Global Digital 2023: Internet and social networks at the start of 2023
Every year We Are Social collects a large digest with statistics of the Internet and social networks. Do you want to know what happened in the world of the Internet in 2022? Then read on!
The Global Digital 2023 report Highlights:
- The world population surpassed 8 billion people on November 15, 2022 and reached 8.01 billion at the beginning of 2023.
- At the beginning of 2023, 5.44 billion people use mobile phones, which is 68% of the total world population.
- 64.4% of the world’s population has Internet access. Over the year, the number increased by 1.9%.
- At the beginning of 2023, social networks have 4.76 billion users, which is almost 60% of the world population. The growth rate of the audience slowed down — for the year it amounted to only 3%.
Significant changes in the growth rate of the Internet users
Over the past 12 months, the Internet audience has grown by only 98 million people. The growth rate is the lowest since the 2010s.
Despite the slowdown, current trends suggest that by the end of 2023, almost 2/3 of the world’s population will be connected to the Internet.
Reducing time spent on the Internet
Perhaps the most interesting results of 2022 concern the amount of time spent on the Internet. Compared to 2021, it has decreased by almost 5%, which is 20 minutes less per day.
The latest figure is close to the third quarter of 2019, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic impacted digital habits.
The average amount of time people spend online per day has not changed over the past three months.
Why people go online in 2023
The latest GWI research shows that nearly 6 out of 10 working-age Internet users (57.8%) still turn to online resources in search of information. Other reasons why people use the internet include:
- to keep in touch with friends and family (53.7%);
- to keep abreast of news and current events (50.9%);
- to watch videos, series or movies (49.7%).
Social media audience continues to grow
According to an analysis by Kepios, since the beginning of the pandemic, the total audience of social networks has increased by almost 30%, which is equivalent to more than 1 billion new users over the past 3 years.
However, in 2022 the pace has slowed down and is now at its lowest level on record. True, it is important to emphasize here that the number of users is still growing.
We spend more time on social media
GWI data shows that people are spending more time on social media than ever before. According to recent research, the average working-age internet user now spends just over 2.5 hours a day on social media.
Indeed, today social networks account for the largest share of time on the Internet — almost 4 minutes out of every 10 minutes online.
For comparison, these figures show that a typical working-age Internet user spends 30% more time daily on social media than on “traditional” television (broadcast and cable channels).
This is only the part of the report that seemed the most interesting.
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