Executive Summary

This is the latest installment in an ongoing series of quarterly social media reports. The goal of each report is to provide a summary of key recent developments. For Q2 2019, we look at Facebook’s cryptocurrency, Snapchat’s re-engagement efforts, Twitter’s new policy for political tweets and our new social user forecast.

How many social network users are there worldwide?

There will be 2.94 billion monthly social network users globally in 2019, according to our updated forecast. Facebook is still in the lead by a long shot, but Instagram will gain the most users this year, with its user base growing by 11.4%. Our forecast for worldwide Twitter users is essentially unchanged, but we have downgraded our Snapchat user forecast mainly due to declines in US usage.

How is social network advertising doing?

Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter all reported strong Q1 2019 earnings in April, beating Wall Street’s expectations. Facebook (including Instagram), will rake in $67.37 billion in 2019 in global ad revenues compared with $2.97 billion for Twitter and $1.36 billion for Snapchat, according to our February 2019 forecast. We will update our social ad spending forecasts in Q3 2019.

Why is Facebook launching a cryptocurrency?

Facebook has been diversifying its revenue streams recently, and the launch of its new cryptocurrency Libra—as well as its digital wallet Calibra—is the next step in executing this strategy. It could also help Facebook get its foot further in the door of the financial world and open up new income sources from consumer lending and transaction fees, not to mention supporting its expanding ecommerce capabilities.

Will Snapchat’s re-engagement efforts pay off?

It’s too soon to tell. The revamped Android app could have caused a spike in monthly usage in Android-heavy markets, and data from Sensor Tower shows a surge in first-time app downloads following the release of its baby face and gender swap AI filters. However, we are waiting to see if the momentum continues before adjusting our forecasts based on this new information.

WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report covers key events in the global social media market, new data, trends and business activity in Q2 2019 and includes our updated forecasts for social network users in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and worldwide.

KEY STAT: With 1.75 billion monthly users worldwide this year, Facebook still leads the global social media market. Sister company Instagram is No. 2 with 786.8 million.