Yesterday we found an interesting report that shows that as of January 2021, the number of smartphone users in the world was 5,22 billion, the number of Internet users was 4,66 billion, and the number of social media users was 4,2 billion.
The report shows that as of January 2021, the world population is 7,83 billion people. According to a UN report, this number is now increasing at a rate of 1% per year. This means that since the beginning of 2020, the total population of the world has increased by more than 80 million people.
Currently, 5,22 billion people around the world use smartphones, which is 66,6% of the total world population. Since January 2020, the number of smartphone users increased by 1,8% (93 million), and the total number of mobile connections (one person owns several devices) increased by 0,9% (72 million) to 8,02 billion (January this year) .
In January 2021, the number of people using the Internet worldwide reached 4,66 billion, an increase of 316 million (7,3%) compared to the same period last year. Currently, the level of Internet penetration in the world is 59,5%. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 had a significant impact on the number of Internet users. So the actual number may be higher.
There are currently 4,2 billion social media users worldwide. That number increased by 490 million over the past 12 months, a year-over-year increase of more than 13%. The number of users of social networks now makes up more than 53% of the world's population.
The popularity of social networks is increasing
The number of social network users has increased by more than 13% over the past year. By the beginning of 2021, there were about 500 million new users worldwide, bringing the total number of users worldwide to nearly 4,2 billion.
In 2020, an average of more than 1,3 million new users join social networks every day. This is equivalent to approximately 155 new users per second.
The average social media user spends 2 hours and 25 minutes on social media every day. In 2021, global social media users will spend 3,7 trillion hours on social media.
Filipinos are still the biggest social media users in the world, using social platforms for an average of 4 hours and 15 minutes per day. This is half an hour more than the second-placed Colombians.
In contrast, Japanese users spend less than an hour a day on social networks. It is now 51 minutes. But this is still a 13% increase compared to last year.
Smartphones are our primary screen
App Annie data shows that Android users around the world spend more than 4 hours a day on their phones. In total, this means that Android users spent more than 3,5 trillion hours on their smartphones in the last 12 months.
In addition, App Annie's State of Mobile 2021 report also shows that people are now spending more time on smartphones than on TV.
According to other data, the average Internet user spends 3 hours and 39 minutes on a smartphone every day. In contrast, the total time they watched each day was 3 hours and 24 minutes. This means that today's Internet users spend about 7% more time on smartphones than they do watching TV.
Increase of internet time
In general, average Internet users use the Internet on all devices for almost 7 hours a day. This is equivalent to more than 48 hours of online time per week, which is 2 days out of every 7 days online.
If we assume that the average sleep time of each person is between 7 and 8 hours per day, this means that about 42% of our waking life is spent online. And the time during which we use the Internet practically coincides with the time when we sleep.
If Internet usage remains at this level through 2021, Internet users worldwide will spend nearly 12 trillion hours online that year.
People from different countries spend a lot of time online. Filipinos spend the most time online, averaging almost 11 hours a day. Brazilians, Colombians and South Africans also said they spend an average of more than 10 hours online each day.
On the other hand, the Japanese spend the least amount of time online at less than 4,5 hours a day. It is worth noting that this indicator in China is also relatively low - only 5 hours and 22 minutes per day. This is 1,5 hours less than the world average of 6 hours and 54 minutes.
Online search habits are changing
Traditional search engines are still necessary. 98% of respondents said that they use search engines every month. However, more than 70% of respondents also said they now use at least one tool a month instead of text-based search engines to find information online.
Voice interface is the most popular choice. 45% of global Internet users said they used voice search or voice commands in the past 30 days.
At the same time, almost a third of Internet users worldwide also use image recognition tools on their smartphones every month. Tools like Pinterest Lens and Google Lens are widely used in Latin America and Southeast Asia.
But in the ever-changing search behavior, the most interesting trend may be the growth of social search. Approximately 45% of Internet users worldwide say they turn to social media to find information about products or services they want to buy.
Among young users, this number is even higher. Gen Z users (people born between 1995 and 2009) said they are more likely to search for brands on social media than on search engines.
A multi-device strategy is still necessary
Today, smartphones spend 53% of time online worldwide. But other devices still play an important role in our lives.
Data shows that 90% of Internet users access the Internet through smartphones. But 2/3 of them also said that they use laptops or desktop computers to surf the Internet.
Of the web pages visited in December 2020, more than 40% were requested by web browsers running on laptops and desktop computers. However, this percentage decreased slightly compared to December 2019.
The growth of online products and e-commerce
Globally, among Internet users aged 16 to 64, nearly 77% said they shop online every month.
Internet users in Indonesia are more likely to make an e-commerce purchase, with more than 87% of respondents saying they bought something online in the past month. On the other hand, only 57% of Internet users in Egypt said they had made an online purchase in the past 30 days.
In 2020, fashion and beauty products accounted for the largest share of global B2C e-commerce sales, exceeding US$665 billion.
