Facebook Statistics

No matter what your online marketing strategy is, Facebook has to be a big part of it. With almost 1.5 billion active users, Facebook is by far the largest social media platform in the world. But you already know that, don’t you?! You’re probably more interested in some other, more exciting and more essential Facebook statistics, which is why you’re here.

With that in mind, we have prepared a list of statistics that will interest you, amaze you, and most importantly, help you improve your digital marketing strategy.

Facebook Statistics (Editor’s Choice)

• 74% of American Facebook users are on the site daily.
• 83% of women and 75% of men use Facebook.
• 45% of all US adults get news from Facebook.
• 500 new users sign up for Facebook every single minute.
• For 67% of marketers, Facebook is the most important social platform.
• More than 270 million profiles on Facebook are fake.
• Facebook got its one millionth registered user in December 2004.
• Facebook ad spend increases between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
• 93% of social media advertisers use Facebook Ads.

Facebook Usage Stats & Demographics

1. A total of 22% of the world uses Facebook.

This is almost a quarter of the entire world’s population, genuinely making Facebook the biggest social media platform ever. Upon seeing this figure, it’s no surprise that social media marketers make it a big part of their overall marketing strategy, and so should you. So if you’ve been wondering how many people are on Facebook, now you have the answer.

(Aayushi IT Solutions)

2. More than 270 million profiles on Facebook are fake.

Facebook has been “cleaning house” recently, but being such a large platform, it’s challenging to find and remove this massive number of fake accounts. At least they’ve admitted that there are this many (a number close to the population of Indonesia). It’s thus almost impossible to know for sure how many people use Facebook.

(Mashable)

3. 53% of Americans use Facebook a couple of times every day.

This number is the biggest in the US. All other social media platforms are used less, with Facebook-owned WhatsApp being the closest in number at 44%.

(Statista)

4. As of 2018, 68% of American adults were using Facebook.

With almost half of the nation being on Facebook every single day, it’s no surprise that an overwhelming number of all adults in the US have and use a Facebook account.

(PewInternet)

5. 74% of American Facebook users are on the site daily.

Considering the previous Facebook user stats, it’s quite impressive when you consider how consistently its users are on the platform.

(PewInternet)

6. Facebook is available in 142 different languages.

The list of these languages covers all of the world’s major languages—most of the languages spoken by several million people. Admittedly, some of these languages are also just different variations of the same one, which is why there are a few English languages on the list.

(Quora)

7. 64% of adults aged between 50 and 64 use Facebook.

People usually assume that most Facebook users belong to the younger generations and that they are the most active users. However, these Facebook user statistics prove that older people are also very present on this social network.

(PewInternet)

8. 88% of US adults aged between 18 and 29 use at least one social media site.

In other words, 9 out of every 10 people in the world in this age group interact on social media. Since Facebook is the king of social media, we all know where to find the majority of them.

(PewInternet)

9. 83% of women and 75% of men use Facebook.

Looking at some more detailed Facebook user demographics, it seems that women are slightly more interested in the platform. Men aren’t far behind, but still, the numbers point to some interesting facts that should be considered in any marketing strategy that targets Facebook.

(Social Sprout)

10. 83% of Facebook users worldwide are 45 or younger.

This may not surprise many—when it comes to the age demographics on Facebook, you probably already expected this number to be pretty high.

(Marketing Wire)

11. Facebook Lite has 200 million users worldwide.

Facebook Lite is Facebook’s smaller app, which runs similarly but uses less space or data, making it perfect for people who don’t want to spend too much of their monthly data package on Facebook. These 200 million users prove that this version of Facebook’s app is still quite useful and doesn’t compromise the quality of the overall experience.

(Engadget)

12. Facebook had 30,275 employees by the end of June 2018.

Keeping up with one-fifth of the world’s population is no easy feat to achieve, which is why Facebook employs such a large number of people. These employees are dispersed all across the globe as Facebook demographics point out that the platform is used in almost every country in the world. There have been some accusations that Facebook should employ more people for the various services they provide, but it remains to be seen if they will.

(Newsroom)

Facebook Growth & Earnings

13. Instagram is responsible for 20% of Facebook’s mobile ad revenue.

Instagram belongs to Facebook, and ever since Facebook acquired it, it has been growing steadily, as shown per the latest Instagram marketing statistics. Instagram is used in more and more marketing campaigns, so Facebook stats like this one shouldn’t be too surprising.

