The popularity of photo-sharing site Instagram is responsible for boosting much of the total daily time Americans spend on social media, according to May estimates by digital market research company eMarketer.
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Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat: Average Time Spent by Users in the U.S. 2016-2021 (minutes per day). |
eMarketer predicts that U.S. adult Instagram users will spend an average of 27 minutes per day on the site this year, up from 26 minutes per day in 2017-2018 and 24 minutes per day in 2016. eMarketer predicts engagement will continue to pick up on the photo-sharing site, adding about a minute every year through 2021.
eMarketer’s forecast also predicts that while Facebook still accounts for the lion’s share of social media activity, time spent on the platform will continue to decline modestly over the next couple of years.
Average daily time spent on Facebook by U.S. adult users fell by three minutes last year, according to eMarketer, from 41 minutes per day in 2017 to 38 minutes in 2018.
eMarketer predicts average daily use on Facebook to remain at 38 minutes per day in 2019, then dip to 37 minutes in 2020.
Finally, eMarketer’s forecast suggests Americans’ use of messaging app Snapchat may have plateaued. Use of that platform by U.S. adults apparently peaked last year, averaging 26 minutes of daily use time, up from 25 minutes in 2017 and 22 minutes in 2016. Future average daily time spent on Snapchat, however, isn’t expected to change through 2021.
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