Social media has bigger role in Dutch people's media consumption, especially for Gen Z
Dutch people are increasingly leaning on social media in their media and news consumption, according to the annual social media survey by Newcom. Social media is now the main source of news for 1 in 8 Dutch people. Among Gen Z, it is even 3 in 10.
Three-quarters of Gen Z say that social media helps them to be better informed about current affairs. For around 30 percent, it is their main source of news. More than half of Dutch people indicate that they use social media to help them be better informed about current affairs.
On average, Netherlands residents spend around 2 hours a day on social media, with the younger generations scrolling online much more often than the older. Teens between the ages of 15 and 19 currently spend around 165 minutes on social media per day. People in the oldest age group, 65+, spend about 86 minutes per day scrolling.
X has lost nearly 500,000 users in the Netherlands in the past year. Pinterest (-310,000), Facebook (-180,000), and Telegram (-85,000) also saw their user numbers decline. The other social media platforms continued their growing trend. LinkedIn gained the most new users last year (+230,000), followed by YouTube (+185,000), Instagram (+180,000), and TikTok (+145,000).
WhatsApp is the biggest social media platform, with 13.5 million users, followed by YouTube (10.2 million), Facebook (9.9 million), and Instagram (8.2 million).
Newcom surveyed a representative group of 6,437 Dutch people aged 15 and over in January 2025 for this study. The agency has been conducting this survey on social media use every year since 2010.