(Emarketer)

14. Facebook’s total revenue was $13.23 billion in 2018’s second quarter.

This number is a 42% increase since 2017. Even with all the scandals, accusations, and negative press following Zuckerberg’s company, Facebook is still growing, and it’s doing so quickly, despite everything. With these numbers, Facebook is one of the biggest IT companies in the world and also one of the richest. However, at the moment, it is still in the 274th spot on the Fortune Global 500 list.

(Facebook Investor)

15. Per Facebook statistics for Q2 2018, the platform’s total costs and expenses were $7.36 billion.

This number is a 50% increase when compared to 2017. Taking into account that this was a time when Facebook had some of the most significant issues in its existence, the number is not surprising.

(Facebook Investor)

16. Facebook’s net income was estimated at $5.1 billion as of Q2 2018.

This is an increase of 31% since last year, showing that the company is still experiencing more than just good growth. These Facebook stats also point to the fact that no matter what happens, the juggernaut is not slowing down in its growth.

(Facebook Investor)

17. 2018’s Q2 capital expenditures reached $3.46 billion.

Facebook rarely stops expanding in other areas, like land, buildings, and equipment. It’s very likely that these expenditures will further increase for 2020.

(Facebook Investor)

18. The average number of daily active Facebook users (DAUs) was 1.47 billion in June of 2018.

This number has seen an increase of 11% year-over-year. Facebook user demographics have been slowing down in growth in recent times. Taking into account that already 22% of the world’s population is on Facebook and that the company’s image has worsened a bit, this number is still very high.

(Facebook Investor)

19. The number of monthly active users (MAUs) was 2.23 billion as of June 2018.

This number has also experienced an increase of 11% year-over-year. We can safely assume that the social media giant isn’t planning on stopping its growth any time soon. The only limit is the finite number of people in the world. But even that increases over time, so essentially, Facebook can keep on growing forever.

(Facebook Investor)

20. 500 new users sign up for Facebook every single minute.

Even with a quarter of the world's population already on it, Facebook user growth is still quite high. 500 new accounts every minute means that it takes less than two days for there to be a million new Facebook users.

(MXG)

21. Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014.

Facebook has always calculated its purchases well, taking into account all the pros and cons, and the fact that the company bought WhatsApp only further supports the company’s business choices. At the beginning of 2018, WhatsApp had around 1.5 billion users and represented Facebook’s second-biggest property. Most of these users joined after Facebook bought the company, clearly showing what a lucrative investment it was.

(Facebook Newsroom)

22. Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock in 2012.

Some Facebook stats are more incredible than others, and the purchase of Instagram is even better than WhatsApp’s, judging by the fact that Instagram was bought for only $1 billion. That happened some six years ago, and during that time Instagram grew to be one of the biggest social media platforms in the world.

(Forbes)

23. The number of people using Facebook daily rose by 14% in January 2018 compared to 2017. However, for the first time ever, this same stat lowered by 700,000 users in the US and Canada.

Facebook statistics like these show that Facebook is expanding more into other, less developed countries, which explains these numbers. Zuckerberg is reportedly both pleased and unhappy with these facts, but considering some of the hits on the company’s image in the last year or so, these numbers are still excellent. We can see that, overall, the company is still doing well in the market.

(The Sun)

Facebook Stats For Marketers

24. If a content post is longer than 1,500 words, it will likely have 22.6% more Facebook likes.

The stats are clear and show a real advantage in longer content’s engagement levels, despite many believing that shorter content is better. If you want to see a higher number of likes, you have to make sure that your post has some substance.

(Sweor)

25. The best time to post on Facebook is between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

People post all the time and don’t pay much attention to the when they do it. However, if you’re running a marketing campaign, important Facebook marketing statistics like these need to be considered. Multiple studies have shown that it’s best to post between the hours of noon and 3 p.m. since that’s the time when people are mostly on. Also, make sure that it’s a working day, although, for some reason, people are not as active online on Tuesdays as they are on other days.

