Digital 2024 report by We Are Social: WhatsApp is Singapore’s favourite social media app

Singaporeans’ social media app of choice is messaging platform, WhatsApp, according to the Digital 2024: Singapore report released by We Are Social, the socially-led creative agency, and Meltwater, a global leader in social and media intelligence.

While Instagram is the world’s ‘favourite’ social media app, WhatsApp takes the top spot in Singapore for both favourite (27.2 percent) and most used social media platform (74.7 percent) with local users clocking an average of 978 sessions per month in its Android app.

The report finds that Singaporeans are spending an average of 2 hours, 14 minutes a day on social media across an average of 6.9 social media platforms each month. There are 5.13 million social media user identities in Singapore which equates to 85 percent of the nation’s population and sees the nation rank tenth globally for social media adoption versus total population.

Facebook ranks second place as favourite (16.7 percent) and most used (72.7 percent) social media platform in Singapore, while TikTok tops the spot for most time spent in the Android app with a total of 33 hours, 23 minutes per month. TikTok was the most downloaded app in Singapore in 2023, followed by messaging app Telegram and Bytedance-owned video editing tool Capcut.

Singaporeans like to stay connected with chat and messaging (97.5 percent) being the number one type of app or website they visit, followed by social networks (95.8 percent). Aside from keeping in touch with family and friends (43.4 percent), filling in spare time (35.5 percent) and reading the news (32.6 percent) are the primary reasons that more than a third use social media.

Other key highlights from the report include:
• After people they know, Singaporeans’ favourite social media users to follow are restaurants, chefs and food personalities.
• Singaporeans spend an average of 1 hour, 2 minutes each day using a gaming console, up 20.9 percent year-on-year.
• Digital ad spend in 2023 grew 10.5 percent to SG$2.34 billion to make up 59.7 percent of total ad spend.
• Social media ad spend makes up 24.5 percent share of total digital advertising spend, increasing 11.8 percent in 2023 to $573.5 million.
• Consumers in Singapore spent $1.45 billion on digital media subscriptions and downloads in 2023, up 9.1 percent year-on-year.
• When it comes to online privacy and security, 65.2 percent of consumers expressed concern about what is real versus fake on the internet.

Digital 2024: Singapore is a 130+ page report compiled using data from a wide range of sources, including public and private companies, market research firms, and government agencies. Its contributors include GWI, Statista and Data.ai.

James Honda-Pinder, head of strategy at We Are Social Singapore, said, “While Instagram may be the favoured social media app in other markets, in Singapore we see social media users favour platforms that offer focused utility. For connection and increasingly for business communication, WhatsApp is a clear leader. But elsewhere, TikTok continues to its staggering rise, as it becomes a bonafide platform for search and discovery, not just entertainment. In an era of fragmented attention where brands are vying to capture the attention of consumers, TikTok’s platform continues to show strong engagement with average usage amounting to more than 33 hours a month – that’s more than one whole day on the app. It’s a rocketship.”