LinkedIn rises to SA industry
platform of choice

Since 2018, Facebook has led the way for South African companies online – but 2025 flips the script. LinkedIn now takes the lead, with 85% of companies using the professional platform, just ahead of Facebook’s 83%.

This industry analysis was revealed in The SA Social Media Landscape Report 2025, released last week. The shift underscores a gradual reshaping of SA’s digital habits.

Notable findings include the continued growth of TikTok as the platform of choice for habitual video consumption, and a decline in emotional attachment to social media.

_{Most used platforms for companies as revealed in the Social Media Landscape Report 2025’s industry survey.}

Now in its 15th year, the report provides practical insights, solid data, and expert commentary to help brands, agencies, and communications teams make informed decisions. The findings were published on 26 June 2025 in a partnership between brand intelligence consultancy Ornico and market research house World Wide Worx, with data from Ask Afrika TGI.

“Some platforms still dominate in usage, but there is a slow but steady fragmentation of three things: attention, purpose, and trust,” said World Wide Worx CEO Arthur Goldstuck during the report’s webinar launch on YouTube last week.

“This word ‘trust’ is truly significant – it is really the core of the shift in people’s attitude towards social media because of the emergence of fake identity, videos, and engagement.

This, says Goldstuck, is why the 2025 edition’s subtitle is Fake Identities: The Era of Digital Doubles.

“The standout story is not one of a sudden upheaval, but of a population rethinking why and how it uses these platforms. In short, it’s a quest for purpose when people are on social media now. Even if they don’t realise it, that’s what they want out of it.”

A peek into the SA landscape

Emotional attachment to platforms is fading, particularly among younger users, who once drove social media’s rise but are now approaching it with greater scepticism. Daily engagement is no longer a given: Facebook’s highly active user rate dropped from 53.8% in 2023 to 51.2% in 2024, while TikTok surged from 25.1% to 32.4% over the same period, emerging as the preferred platform for habitual video consumption. These patterns suggest a maturing audience that interacts on its own terms, no longer captive to the feed.

_{Social media highly active users in 2024 and 2023.}

As user habits fragment, platform-specific trends have become more pronounced. TikTok now dominates in entertainment and short-form video, while LinkedIn is gaining momentum in professional circles, with high-frequency use rising from 6.6% to 10.3%. Smaller platforms such as Pinterest, Telegram, and Reddit are expanding their reach by catering to niche interests, reflecting a broader move away from one-size-fits-all social networks.

Even WhatsApp, long the dominant messaging app, is showing signs of plateauing as users explore new tools that offer privacy or novelty. In contrast, Facebook and Twitter/X continue their decline in both relevance and perception across the mainstream user base.

For marketers, the response has been strategic diversification. Brands are now active across more platforms and are adopting AI-driven content tools to keep pace with changing behaviour. Formal strategies are becoming the norm, with 57% of organisations targeting both B2C and B2B audiences. Yet challenges remain: budget constraints, leadership misalignment, and measurement difficulties are widespread.

While platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram remain the most used by brands, TikTok’s rapid rise – now used by 47% of organisations – signals a shift in where engagement is happening. The outlook for 2025 is one of cautious evolution, with marketers focused on refining tactics, building in-house capabilities, and measuring success through more meaningful indicators.

The SA Social Media Landscape Report 2025

A free executive summary for The SA Social Media Landscape Report 2025 can be downloaded here. The full report is available to purchase on the Ornico website here.

It contains: survey findings from local brands and agencies; platform analysis including TikTok, LinkedIn, Instagram, X, Facebook, and Threads; insights into how AI tools like ChatGPT and InVideo are actually being used; a look at shifting measurement priorities, from follower counts to engagement and sentiment; and expert views from Arthur Goldstuck, Oresti Patricios, Francois van Dyk, and Larry Khumalo-MacArthur.

* Download ‘The SA Social Media Landscape Report 2025’ report here.

*Jason Bannier is a data analyst at World Wide Worx and writer for Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Bluesky at @jas2bann.