(Hoosuite)

26. For 67% of marketers, Facebook is the most important social platform.

The importance of the platform is widely known, but these kinds of Facebook statistics show that it’s far more important to marketers than many would assume. If you want to have a successful marketing campaign, Facebook has to have a big part in it, if not the biggest part.

(Social Media Examiner)

27. 69% of Gen Z-ers use Facebook to learn about live events.

If you’re promoting live events that target the younger generations, you need to remember this fact. If such a high number of Gen Z-ers use Facebook for discovering and learning about live events, then there’s no better place than Facebook to advertise them.

(StubHub)

28. Facebook ad spend increases between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

People are mostly using Facebook during these times, so it stands to reason that ad spend would increase as well. All Facebook advertising statistics confirm this, so if you want your ads to reach the most people and have the most significant effect, you need to consider posting ads between these times.

(Zephoria)

29. The best days to post ads on Facebook are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

This stat goes in line with the previous one. Even though people are most active between 1 and 3 p.m. every day, it seems that activity peaks on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So if you’re scheduling your posts, make sure to schedule the important ones to go live on one of these days.

(HubSpot)

30. More than 80 million businesses have Facebook pages.

Did you ever wonder how many businesses are on Facebook? Now you know, and goodness, the total of 80 million is an impressive number. It proves to us that no real business should avoid Facebook altogether. If you run a company and you want to compete, consider hiring a Facebook advertising firm to help you accomplish your business goals.

(Expanded Rambling)

31. 32% of Facebook users engage with brands regularly.

Consider this piece of Facebook statistics: 32% means that every third person on Facebook interacts with at least some brand, and they do it regularly. The number indicates that it’s essential to have a presence on Facebook and to be responsive as well.

(Ecommerce CEO)

32. Only 20% of Facebook posts generate an emotional response, while ads don’t generate any emotional response at all.

This means that if you have ads that thrive on emotional impact, we advise you to skip Facebook for them and post them on some other platforms.

(Adespresso)

33. Page posts on Facebook have a 2.6% organic reach on average.

When it comes to the average Facebook post, statistics show that pages don’t have much organic reach. It seems that paying Facebook for ad exposure is the most common way of reaching viewers on this platform.

(Marketing Wire)

34. 93% of social media advertisers use Facebook Ads.

This one goes in line with the previous stat. Almost all of the advertisers on Facebook use Facebook ads, which mean that it’s useful and nearly obligatory in a way. This also explains the huge profit Facebook makes from ads.

(Marketing Wire)

35. 95.1% of user accounts are accessed via smartphone.

When it comes to the seemingly never-ending Facebook mobile vs desktop war, it seems that smartphones are winning. Almost every active user accesses Facebook via their smartphone, but this doesn’t mean that they’ve entirely cut off their desktop use.

(Statista)

36. 31.8% of active user accounts are accessed via laptop and desktop.

The number shows that only every third person or less accesses Facebook via a computer. Together with other Facebook statistics, it seems that ads and even entire marketing campaigns should mostly be focused on mobile users and made mobile-friendly.

(Statista)

37. Facebook ads that target custom audiences have a 14% lower cost-per-click and have 64% lower cost-per-conversions than ads using interest-based or category-based targeting.

The statistic is pretty self-explanatory: interest and category targeting is much better and more effective than the regular ads that target custom audiences.

(Wish Pond)

38. 42% of customer service responses from brands on Facebook happen within the first hour of a customer’s post.

With Facebook statistics like this in mind, you certainly should aim to be in this 42%, especially since the percentage will likely increase. Quick and detailed responses are greatly appreciated by the vast majority of people, which is why they are essential parts of every customer service.

(Soravjain)

39. 47% of marketers said that Facebook had the greatest impact on purchases.

Facebook is a huge part of today’s consumer culture. A lot of people find products through Facebook, intentionally or through ads. This number is also set to increase in the years to come.

(Soravjain)

40. 70% of marketers said that they use Facebook to acquire new customers.

The right question here is, are you part of that 70%? If not, you definitely should be. Considering how many Facebook users in the world there are, it’s imperative to utilize the platform to try and find new customers.

(Soravjain)

41. 57% of customers claim that social media influences their shopping, with Facebook leading these platforms at 44%.

This is a big and significant number, especially for influencer marketing agencies. If more than half of customers claim that social media influences their shopping, then that means advertising on Facebook and other social media platforms is now more critical than ever. This and other Facebook stats should impact your 2020 marketing strategies, and that’s the bottom line.

