2025 Social Media & AI Spending Report

It's yet another year end and the time of all kinds of reports again. This time we look into the data from GWI social report about 16-78 year old internet users (4 generations) and reveal localised insights:

Threads cures social media fatigue & Top 3 platforms

• While many said they are fed up with social media, people still spend an average of 6 hours on social media

• 👑King of use rate growth: Threads (YoY increased by 89%), followed by Reddit (21%) and X (12%).

• Most popular platforms remain to be Facebook (baby boomers, Gen X & Y), YouTube (Gen Z, 16-27y/o), and Instagram.

• Reasons for using social media by Gen Y to Z (16-34y/o): 52% sharing, 51% make new friends, 50% support meaningful initiatives, 49% work related/looking for info, 46% read news, 44% family & friends, and 42% leisure.

♟️Insights: like it or not, social media has already become part of modern life. So just find out the right platform for your target audience and get your social media campaign firing on all cylinders.

What New Platform Told Us: freedom & privacy is 1st priority, and remaining silent ≠ no opinion

• Reasons for trying a new platform of social media: for TikTok, 58% is family & friends and read news; for IG 23% is family & friends; for Snapchat 30% is read news.

• The rise of Readers Added Context: the success of BlueSky in 2024 means:

  • RAC like Reddit's vote up/down function, or IG's "Hide", let users control what they see, share what they wanna share, therefore improve UX.

  • Privacy is no.1: 27% said the reason for using BlueSky is "this is a safe platform" 26% said they like the community control strategy of the platform.

  • So what is their hidden opinion? Netizens think: 49% sharing personal thoughts, feelings and experiences, 35% sharing no-edit live moments of yourself, 29% showing your hobbies and works, 26% learning and individual growth, 24% using and sharing leisure things such as memes and clips.

♟️Insights: netizens wanna express themselves through social media, and they wanna feel like they have a say. Online games and events that allows RAC will be a hit!

How They Spend: vlog, comedy influencer & TikTok

• What product reviews are you trusting? 50% vlog, 48% blog, 46% board/pin websites e.g. Pinterest, 46% forum, micro-blog e.g. X, 45% customer reviews, 45% Q&A websites

• KOL "Follow" Ranking Chart (1 is the best)

  Which types of KOLs are more popular 2020 vs 2024 (blue ↑, red ↓）

  • Entertainment, memes, comedy: 3 → 2

  • Brands I bought: 6 → 9

  • KOL/industry experts: 9 → 6

  • Brands I wanna buy: 10 → 11

  • Beauty KOL: 15 → 12

• What drives you to go check out or buy the products you've seen? (KOL followers vs all consumers)

  • Fitting my need: 41% vs 30%

  • Fitting my style/aesthetics: 28% vs 17%

  • Festival/holiday related: 10% vs 8%

  • It's trending: 10% vs 7%

  • It's exclusive/limited: 8% vs 6%

  • FOMO: 3% vs 2%

• Reasons of professionals using social media [by company / by myself / by decision maker] (1 is the most frequently used):

  • YouTube: 4／2／1

  • TikTok: 9／5／8

  • Snapchat: 12／9／11

  • Reddit: 15／12／12

♟️Insights: as many as 50% consumers watch product live review or critics clips, while what really drives people to spend is their own need. Behold, we didn't expect professionals are really using YouTube (and TikTok in rising) to do researches!

All About AI

• Do you like it more or less when it is Ai-generated content?

  • Like it more: TikTok 24%, Snapchat 22%, Pinterest 21%

  • Hate it more: BeReal 50%, Reddit 41%, X 36%

  • Same same: Pinterest 46%, TikTok/Snapchat 45%, Reddit 44%

• AI chatbots vs Human customer service

  • Human, because they: 40% more compassion, 36% can understand tone and context, 33% can handle complicated emotions

  • AI, because they: 33% reply quickly, 31% there 24/7, 27% being emotion-less and neutral

♟️Insights: Netizen don't care much about AI, so what matters is creativity and quality. For customer service, a mix of human and AI will be ideal.

APPENDIX: Social Media User Behaviour

Public Spaces

• 55% TikTok users did Like/Comment a video

• 41% Reddit users did Comment/Reply or Upvote/Downvote

• 30% users did Comment/Like or Reply a post

Private Groups

• 32% FB users did use Group

• 29% Reddit users did join a Group

External Content

• 41% FB users did use a Story

• 35% Snapchat users did share a Story

• 24% IG users did reply to a Story Poll/Question

Video

• 69% IG users did watch a video, 45% did use Reel

• 59% FB users did watch a video,37% did watch or share a Reel

• 51% YouTube users did use Shorts

• 45% Snapchat users did watch a video

• 35% Reddit users did watch a video

• 26% LinkedIn users did watch a video

Livestream

• Local vs Global: The percentage increased from 2020's 32% vs 32% to 39% vs 37%