, Real Estate, and Restaurants & Food are the top three performing industries on Facebook.
The top five performing industries by Facebook ad clickthrough rate include Arts & Entertainment, Real Estate, Restaurants & Food, Travel, and Collectibles & Gifts.
The average click-through rate (CTR) on Facebook ads is 2.50%.
Facebook ads garner an average CTR of 2.50% across all industries.
The average cost per click (CPC) in Facebook ads is $0.83.
On average, the CPC in Facebook ads for traffic campaigns across all industries is $0.83. This is much lower than the average CPC in Google Ads of $4.22.
Facebook has an average conversion rate of 8.25%.
The average conversion rate on Facebook is 8.25% across all industries.
Facebook generates the highest ROI out of all social platforms.
With low CPC and high conversion rates, Facebook yields high returns, so much so that it generates the highest ROI, tied only with Instagram at 29%.
More than half of Facebook users visit a brand’s website after seeing their Story.
58% of Facebook users visit a brand’s website to find out more information after seeing a brand’s product or service in a Facebook Story.
Facebook Stories drive footfall in stores.
31% of Facebook users physically visit a brand’s store after seeing their Story.
One in five consumers start their search on Facebook when shopping.
19% of US consumers turn to Facebook before beginning their shopping spree.
Facebook Messenger is popularly used by consumers to reach businesses.
More than 1 billion messages are sent between people and businesses on Facebook Messenger each month.
More than three-quarters of marketers retarget Facebook ads.
77% of marketers retarget Facebook and Instagram ads to increase their reach.
Facebook vs Other Social Platforms: A Comparative Analysis
Facebook is the most popular social network followed by YouTube and Instagram.
With 3.065 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most popular social media platform followed by YouTube with 2.504 billion users and Instagram with 2 billion users.
YouTube and TikTok are more popular with teens than Facebook.
Only 19% of teens use Facebook daily, decreasing to just 3% of 13-17-year-olds. On the other end of the scale, 71% of teenagers visit YouTube daily and 58% use TikTok every day.
Facebook is the fifth favourite platform for teens.
Out of all social media platforms, teens visit YouTube most often, followed by TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook.
Social media users spend more time on TikTok and YouTube than on Facebook.
Social media users spend the most amount of time on TikTok, at around 23.3 hours per month. YouTube users spend 23 hours per month engaging with the app, while Facebook users spend 20 hours per month on the platform.
Native Facebook videos are more likely to go viral than YouTube links.
Native Facebook videos have 10 times more reach than YouTube links.
Facebook videos generate more engagement than YouTube links.
Facebook videos have an engagement rate of 0.22% compared to 0.10% for YouTube links.
Facebook is the leading social platform for social commerce.
63.5 million people made at least one purchase via Facebook in 2022. Instagram is the second platform for social commerce with 41 million people making purchases, followed by TikTok with 23.7 million purchases and Pinterest with 15.9 million purchases.
Facebook revenues will hit $170 billion this year.
In 2023, Facebook generated around $152 billion (USD) in global revenue from advertising. Facebook is predicted to generate $170.82 billion in advertising revenue in 2024.
Predictive Insights: The Future of Facebook
To make accurate predictions, let’s take a look at the most significant trends. With people increasingly engaging and interacting with videos, and more specifically live videos, Facebook will likely introduce and incorporate more video-led content in the newsfeed and beyond. With teens choosing YouTube as their platform of choice, we could also see Facebook pushing long-form videos to engage different audiences. TikTok is already testing 30-minute uploads and pushing longer videos, seemingly taking inspiration from YouTube.
Strategic Takeaways for Brands and Marketers
The stats don’t lie. Facebook is the most popular platform on the planet, making it a vital space for brands and advertisers. As we can see, the majority of Facebook users are male millennials, however, a high number of teens still interact with the platform. Users are most likely to engage with image-based posts yet spend half their time watching videos – with the sound off! Live video is another feature that brands should leverage, from Q&As to behind-the-scenes.
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