Social media has changed how our world works. The digital age has changed how we interact with others, how we consume entertainment, and even how we shop. Different businesses have used social media as a marketing leverage to promote their products. We can no longer deny its influence on our lives.
If you're a business or a digital marketer operating in Singapore, you must be in the know of the current social media statistics so you can take advantage of it.
If you want to outrank your competitors, you have to understand your market as well. We've compiled below the key social media statistics you need to take note of to help you in social media marketing:
Singapore is a city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, best known as the 'Melting Pot of Cultures'. It's a bustling metropolis that's surrounded by various infrastructures and a dynamic business environment.
As of this year, Singapore has over 6 million residents where 52.3% of them are men while 47.7% are women. Singapore's population increased by 40, 000 between 2022 and 2023. 100% of Singapore's population lives in urban centres.
Significantly, Singapore's population is ageing. 16.3% of Singapore's population is composed of people aged 45 to 54, followed by 15.9% of those aged 55 to 64. The median age of the country's population is 42.7.
More people in Singapore went online this year with a recorded 5.74 million Internet users, a significant 38,000 increase from 2022.
The Internet penetration rate was 96.8% of the total population at the start of 2023. It's the highest Internet penetration rate within the Southeast Asia region. This means that almost all of Singapore's current population are active users of the Internet.
Singaporean children are among the youngest age users of the Internet as they tend to receive their first Internet-connected device at the age of eight, which is significantly lower than the global average of 10.
The numbers show that Singaporeans primarily use the internet to find information, keep up with the latest news or research how to do things. On average, Singaporeans stay online for almost 7.3 hours, and 93% of users access the Internet for personal reasons every day. Due to these Singapore social media statistics, the government has a strong stance against cyber scams and data breaches.
In 2023, the recorded average mobile internet connection speed in Singapore is 72.18 Mbps while the fixed internet connection speed is at a recorded 214.23 Mbps. The Speedtest Global Index from Oookla shows that Singapore Ranked 29 for mobile internet connection and remained Ranked 1 for fixed internet connection. This makes it easier for Singaporeans to utilise the Internet and mobile apps in their everyday lives.
Businesses have been using digital marketing to promote their products over the Internet or social media after the steady rise in users. Singapore business owners have seen substantial growth over the past year after using digital marketing techniques.
Singapore has seen a total of 1.59 billion USD total digital ad spend, which is a 15.3% increase from last year. Meanwhile, 542 million USD was spent on online search ads and 280.8 million USD was spent on digital video ads.
Singapore has also seen an upward trend in investing in social media influencers. As companies utilise influencer marketing in their promotions, there's a 20.7% increase in influencer advertising spend, which is the greatest change in digital marketing in Singapore.
The island's younger audiences are the main users of social media. The 25 - 34 age group is the most active with 31.3% using social media apps. Meanwhile, younger users such as those 24 years and younger comprise 18.3% of all total users.
These age groups primarily use platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to keep in touch with their friends. With the surge in popularity of video platforms like Youtube and TikTok, underaged Singaporeans rely heavily on their families for guidance. Others use social media as a way to collaborate and learn by using blogs and informative and educational sites.
The leading social media platforms indicate that there were 4.59 million users in the 18 and above age group in Singapore at the start of 2023. This represents 89.3% of the total 18 and above population at that time.
As of January 2023, a total of 87.4% of Singapore's population has used at least one social media app. 49.6% of them are female while 50.4% of them were male.
We've already talked about how the Speedtest Global Index from Oookla shows that Singapore Ranked 29 for mobile internet connection and remained Ranked 1 for fixed internet connection. With such a fast internet connection, Singaporeans spend an average of 2 hours and 13 minutes daily on social media. 84.7% of its population uses an average of 7.1 social media platforms.
Many of Singapore's active social media users use social media as a way of communicating with their family and friends. Some would use it to seek career opportunities and expand their professional networks.
For marketers, it's important to note their social media habits to better understand how to promote your business. 25.2% of social media users in Singapore spend their time on social media finding inspiration for things to do or buy while 21.4% spend their time seeing content from various brands. Moreover, 36.7% use social media to pass some time. These numbers can be proven helpful if you're planning to use social media to advertise your products or services online or to market your brand.
In 2022, social networking sites are estimated to have reached 3.96 billion users. How does Singapore fare in this number? According to Statista, there is an estimated record of 5.67 million Singapore social media users that access social media sites in Singapore, which represents almost 94.5% of the total population.
