The recent study on global digital marketing data for 2021, published in partnership with Hootsuite by We Are Social, reveals an increasingly deep and important connection between the latest technologies and devices and our daily lives. Let’s explore the dynamic mechanisms behind the data collected in this new research.

Let’s start with the growing data

At the beginning of 2021, the global population reached 7.83 billion people, of which 5.22 billion use mobile phones, representing 66.6% of the population.

This marks an annual growth of 1.8%, equating to 93 million people who gained access to a mobile phone for the first time in 2020.

Global internet penetration stands at around 59.5%, though the figures could be even higher due to data tracking issues linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. As for social media, the number of users on online platforms has risen to 4.20 billion, a 13% increase, with platform penetration reaching 53% of the global population.

Behind these valuable data lie important insights. For example, how are social media being used, and for what purposes?

We know that the time spent on social platforms is growing, although at a slower pace compared to previous years. The average time spent is 2 hours and 25 minutes per day. Naturally, there are significant differences between countries: for example, the population in the Philippines spends an average of 4 hours and 15 minutes per day on social media, while Japan spends only 51 minutes, although this figure is on the rise. In Italy, like in most European countries, the average time is 1 hour and 52 minutes per day.

Data analysis reveals that Android users spend over 4 hours a day on their mobile devices, significantly more time than spent on traditional media like TV.

However, the time spent on mobile devices accounts for only half of the time we spend online. On average, users spend about 7 hours a day online (42% of our waking hours), which is an increase of over 15 minutes per day compared to last year.