Which social media platforms are SEA users frequenting?

The Southeast Asia (SEA) region loves social media, with all nations using more platforms than the global average of 6.83. This is in comparison to 8.36 apps for users in the Philippines, 8.12 in Malaysia, 7.93 in Indonesia, 7.24 in Singapore and 7.11 in both Vietnam and Thailand. Off these apps, YouTube tops the user charts, especially in Thailand where it is the second most engaged market. This is according to We Are Social and Meltwater's latest Digital 2025 report, an annual report on social media and digital trends worldwide. 

According to the study, there are 5.24 billion social media user identities. This is 63.9% of the total global population. The number pf global social media user grows +0.5% (+24 million) quarter-on-quarter and +4.1% (+206 million) year-on-year. On average, users spend 2 hours and 21 minutes using social media and use an average of 6.8 social platforms each month. 

Users namely use the internet to reclaim joy and to dig deeper into entertainment, according to the report. This also signifies a move to creative-led content to lead the way in responding to and shaping popular culture. In fact, Meltwater's 'Marketing trends to watch in 2025' report revealed that people now spend more time on social media than watching conventional TV. This marks an important shift in media consumption where even though TV time is declining, video remains as important as ever, with platforms such as TikTok and YouTube allowing audiences to watch on their own terms. 

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Meltwater also found a creator economy boom where social networks depend on content creators to draw audiences, engagement and brands. In hopes of attracting and retaining top creators, platforms are rolling out more monetisation resources. In turn, creators are increasingly demanding fairer compensation too. 

That being said, organic content is also making a comeback. Clever organic content and careful trendjacking can drive visibility as much as any campaign, said Meltwater. Brands will have to strike a balance between pay-to-play and organic strategies for maximum success. 

In Southeast Asia

In SEA, 61.5% of people in the region have a social media user identity. This is nearly two thirds of SEA's population, making up 10.2% of the global share of social media identities. Southeast Asian users are also more active with countries in the region such as Singapore (88.2%), Philippines (78%), Vietnam (75.2%), Thailand (71.1%) and Malaysia (70.2%) scoring higher than the global average (63.9%). Indonesia lags behind with only 50.2%. 

In fact, Singapore ranks fourth in the highest adoption rate in the world with a total of 5,160,000 user identities. This is behind South Korea (48,933,000), Saudi Arabia (31,116,500) and UAE (11,242,500). 

The report revealed that more than a third of the region uses social media as a source of news and that two-thirds of users in Indonesia use social media to actively seek out brands. In addition, 82.1% of Indonesian users use social media for brand research. Meanwhile, Filipinos love influencers and vlog content with 44.9% following influencers on social media and nearly half (48.3%) stating they watch vlogs or influencer videos each week. 

Interestingly, Singapore is one of Reddit's top markets globally with users spending 3 hours and 56 minutes on the platform each month and accessing it an average of 116.9 times. With users in the region being highly active on social media - where then can marketers find them? 

YouTube

YouTube ads can achieve a potential reach of 2.53 billion - this is 30.9% of the total population, according to the report. Users worldwide spend an average of 27 hours and 10 minutes on the platform per month. SEA countries Thailand (42 hours and 14 minutes), Malaysia (32 hours and 48 minutes), Singapore (29 hours and 45 minutes) and Indonesia (29 hours and 4 minutes) surpass the global average. This appetite for YouTube videos is also seen in the average number of time per month that each active YouTube user opens the app. 

Facebook 

Meanwhile, ads on Meta's Facebook can potentially reach 2.28 billion users, with users spending an average of 17 hours and 17 minutes on the app. It is particularly more frequented in countries such as Philippines (23 hours and 34 minutes) and Vietnam (20 hours and 48 minutes). It is however, not as frequented in places such as Singapore (12 hours and 58 minutes) and Indonesia (12 hours and 50 minutes). 

Instagram

It may come to no surprise that following Facebook, Instagram would be the next platform to reach consumers. This is especially since ads on the photo-sharing platform can expect to reach a potential of 1.74 billion. The reach is also steadily increasing quarter-on-quarter (+3.2%) and year-on-year (+5.5%). However, users in SEA are using the platform lesser than the global average (16 hours and 13 minutes), with the lowest being Philippines and Vietnam with only 4 hours 24 and minutes, and 2 hours and 13 minutes respectively. 

TikTok

ByteDance's TiKTok follows right behind Instagram, with a reach of 1.59 billion. While the app has seen a year-on-year change in reported TikTok ad reach (+2.0%), the quarter-on-quarter change is less promising (-5.7%). That said, users in SEA do spend adequate time on the platform with Indonesia (44 hours and 54 minutes), Malaysia (42 hours and 44 minutes), Vietnam (14 hours and 45 minutes), Philippines (40 hours and 39 minutes) standing above the global average of 34 hours and 56 minutes. However, the same cannot be said for Singapore (34 hours and 29 minutes) 

Messaging platforms

Of the popular messaging platforms, WhatsApp reigns supreme with 2 billion global monthly active users on the app. Its monthly active users make up for 24.4% of the population, of which each user spends an average of 16 hours and 13 minutes on the app per month. This number is even higher in Indonesia where users spend an average of 24 hours and 17 minutes. Malaysia and Singapore fall slightly behind the global average with 15 hours and 30 minutes and 14 hours and 31minutes respectively. 

WeChat, however, is seeing steady growth going into 2025. The platform has a total of 1.38 billion global monthly users on WeChat and WeiXin. This makes up 16.9% of the total population and 24.8% of total internet users. While it's yet to achieve the same reach as WhatsApp, the Chinese app is seeing a +3.4% increase in WeChat and WeiXin users year-on-year. 

Telegram falls behind WhatsApp and WeChat, with only 950 million global monthly active users, making up for 11.6% of the total population. Its users see a nearly equal split with 42.7% female users and 57.2% male users on the messaging app.

Interestingly, Telegram is particularly popular in Singapore with an average of 3 hours and 52 minutes spent on the app. Users also open the app on android phones on an average of 237 times per month. This is higher than the global average of 179.3 sessions, and than other countries such as Indonesia (139.6 sessions), Malaysia (119.7 sessions), Hong Kong (111.0 sessions), Philippines (99.5 sessions) and Thailand (88.1 sessions). 

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