How to see comments on Facebook ads

Facebook’s initial mantra was to bring the world together, and in the 17 years it has been operational, it not only achieved that but also exploded in popularity.  

Today, there are over 1.88 billion users visiting the platform daily. This includes other Facebook core products such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.

Facebook Monthly Active Users until Q4 2021 (Source: Statista)

Facebook first hit the one billion mark in October 2012 before crossing the two billion active user mark five years later in 2017. 

2. Facebook was the second most downloaded app in 2020

Despite having been launched in 2004, Facebook remains one of the most downloaded apps in the world.  

By the end of 2020, only TikTok beat Facebook in terms of the number of total downloads. 

According to appfigures data, TikTok recorded more than 800 million new downloads globally on its flagship, lite, and regional versions in 2020. This marks a 43% increase from the previous year’s figures that stood at 564 million downloads. 

Three other major Facebook-owned apps appeared on the list: WhatsApp at the third position, Instagram fourth, and Facebook Messenger in the sixth position.  

Facebook has been a consistent contestant for the top ten list for several years despite the entrance of newer apps into the market.  

These figures indicate how prevalent Facebook is in our day-to-day lives. 

3. There are more male Facebook users than females. 

56% of the total Facebook audience is male, while only 44% identify as female (Facebook limits gender reporting to only male or female). 

Distribution of Facebook users worldwide by gender as of January 2021 (Source: Statista)

The largest demographic group of Facebook users is between the ages of 25 and 35 years. 18.8% are male, and 12.8% of the population are female.  

The only demographic group where there are more female Facebook users than male users is 65+ years. Here, 2.3% of the total population is male compared to 2.6% for females. 

Surprisingly, a 2020 diversity report by Facebook indicated that there are more male staff than females. According to the report, 63% of Facebook staff are men.  

However, the company is working extra hard to increase diversity in its workforce as the percentage of male employees continues to trend down compared to the rise of the female workforce. 

For instance, these numbers are more impressive considering the 69% of the male workforce population in 2014. 

4. India is the largest user base with the most active Facebook users.

India has the highest number of active Facebook users at 320 million (Statista, January 2021).  

The United States comes second at 190 million users.  

Only Indonesia (140 million) and Brazil (130 million) are the other countries in the world to have over 100 million active Facebook users. 

Leading countries based on Facebook audience size as of October 2021 (Source: Statista)

This deep penetration in other countries (especially non-English speaking countries) can be attributed to the fact that there are 111 different languages supported on Facebook. 

5. Facebook has a broad, highly engaged user base 

With over 2.80 billion monthly active users, Facebook is currently the world’s largest social media platform (Facebook, 2021).  

On average, Facebook users open the app at least eight times a day, with the average US user spending at least 38 minutes a day on the app.  

With about 69% of all adults being active Facebook users, this remains one of the apps with the biggest user base in the world and an increasingly engaged audience.  

Out of at least five hours spent by US users on their apps daily, much of it is spent on Facebook. Facebook takes up 19% of the total time, which is approximately 57 minutes.  

This is more than they spend on any other app, including music, video, shopping, among others.  

According to a report on Statista, Facebook is the most popular social media platform in terms of engagement in the United States.  

In 2019, Facebook users spent an average of 769.16 minutes in a month using the app. TikTok was the second-most popular app at that time, with its users spending at least 498.09 minutes every month using the app. 

6. What are Facebook’s engagement and conversion rates? 

Brands publish approximately 7.5 Facebook posts each day.  

The media industry has the highest number of Facebook posts published at 53.5 per week.  

Sports teams and non-profits are also other high-publishing industries at 18.5 and 9.2 posts each week, respectively.  

Food and beverages are at the lower end at an average of 2.5 per week. This brings the median to 5.5 posts per week across all industries on Facebook. 

Average Click-Through-Rate (CTR) in Facebook ads (Source: Wordstream)

Across all these industries, the highest engagement rate on Facebook is 0.19%, while the median is 0.08%.  

Influencers (at 0.19%) and sports teams (0.18%) have seen the highest engagement rates, while tech & software at 0.2% and media (0.05%) experience the least engagement rates.   

As you can see, the number of posts shared does not directly impact the engagement rates. The content being shared has a bigger impact on boosting your audience’s engagement. 

7. What is the best time to post on Facebook?

A lot of research has been done to help determine the best times to post on Facebook. However, even though most sources give out different answers, the bottom line remains the same: it all depends on what your brand is all about and who your target audience is. 

According to Hubspot, the best time to post on Facebook during the week is at 9 A.M. This is also loosely translated to 8 A.M in some regions. This time would be ideal as this is when most people are checking on their social media platforms as they commute to work.  

According to a study by Sprout Social, Facebook posts perform better on Wednesdays and worst on Sundays.  

8. What is the most popular type of content on Facebook? 

According to data from Statista on the ‘Average Facebook page fan engagement with selected post types worldwide during 4th quarter 2020,’ status posts have the highest level of engagement with page fans at 0.19%.  

Images remain the most popular form of content on Facebook, receiving engagement rates of 0.18% as videos trek closely behind at 0.13%. The least popular content type is link posts which only get 0.05% engagement rates. 

9. How many marketers use Facebook?

160 million businesses use Meta apps (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or WhatsApp to reach customers) every month.

Unlike most other social media platforms like SnapChat, LinkedIn, and TikTok, Facebook statistics indicate that the platform is ideal for all people (regardless of their age, gender, or financial status).  

For instance, Snapchat and TikTok are more focused on the younger generation (Millennials and Gen Zs), while LinkedIn is ideal for working professionals.  

On the other hand, Facebook is a platform that can be used by all ages, from boomers to Gen Zs. This makes it the holy grail for marketers that wish to advertise products or services with a broad target audience demographic. 

Furthermore, the CTR on Facebook is quite appealing compared to other social media platforms. The highest Click-through rate for Facebook is 1.61%, while the average is 0.9%.  

Besides being able to reach their target audience, Facebook has made it easier for brands to interact with their customers as they enhance and build their relationships.  

Also, Facebook has also put measures in place to make it easy for marketers to refine their marketing strategies to help target the right audience.  

Using Facebook as the preferred marketing platform allows marketers to save up on time and costs.  

10. 31% of American social media users get their news from Facebook 

48% of Americans on social media users claim to get their news from such platforms. Out of the total number of those surveyed, a significant portion said to get their news from Facebook. 

Number of Americans who get their news from social media (Source: Pew Research)

We are also gradually shifting away from the fake news era as platforms such as Facebook have implemented new fact-checking policies to ensure that whatever is shared on the platform is correct and accurate and does not mislead other users. 

Note: Please link back to omnicoreagency.com and this page when you reference/quote the statistic.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

Salman Aslam

Salman Aslam is the Managing Director at Omnicore, a leading Healthcare Digital Advertising & Marketing Agency helping clients across the globe. You can follow him on Twitter for tweets and rants about the latest news, tips, and advice on digital marketing.