---
title: Where Social, Digital And Mobile Are Headed To In 2016
description: A new global research presents some shocking statistics about how social, digital and mobile have penetrated our professional and private lives.
image: https://www.iliyanastareva.com/hubfs/global_digital_snapshot.jpg
---

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## Iliyana's Blog

## [Where Social, Digital And Mobile Are Headed To In 2016](https://www.iliyanastareva.com/blog/where-social-digital-and-mobile-are-headed-to-in-2016)

 [fa icon="calendar"] 14-Mar-2016 10:30:00 / by [Iliyana Stareva](https://www.iliyanastareva.com/blog/author/iliyana-stareva)

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![global_digital_snapshot.jpg](https://www.iliyanastareva.com/hs-fs/hubfs/global_digital_snapshot.jpg?width=700&height=300&name=global_digital_snapshot.jpg "global_digital_snapshot.jpg")

Digital, social and mobile is our day-to-day. It's normal, we've embraced them all, it's how we live. It wasn't like that a few years ago, and it certainly wasn't the norm for businesses but companies today are realising that without digital, they will simply cease to exist. 

Realising this is one thing; taking action and actually transforming every level of a business is something different. 

But it's becoming inevitable. Businesses have to react and act as [technology is disrupting every aspect of our economy and society](http://www.briansolis.com/2015/11/disruptive-technology-disrupting-behavior/). They need to be on top of this now because we as consumers require it; this is how we lead our lives, with digital, social and mobile at our fingertips all the time. 

To put some pressure on you, I want to show you some stats about [social, digital and mobile from this year's research by We Are Social](http://wearesocial.com/uk/special-reports/digital-in-2016). 

I reviewed the [same study in 2014](https://www.iliyanastareva.com/blog/where-social-digital-and-mobile-are-headed-to-in-2014) so today we are going to look at 2016 and compare what's happened in two years. A few additional things have been added since then such as the share of web traffic which I find very interesting and useful.  

Just as the old post, this one focuses on Germany and the UK as the markets I am professionally and personally most interested in. 

### Social, Digital and Mobile Global Snapshot 2016

Before I get to the details for each country here are some overall global statistics that I found fascinating and want to compare with 2014:

- Of the 7.395 billion total world population, there are ca. 3.42 billion internet users today or 46% of the world’s population (that was 35% in 2014).
- 2.3 billion or 31% of the world’s population are active social media users (that was 1.8 billion or 26% in 2014).
- 3.8 billion or 51% of the world’s population are unique mobile users (wasn't tracked in 2014).
- 1.9 billion or 27% of the world’s population are active mobile social users (wasn't tracked in 2014).
- Mobile's share of web traffic has grown from 28.9% in 2014 up to 38.6% in 2016.
- Mobile social users have grown by 17% since 2015 which the fastest growth in contrast to internet users (10% growth), social media users (10% growth) and mobile users (4% growth). 
- The most social media and mobile users are in East Asia, far, far surpassing the rest of the world.

### Key 2016 Social, Digital and Mobile Stats and Indicators for Germany 

- Internet penetration: 89% (84% in 2014)
- Average time users spend on the internet per day: 3h 20 min on laptop/desktop, 1h 21 min on mobile device, 1h 9 min on social media on any device.
- Xing is not among the top social networks (kinda of shocking!).

![digital_share_of_web_traffic_in_germany_2016.jpg](https://www.iliyanastareva.com/hs-fs/hubfs/digital_share_of_web_traffic_in_germany_2016.jpg?width=711&height=533&name=digital_share_of_web_traffic_in_germany_2016.jpg "digital_share_of_web_traffic_in_germany_2016.jpg")

 

![social_users_germany_2016.jpg](https://www.iliyanastareva.com/hs-fs/hubfs/social_users_germany_2016.jpg?width=711&height=533&name=social_users_germany_2016.jpg "social_users_germany_2016.jpg")

 

![top_social_platforms_germany.jpg](https://www.iliyanastareva.com/hs-fs/hubfs/top_social_platforms_germany.jpg?width=711&height=533&name=top_social_platforms_germany.jpg "top_social_platforms_germany.jpg")

 

### Key 2016 Social, Digital and Mobile Stats and Indicators for the UK 

- Internet penetration: 92% (87% in 2014)
- Average time users spend on the internet per day: 3h 47 min on laptop/desktop, 1h 33 min on mobile device, 1h 29 min on social media on any device.
- Facebook is very big in the UK. No I know what you mean, [Stephen Waddington](http://wadds.co.uk/2016/03/09/facebook-audience-insights-public-relations-planning/), and I understand your fascination with it. 

![digital_share_of_web_traffic_in_the_uk__2016.jpg](https://www.iliyanastareva.com/hs-fs/hubfs/digital_share_of_web_traffic_in_the_uk__2016.jpg?width=711&height=533&name=digital_share_of_web_traffic_in_the_uk__2016.jpg "digital_share_of_web_traffic_in_the_uk__2016.jpg")

 

![social_users_UK_2016.jpg](https://www.iliyanastareva.com/hs-fs/hubfs/social_users_UK_2016.jpg?width=711&height=533&name=social_users_UK_2016.jpg "social_users_UK_2016.jpg")

 

![top_social_platforms_uk_2016.jpg](https://www.iliyanastareva.com/hs-fs/hubfs/top_social_platforms_uk_2016.jpg?width=711&height=533&name=top_social_platforms_uk_2016.jpg "top_social_platforms_uk_2016.jpg")

### Social, Digital and Mobile Stats and Indicators for the Rest of the World: 

I do urge you to read the full report in the SlideShare I'm embedding here. There's so much in there that you are going to find extremely useful; it's an impressive research!

** [Digital in 2016](https://www.slideshare.net/wearesocialsg/digital-in-2016) ** from **[We Are Social Singapore](https://www.slideshare.net/wearesocialsg)**

 

The rest of the countries you'll find in the Digital Yearbook, e.g. Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland and more. 

** [2016 Digital Yearbook](https://www.slideshare.net/wearesocialsg/2016-digital-yearbook) ** from **[We Are Social Singapore](https://www.slideshare.net/wearesocialsg)**

 

Which were the most important statistics for you? 

 

*Images from the [Slideshare presentation](http://www.slideshare.net/wearesocialsg/digital-in-2016/)*

 

 Topics: [Social Media](https://www.iliyanastareva.com/blog/topic/social-media), [Marketing](https://www.iliyanastareva.com/blog/topic/marketing)

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#### Written by [Iliyana Stareva](https://www.iliyanastareva.com/blog/author/iliyana-stareva)

Iliyana Stareva is a thought leader in Customer Success and AI. She’s the author of Inbound PR, a keynote speaker, and currently leads Customer Health for EMEA at ServiceNow. Iliyana has held global and regional roles at ServiceNow, Cisco, and HubSpot, spanning customer experience, operations, and digital transformation.

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