(Shanghai), February 10th, 2021 – We Are Social, the socially-led creative agency and Hootsuite, the global leader in social media management, have released Digital 2021 and Digital 2021: China, their latest annual reports on social media and digital trends from around the world and China.

Digital 2021

With much of the world spending a significant amount of 2020 in lockdown, Digital 2021 shows that social media users have grown at the fastest rate in three years. There are now 4.20 billion social media users around the world, representing year-on-year growth of more than 13 percent (490 million new users). The number of social media users is now equivalent to more than 53 percent of the world’s total population. Perhaps surprisingly, people say they are spending the same amount of time on social media each day as they did the previous year, at 2 hours and 25 minutes. Facebook remains the world’s most used social platform, followed by YouTube and WhatsApp. Facebookowned platforms account for 4 of the top 5 most used social platforms globally.

Digital 2021: China

Digital 2021: China, a comprehensive report covering digital, social and mobile use, shows there are now 931 million social media users in the country, with 99.9% using mobile to access these platforms. In contrast with most other markets, dominated by brands like YouTube and Facebook, homegrown networks are by far the most popular, with Weixin, Sina Weibo and Kuaishou drawing the highest number of users.

In contrast with the majority of other countries, however, the amount of time internet users spent online in 2020 fell significantly – down 28 minutes on the previous year to an average of 5 hours 22 minutes. There was also a slight decline in time spent on social media by internet users aged 16-64, with the average of 2 hours 4 minutes being eight minutes lower than in 2019. Additional headlines in Digital 2021, which looks at social media, internet, mobile and ecommerce trends globally, include:

● Mobile’s phenomenal growth to become our first screen, accounting for a greater amount of people’s time than live TV.

● Rise of ecommerce: 77 percent of internet users aged 16 to 64 now say that they buy something online each month, with Food & Personal Care the fastest growing consumer ecommerce category.

● Silver surfers: older age groups are the fastest-growing segments amongst some of the top social platforms’ audiences; users over the age of 50 are growing more quickly than any other age group on Facebook and Snapchat.

● Gaming popularity through generations: more than 90 percent of GenZ internet users say they play games, 67 percent for those aged 55 to 64.

Other key findings in Digital 2021: China include:

● Douyin topped the list of mobile apps by consumer spend in Apple’s AppStore in 2020 and was the second most downloaded of all mobile apps.

● Internet users in the 55-64 age group are as keen on ecommerce as their younger counterparts, with 77% having purchased something online in the past month compared to 78% in the 25-34 age group.

● Annual e-commerce spend on travel and accommodation was down by 52% while the value of the digital ride-hailing market shrank by 44%. In contrast, annual ecommerce spend in the toys, DIY & hobbies category rose by 32% in 2020 and the value of the online food delivery market was up by 28%.

● The total value of digital ad spend in China rose by 10% to $79 billion, as 36% of Chinese internet users aged 16-64 said they use search engines as their primary channel for brand research, and 34% turning to social media for this information.

Pete Lin, Managing Director, North Asia, at We Are Social, said: “The post-quarantine period during the pandemic might have triggered the need for more social activities, leading to a slight drop in time spent online. The trend of using social media for information on brands is now involving Chinese users across all age groups. This means new forms of social commerce such as group-buying and live-streaming will take a prominent role in how we discover and engage with brands.

To view and download the reports go to:

Global: https://wearesocial.com/digital-2021

China: https://wearesocial.cn/digital-2021-china/

About We Are Social

They are a socially-led creative agency. It is a global team of more than 850 people in 15 offices around the world with a common purpose: to connect people and brands in meaningful ways. We Are Social believe in people before platforms and the power of social insight to drive business value. They call this social thinking. The agency work with many of the world’s biggest brands, including adidas, Netflix, Samsung, Lavazza and Google on global, regional and local projects. To learn more, visit www.wearesocial.com.

About Hootsuite

Hootsuite is the global leader in social media management with over two-hundred thousand paid accounts and millions of users, spanning brands and organizations of all sizes from the smallest SMBs to the largest Enterprise, in every corner of the world. Hootsuite’s unparalleled expertise in social selling, social customer care and social media management empowers organizations to strategically grow their brand, businesses, and customer relationships with social. Hootsuite Academy, the industry-leading online learning platform, empowers growth through social media certifications and has delivered over one million courses to over half a million people worldwide. To learn more, visit www.hootsuite.com.