(Aayushi IT Solutions)

42. Of the fashion purchases recorded by Facebook, 6 in 10 are made on a mobile device.

According to Facebook’s own data, it seems that people often buy things straight from their phones. What’s more, 70% of online fashion purchases have at least one mobile touchpoint.

(Facebook)

Facebook Facts & Numbers

43. 770,000 people from 175 countries used Facebook to donate over $17 million in one week following the April 2015 earthquake in Nepal.

This is genuinely a beautiful example of how people can work together and help each other out. But it also shows how social media plays a huge role in the charitable work done across the globe today. That’s especially the case when disastrous and sudden catastrophes occur, like the 2015 earthquake in Nepal.

(Facebook Research)

44. Al Pacino was the first “face” on Facebook.

All the way back in 2004, when the average time spent on Facebook per day was zero, Andrew McCollum designed the first logo for Facebook, which had a mysterious face on it. People couldn’t figure out who it was, or even if it was a real person. However, now it’s known—the face belongs to Al Pacino.

(Factslides)

45. Facebook is primarily blue because Mark Zuckerberg has red-green color blindness.

Just in case you’ve ever wondered what’s up with Facebook’s ubiquitous blue color scheme.

(Factslides)

46. You can’t block Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook.

Is Mark Zuckerberg bothering you with messages and posts on your wall? Just go on and block him so he can’t bother you anymore. Oh wait, you can’t. It’s interesting that this feature actually exists on Facebook—it seems that Mark doesn’t like being blocked (one of our more silly Facebook statistics).

(Factslides)

47. Jennifer Christine Harris set fire to and murdered her best friend after being unfriended on Facebook.

If the previous fact was strange, this one is hideous and unsettling. It’s strange what kind of unbelievably negative effect a simple social media platform can have on some people.

(Lol Wot)

48. Facebook is blocked in China, Bangladesh, Iran, and North Korea.

Out of around 200 countries in the world, only four have blocked Facebook entirely. Several nations restrict its use, but only these four (with the exception of Macau and Hong Kong) have entirely blocked access to both the site and app.

(Wikipedia)

49. 82% of Facebook users have attended at least some college.

That a staggering 82% of Facebook users have attended college certainly is a high number, but considering how many Facebook users there are at the moment, perhaps this is a reasonable percentage.

(Sprout Social)

50. A Casablanca court sentenced Fouad Mourtada to 3 years in prison in 2008 for creating a fake Facebook page of the Prince Moulay Rachid, the brother of the king of Morocco.

Some of you might believe that everyone takes Facebook seriously in Morocco, but it’s actually the crown that the people take so seriously. The unfortunate Fouad Mourtada said that he admires the prince and that he created the profile in an attempt to be funny.

(BBC News)

51. A blogger paid a woman $8 an hour to slap him every time he went on Facebook to help him fight his addiction.

Facebook addiction is a serious thing—and there are other Facebook statistics like this one out there. We’re guessing that the woman didn’t have a problem with being paid for such a simple service.

(Lol Wot)

52. The “Like” button was originally an “Awesome” button.

Many people don’t know this, but Facebook initially dubbed their ubiquitous Like button as the Awesome button. After all, Zuckerberg and his roommates were college students when they founded Facebook.

(Parade)

53. Facebook stores approximately 300 petabytes of user data on its servers.

So how much is that? It’s 300 petabytes, which is around 1000 terabytes or 1000 trillion bytes. To put all of that into perspective, if only one petabyte consisted of songs, it would take 2000 years to play them back to back! We all know it, and Facebook statistics confirm it: the social media giant stores a lot of their users’ data on its servers.

(SlideShare)

54. Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, was Facebook’s first major investor.

Peter Thiel was introduced to Mark Zuckerberg by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn. He invested half a million dollars in Facebook, becoming the first outside investor for the future social media leader.

(Parade)

55. The most-followed celebrity on Facebook is Cristiano Ronaldo with 120.7 million fans.

Most likely many of you thought that this would have to be someone else, like one of the Kardashians, or Beyonce, maybe Rihanna, but according to the most recent

Facebook stats, it’s the Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo with his astonishing 123 million Facebook fans. No wonder playing football is so lucrative.

