Social Media

Growth in the use of the Internet has been phenomenal. As of 2023, there were more than 318.7 million Internet users in the United States, according to Statista.com. The number of Internet users in the U.S. is expected to grow to 343.5 million in 2029. This growth will continue as advances in technology allow more people—especially in underdeveloped countries—to access the Internet.

E-commerce continues to grow. More consumers are making purchases online because of price and convenience. Mobile devices such as smartphones are making it easier for consumers to buy products at any place or time. Total U.S. e-commerce sales reached $1.03 trillion in 2022, passing $1 trillion for the first time, according to a Digital Commerce 360 analysis of U.S. Department of Commerce figures. This was a significant increase from $449.8 billion in 2017. Most noteworthy is the rapid increase of e-commerce transactions on mobile devices. In 2023, 60 percent of all retail e-commerce was generated via mobile devices, according to Statista.com. By 2027, this percentage is expected to grow to 62 percent. Mobile e-commerce sales reached $2.2 trillion in 2023.

Online advertising and marketing continues to be a hot sector as traditional companies allocate more of their advertising budgets to the Internet. Juniper Research predicts that total spending on digital advertising will increase from $407 billion in 2022 to $753 billion in 2026; representing growth of 85 percent. Juniper Research predicts that mobile in-app revenue will account for 56 percent of global digital advertising spending by 2026, up from $294 billion in 2019. Digital ad spending overtook TV ad spending in 2016.

The Forbes Global 2000 is an annual ranking of the top 2000 public companies in the world in a range of categories. Forbes ranks the companies using a combination of four metrics: sales, profit, assets, and stock market value. A total of 169 tech companies made the 2023 list. Forbes says that “the tech companies on our list nevertheless posted a record $4.2 trillion in combined annual revenue over the last 12 months, up from about $4 trillion the year before and $3.3 trillion two years before.”

The world’s largest tech companies in 2023 were:

1. Alphabet (United States)
2. Microsoft Corporation (United States)
3. Apple Inc. (United States)
4. Samsung Group (Korea)
5. Meta Platforms (United States)
6. Tencent Holdings Ltd. (China)
7. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (Taiwan)
8. Sony Corporation (Japan)
9. Oracle Corporation (United States)
10. Cisco Systems Inc. (United States)

Social media continues to grow in popularity. The average person ages 16 to 64 spent an average of 2 hours and 23 minutes per person, per day using social media in 2023, according to GlobalWebIndex. Revenue in the social media industry is increasing rapidly. The worldwide social media advertising market size is expected to increase from $198.78 billion in 2023 to $362.64 billion in 2028, according to The Business Research Company. Revenue streams include display advertising, digital video commercials, social media subscriptions, gaming subscriptions, and purchases made in virtual gaming worlds, among other products and services.

In February 2020, Statista.com reports that the top 10 U.S. social media Web sites by total user visits were:

1. Facebook: 43.35 percent of all site visits were made to Facebook
2. Twitter: 24.08 percent
3. Pinterest: 18.37 percent
4. Instagram: 11.69 percent
5. YouTube: 1.31 percent
6. Tumblr: 0.51 percent
7. Reddit: 0.47 percent
8. LinkedIn: 0.16 percent
9. VKontakte: 0.03 percent
10. Fark: 0.02 percent

Tens of millions of people are employed directly or indirectly by the Internet and social media industry. The software sector is one major employer. In 2022, there were nearly 2.1 million software developers—the largest and fastest-growing category of tech jobs, according to Cyberstates, which its creator CompTIA describes as the “definitive guide to national, state, and metropolitan area tech sector and tech workforce analytics.”

Social media companies are found throughout the United States, but often are headquartered in California (Silicon Valley, San Francisco), the Pacific Northwest (Seattle, Portland), and New York City. Other Internet and social media companies are headquartered in Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Houston, among other cities. Jobs are also available in foreign countries.