REPORT: The Average Person Uses 6.75 Social Media Apps
The average social media user uses 6.75 different social media platforms each month, according to recent data. In simpler terms, the typical user regularly visits about 6 to 7 social platforms every month.
There is an important distinction behind this number.
The 6.75-platform figure comes from research involving online adults aged 16 and older, rather than every person in the global population.
Still, it provides one of the strongest available benchmarks for answering how many social media platforms the average connected person uses.
The figure also shows how uncommon it has become for people to rely on only one or two social networks. Modern social media use is highly fragmented. Someone might use Facebook for family updates, Instagram for photos and creators, TikTok for entertainment, LinkedIn for work, WhatsApp for messaging, Reddit for discussions, and another platform for a specialized interest.
How Many Social Media Platforms/Networks Each Month?
Q2 2025 research found an average of 6.75 platforms per month among online adults. That was slightly below the 6.86-platform average recorded in Q4 2024, but other sources note that the difference may simply reflect normal seasonal changes. The Q2 2025 number was also broadly similar to the figures recorded in Q2 2023 and Q2 2024.
The numbers can therefore be summarized as:
- 6.75 platforms per month for the typical online adult
- Roughly 6 to 7 different platforms during a normal month
- More than 5 platforms per month even among typical internet users aged 55 to 64
- More than 3.5 platforms per month among users aged 65 and older
Age creates one of the clearest differences. People between 16 and 24 use more than twice as many platforms as online retirees, according to the 2026 analysis.
However, multi-platform behavior remains common even among older internet users.
This matters because the average does not represent six or seven accounts that someone created years ago and forgot about. The measurement focuses on platforms people report actually using within a monthly period.
Why Do People Use So Many Different Platforms?
One reason the average has reached nearly seven platforms is that social networks increasingly serve different purposes.
A person does not necessarily consider Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and Instagram interchangeable. Each can occupy a different part of someone’s online life.
For example:
- Facebook may be used for friends, family, groups, and local communities.
- Instagram may be used for creators, visual content, brands, and personal updates.
- TikTok may primarily serve entertainment, discovery, and short-form video.
- LinkedIn may be reserved for professional networking and industry information.
- WhatsApp and similar services may function primarily as private communication tools.
Research illustrates this difference in user motivation.
More than 70% of Facebook users say staying in touch with friends and family is one reason they use the service.
By comparison, only around a quarter of TikTok users identify that as a reason for using TikTok. More than 80% of TikTok users, meanwhile, report using the platform to find funny or entertaining content.
This specialization encourages people to maintain a portfolio of platforms rather than choosing a single social network.
Social media audiences also overlap heavily. Someone counted as a Facebook user may simultaneously be an Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, Reddit, Snapchat, or LinkedIn user. This is why adding together the reported audiences of individual social networks would dramatically overstate the total number of unique social media users.
Is the Number of Platforms People Use Increasing?
The long-term trend has generally moved toward multi-platform use, although the average can rise and fall slightly between individual survey periods.
That small decline does not necessarily mean people are abandoning social networks. The recent figures remain close to previous years, while users continue to change which individual apps make up their personal mix.
Social media itself also remains extraordinarily widespread. Estimates indicate 5.79 billion active social media user identities worldwide, equal to roughly 69.9% of the world’s population.
It also reports that 96.7% of surveyed adult internet users use at least one social network or messaging service each month.
The larger takeaway is therefore not that one platform has replaced another.
Instead, most people distribute their attention across several services.
For a simple answer to the original question, the best current benchmark is 6.75 social media platforms per month, meaning the typical online adult uses approximately 6 to 7 different social platforms during an average month.