The Most Up-To-Date Social Media Data From Buffer

At Buffer, we don’t just write about social media — we study it.

This living resource curates every original data report we've published, from platform-specific trends to posting strategies that actually work.

Whether you're a creator, marketer, or small business owner, these insights can help you make smarter content decisions backed by real numbers.

Key points to note

Before diving into the numbers, here are a few important notes to keep in mind:

1. Engagement ≠ Total Volume: A high engagement rate doesn’t always mean more total interactions. For example, LinkedIn may have a higher engagement rate, but Instagram often drives far more total views and interactions due to its larger reach.
2. Different platforms, different behaviors: A “like” on Threads doesn’t carry the same weight as a “save” on Instagram or a “share” on LinkedIn. Each platform rewards and surfaces content differently, and user intent varies.
3. Not all engagement is visible: Many platforms now prioritize private signals like DMs, shares, and saves, meaning some of the most meaningful engagement isn’t reflected in public metrics.
4. Algorithms are always changing: These studies reflect a snapshot in time (usually over a 6–12 month period). Platform algorithms evolve quickly, so trends may shift, especially after major feature or ranking updates.
5. Consistency affects everything: Across nearly every study, one pattern holds: creators who post consistently (especially weekly) tend to outperform sporadic posters, regardless of platform or format.
6. Correlation ≠ causation: Just because a format (like long-form TikToks) performs well on average doesn’t mean every long video will outperform a short one. These are trends, not guarantees.
7. Buffer’s dataset reflects the activities of Buffer users: All data is based on activity from Buffer-connected accounts — primarily small businesses, creators, and marketing teams.

Some important definitions and formulas

Here are some terms you’ll run into throughout this page and what they mean.

Engagement rate

→ The percentage of people who interacted with your post out of the total who saw it.

How we calculate engagement rate:

(Total Interactions ÷ Total Impressions) × 100

Average

→ The sum of all engagement rates divided by the number of posts. Helpful for comparing platform performance overall.

Median

→ The “middle” value in a list of engagement rates. It removes outliers and gives a clearer picture of typical performance over time.

Reach

→ The number of unique users who saw your post — one of the best indicators of how far your content traveled.

Watch time

→ The total time people spent watching your video. For TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Reels, this is often more important than views or likes.

Post consistency

→ How often you post over a given time period. In our studies, “consistent” typically means posting at least once a week for 5+ weeks.

Engagement benchmarks and posting behavior

These reports will help you understand what’s normal on social media — and what it takes to stand out.

What’s a good engagement rate on social media in 2025?

To determine where users are engaging the most, we analyzed average and median engagement rates across eight major social platforms over a full year.

The findings reveal not just which platforms perform best, but how engagement is shifting over time — and what that means for your content strategy.

Platform-wide average engagement rates

We checked for average engagement first, which helps us compare platforms at a high level, showing where engagement is strongest overall.

This snapshot reveals where content tends to get the most traction overall — and where high visibility doesn’t always translate to high engagement.

So, in ranking order:

• LinkedIn: 6.50%
• Facebook: 5.07%
• TikTok: 4.86%
• Threads: 4.51%
• YouTube Shorts: 4.41%
• Pinterest: 3.46%
• X/Twitter: 2.31%
• Instagram: 1.16%

Median engagement trends from Jan 2024 – Jan 2025

Of course, averages can be skewed by a few viral hits. That’s why we also looked at median engagement over time — to understand what the average creator is experiencing month to month.

We found that some platforms are rising, others are holding steady, and a few are clearly slipping.

1. LinkedIn: rose from 6.00% → 8.01%
2. Instagram: dropped from 2.94% → 0.61%
3. Threads: decreased from 4.76% → 3.60%
4. TikTok: slid from 5.14% → 4.56%
5. YouTube Shorts: climbed from 3.95% → 4.71%
6. Pinterest: jumped from 3.08% → 5.26%
7. Facebook: steadied around 5.45%
8. X/Twitter: declined from 3.47% → 2.15%