(Facebook)

56. In 2010, a Facebook employee hoodie sold for $4,000 on eBay.

A simple hoodie from a regular employee at Facebook was sold for $4,000 back in 2010. The hoodie was like the one Zuckerberg wore during his interview with Kara Swisher at the D Conference.

(AdWeek)

57. The most popular Facebook fan page is Facebook, with 212.1 million fans.

Cristiano Ronaldo with his whopping 120.7 million fans is still not nearly as close to the most popular fan page on Facebook—Facebook’s own fan page and their 212 million followers.

(Facebook)

58. 45% of all US adults get news from Facebook.

Many people today get their news from not the most trustworthy of sources. So this interesting Facebook stat isn’t too shocking. Almost half of the entire adult population in the US currently on Facebook gets their news there.

(Journalism)

59. 39% of users say they’re connected to people they’ve never met in person.

This certainly doesn’t seem to be strange to those of you with a few hundred friends on Facebook. What’s really strange is that Facebook advocates sending friend requests only to actual friends, but there are many of us who don’t do that, which results in people having a bunch of Facebook “friends” who they’ve never met.

(Marketing Wire)

60. According to recent Facebook statistics, 58% of users say they’re connected to their work colleagues.

While people mostly connect to friends on Facebook, many people consider colleagues their friends as well. So it’s only natural to connect with them on Facebook.

(Marketing Wire)

61. 85% of the videos viewed on Facebook are watched without sound.

You are probably already aware of the fact that people often don’t play the videos on Facebook with the sound turned on, and you’re perhaps even one of them! These Facebook video stats indeed point to that.

(Digiday)

62. American moms post 2.5x more status updates and 3.5x more photos.

Did you know that American moms are this active? The stats never lie. Now you finally understand why there are so many pictures of babies on Facebook!

(AdWeek)

63. There is an estimated average of 3.57 degrees of separation between any two people on Facebook.

Have you read the book Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare? If you have, you know that every person in the world is connected to any other person via a maximum of six people. In essence, everyone knows everyone through someone else. Considering our other Facebook statistics, in 2020 this number will likely get lower as time goes by.

(Soravjain)

64. Cambridge Analytica yielded 50 million Facebook profiles in 2014 and used personal info to build a system that could profile individual voters in the US and target them with personalized political ads.

Most people have heard about the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook scandal, but for those who haven’t, there you go.

(The Guardian)

65. Facebook got its one millionth registered user in December 2004.

Facebook was first a closed network for Harvard students, back when the average age of a Facebook user was limited to 20-something. However, it started expanding beyond the college web network into the world in March of 2004. Then it barely took ten months for Facebook to gain one million users.

(Telegraph)

66. Facebook launched its News Feed in September 2006.

Who would have thought that Facebook could exist without its news feed? Well, it did, for the first two and a half years of its existence. September 2006 was a big change for all Facebook users—before then, they had nothing remotely similar to the news feed we all know and use regularly.

(Telegraph)

67. eMarketer estimates that US adults will spend an average of 27.20 minutes per day on Facebook by 2019.

When it comes to time spent on social media statistics, eMarketer estimated that US adults were spending an average of 25.29 minutes every day on Facebook in 2018, with that number set to rise to 27.20 minutes in 2019.

(Emarketer)

68. More than 300,000 people have contributed translations for different languages and dialects.

Combine this with the number of Facebook users by country, and you get a clear picture of why Facebook is translated in so many different languages by so many people. Just go to Facebook’s main page (yes, you’ll need to log out for that), and see for yourself.

(Sprout Social)

69. Every 60 seconds there are more than 317,000 status updates, at least 400 new users, and 54,000 shared links on the platform.

We decided to leave you with this astonishing stat. Pay attention, as those numbers are for just one single minute. Now, isn’t that something? Oh, and for those interested in how many Facebook posts per day there are, these numbers will surely give you a clue.

(Sprout Social)

Wrapping It Up

Facebook is undoubtedly the most prominent social network. After reading through our list, we hope you now know how to use this platform efficiently, in a way that will lift your marketing strategy up and achieve outstanding success. After all, these recent Facebook statistics, facts, and numbers have all been prepared to help you direct your next big marketing plan.