Social media isn’t just for kids anymore. The people scrolling Facebook, watching YouTube and checking Instagram every day are homeowners, parents, business owners and retirees: the customers who hire lawyers, choose dentists, book contractors and eat out. If your business isn’t using social media as a marketing channel, to a big share of your market you might as well not exist.
20:53
Hours and minutes per week U.S. internet users ages 16+ spend on social media and online video combined. (GWI, Q2 2026)
Every age group is on social media
Pew Research Center’s 2025 survey of 5,022 U.S. adults found YouTube and Facebook are the only platforms used by a majority of Americans in every age group, including adults 65 and older. Overall, 84% of U.S. adults use YouTube and 71% use Facebook.
And the heaviest Facebook users aren’t teenagers. Facebook use peaks among adults 30 to 49, at 80%. Even TikTok, the app people still think of as a kids’ platform, is used by 44% of adults 30 to 49 and 30% of adults 50 to 64.
Those are your customers: people with jobs, homes, families and buying decisions to make.
Americans use social media most days of the week
GWI’s latest survey data, published in DataReportal’s October 2026 report with We Are Social and Meltwater, shows how much of the American week goes to social media:
- 4.49 days a week. The average U.S. internet user is on social media more than four days out of seven, above the worldwide average of 4.26.
- 8 hours 44 minutes a week browsing social media, not counting video. The worldwide average is 7 hours 13 minutes.
- 20 hours 53 minutes a week on social media and online video combined, the equivalent of a part-time job.
- 6.51 social platforms a month. Your customers don’t live on just one app; they move between several.
Across the U.S. and Canada, the number of social media accounts equals 77.6% of the total population, split almost evenly between women (51%) and men (49%).
If you’re not there, you might as well not exist
Customers don’t buy from businesses they’re not aware of. When people spend 20 hours a week on social media and video, that’s where they discover new businesses, check out the ones they’ve heard about and decide who they trust. A business with no social presence, or an account that hasn’t posted in months, gives them nothing to find. Its competitors fill that space instead. We said it before, and the numbers keep backing it up: if you’re not seen on social media, you don’t exist.
What social media marketing looks like for a local business
- Be on the platforms your customers use. For most local businesses that starts with Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, and increasingly TikTok.
- Post consistently. A steady schedule of real content beats bursts of activity followed by silence.
- Show your people and your work. Short videos of your team, your space and your results build trust faster than any logo.
- Put ad dollars behind it. Social ads reach people in your ZIP codes by age and interest, not just your followers.
- Measure what it produces. Calls, messages, website visits and sales, reviewed every month.
How Sunray Media Consultants helps
We plan, shoot and post your content, manage your accounts, run targeted social ads and report what’s working every month in plain language. See our social media management and video production services, and read why your customers already spend 44 hours a week online.
Social media grew up, and so did its audience. Book a free marketing diagnostic and we’ll show you how your business can show up where your customers already spend their time.
Sources
- Pew Research Center, “Americans’ Social Media Use 2025” (survey of 5,022 U.S. adults, February–June 2025).
- Pew Research Center, “8 facts about Americans and TikTok” (March 2, 2026).
- DataReportal, Digital 2026 October Global Statshot Report (We Are Social and Meltwater): “Frequency of social media use,” “Weekly time spent browsing social media,” “Weekly time: social media and online video,” “Average number of social platforms used” (GWI data for internet users ages 16+, Q2 2026) and “Social media use vs. total population” and “User identities gender balance” for Northern America (social media accounts may not represent unique individuals). datareportal.com.