The social media landscape in Singapore continues with an upward trend. Its social media users are projected to increase by 8.82% by 2028 with an estimated total of 6.15 million users. You can see from the graph we've provided above that there's been an upward trend of social media users in Singapore since 2017, which is set to increase until the year 2028.
Moreover, the social media user penetration of the country is forecasted to increase from 94.61% in 2023 to 4.6 percentage points by 2028, reaching a new forecasted peak of 99.24% based on data presented by Statista.
For other countries, WhatsApp remains a simple messaging app that lets them keep in touch with their family and friends. However, for Singapore, WhatsApp is the most popular social media app with over 83.2% of its population across different age groups using it. This is a chance for businesses to interact with their customers by responding to their inquiries, customising brand experience and providing delivery through preferred channels.
Facebook is also one of the popular social media platforms in Singapore with over 3.3 million monthly active users. The platform serves as a one-stop shop for common social media activities that Singaporeans engage in such as communicating with friends, keeping up to date with the news, and building relationships with businesses.
Instagram is also a popular social media platform in Singapore as it's used by many businesses and companies for their social media marketing activities. There's also a significant 56.7% increase in web traffic referrals from third-party websites and other social media platforms to Instagram, which makes it the highest increase in traffic generated from other sites in Singapore.
If you're looking forward to advertising to your target audience, these top social media platforms can help you achieve your goals.
Meta and Statista's resources indicate that Singapore's Facebook users totalled 3.30 million in early 2023. At the same time, Facebook's ad reach was equivalent to 56.8% of the local internet user base. 48.4% of Facebook's ad audience was female, while 51.6% was male.
However, Facebook's potential ad reach in Singapore decreased by 0.7% between 2022 to 2023, and the number of users that marketers could reach with Facebook ads decreased by 4.3% between October 2022 to January 2023. This number, however, doesn't represent the monthly active users.
The average Singaporean spends around 18 hours per month on Facebook.
In Singapore, there are a total of 5.5 million Twitter users as of early 2023. The platform's ad reach is equivalent to 95.5% of the local internet user base at the same time. Twitter's ad audience, according to its resources, is comprised of 25.5% females while 74.5% are male. However, this number may be different as Twitter infers its users' gender by analysing signals such as the user's name and their activity in the app. If you want to use this figure as a basis for your ads, you have to heed caution as it's not an accurate representation.
Twitter's data shows that its potential ad reach in Singapore has increased by 2.7 million between October 2022 to January 2023. Take note however that the data published on Twitter is subject to significant fluctuation and may impact the reliability and representativeness of the change data.
Meta's advertising tools indicate that there are a total of 2.70 million Instagram users in Singapore at the start of this year. The total Instagram ad reach, on the other hand, was equivalent to 46.5% of the total local internet user base. At the same time, female Instagram users comprise 54.7% of its ad audience, while 45.3% were male.
However, Instagram's potential ad reach decreased by 11.5% between 2022 and 2023 while its ad audience decreased by 3.6% between October 2022 to January 2023. This doesn't relate, however, to its monthly active user base.
The average Singaporean spends around 10 hours per month on Instagram.
Youtube has over 5.08 million users in Singapore in early 2023 according to Google's resources. This number doesn't represent the monthly active users, and there may be differences in Youtube's ad audience with its total active user base.
Meanwhile, Youtube's ad reach in early 2023 was equivalent to 84.7% of Singapore's total population and has reached over 87.4% of the country's total internet user base across all age groups as of January 2023.
47.1% of Youtube's ad audience in Singapore was female, while 52.9% were male.
Data shows that Youtube's potential ad reach and the number of users that marketers could reach with Youtube ads between 2022 and early 2023 remained the same.
Singapore Youtube users intentionally search more about "song" and "songs" with both keywords ranking 1 and 2 in the search query. The search query "Singapore" takes the third sport, which means that more users are searching for more local-based content.
The average Singaporean spends more time on Youtube than apps for their general media consumption, spending almost 21 hours per month on the video-streaming app.
Meanwhile, Tiktok recorded a total of 2.39 million users aged 18 and above in Singapore as of early 2023. Take note however that TikTok allows marketers to target 13 and above in its advertising tools, but its data shows only audiences 18 and above.
TikTok's ad reach, on the other hand, was equivalent to 41.1% of the total local internet user base of the country. 53% of Tiktok's ad audience was female while 47% was male.
Due to the platform's exponential growth over the years, data shows that TikTok's potential ad reach increased by 565, 000 between 2022 to early 2023.
The average Singaporean spends around 21 hours per month on TikTok.
As of early 2023, LinkedIn users have totalled 3.70 million in Singapore according to the platform's resources. Take note however that these data are derived from total registered members and not from monthly active users.
At the same time, its ad reach in Singapore is equivalent to 63.7% of the local internet user base. 48.3% of its audience is comprised of women while 51.7% were male.
Its potential ad reach increased by 500, 000 between 2022 and 2023, while its ad audience increased by 100, 000 between October 2022 and January 2023. Since LinkedIn's figures rely on the total registered members, it remains unclear if the same reflects their active users.
WhatsApp remains Singapore's most popular social networking site with 83.2% of those aged 16 to 64 using the app. It's the most commonly used app for online communication. It has a recorded 4.56 million active users in Singapore.
In data from 2022, it was shown that Baby Boomers correspond to the highest number of WhatsApp users. Gen X are the lowest will only 97% of them using the app.
The average Singaporean spends around 17 hours per month on WhatsApp.
Resources from Meta show that its Facebook Messenger ads have reached over 1.95 million users in Singapore. The total ad reach is equivalent to 33.6% of the total local internet base of the country.
At the same time, 50.5% of Facebook Messenger users were female while 49.5% were male.
While its ad audience remained unchanged, its potential ad reach decreased by 4.9% between 2022 to 2023.
Data shows that there are 9.22 million cellular mobile connections in Singapore at the start of this year. However, take note that many people use more than one mobile connection either for personal or work use, so it's not unusual that figures for mobile connections exceed that of the total population. This is a significant 574, 000 increase from 2022.
In comparison, 79.5% of those aged 16 to 64 access the Internet through their desktop computers while 89.5% use their mobile phone. This shows that mobile phones are the preferred choice for accessing the Internet.
The steady increase in mobile usage around the world can be attributed to today's mobile phones being more capable and complex than before. As such, Singaporeans spend more time on mobile apps.
A great percentage of Singapore's population use their mobile device to look for information on search engines or social networking sites. In 2022, the smartphone penetration rate in Singapore has reached 92%, which makes it a leading country for the use of mobile devices.
The world has seen the highest mobile penetration rates over time since the first smartphone hit the market with more users increasing annually. Singapore also saw a mobile penetration rate of 169.6% in 2022, which means that each citizen has around 1.7 mobile subscriptions. The graph below from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore shows the upward trend in mobile subscriptions.
This makes sense given the availability of low-cost plans offered by vendors has allowed subscribers to purchase data plans. Singapore now has more than 5.6 million smartphone users based on data collected from 2022.
The connection speed and the affordable data prices allowed Singaporeans to have constant access to their online activities with smartphones being used for online payments via QR Codes and digital payment transactions.
Social media addiction is characterised as a tendency to obsess over using social media networking sites despite its negative impact on a person's health, relationships, or well-being. Social media addiction is a form of social media abuse.
In a study conducted in 2017, researchers found that SNS addiction has a high prevalence rate among college students in Singapore. Particularly, the study found an almost 30% of SNS addiction rate among college students, which is consistent with that of previous studies related to SNS addiction among Asian students. They are more vulnerable to experiencing other behavioural addictions and affective disorders, especially among females.
The researchers also found a co-occurrence of SNS addiction with overeating and shopping addiction, which are activities promoted on social media.
Ever since Google Search's introduction in 1997, it has dominated the search engine market. As of June 2023, Google accounts for 95.5% of the Search Engine Market Share in Singapore across all platforms according to StatCounter Global Stats. It also accounts for 89.5% of the desktop search engine market share, and 98.18% of the mobile search engine market share.
Meanwhile, other alternative platforms such as Bing, Yahoo!, DuckDuckGo, Yandex and Baidu make up for the remaining percentage.
You can take note of these figures if you're planning to use search engine marketing or SEM as part of your digital marketing. If you're unsure of how to do SEM, you can always check SEM services in Singapore on how it's done and how it can help you turn your business around.
The digital age has changed how we live from how we interact with each other, how we consume content and entertainment, and even how we shop. If you're a marketer or a business owner hoping to bank on these upward trends in Internet and social media statistics, it's important to note your target audience's online behaviour.
If you want to use these statistics to increase your business' reach, a company providing digital marketing services in Singapore might help you.
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