As social beings, we all fall into a community to meet people or make a close bond. Because of that, brands and businesses take online communities seriously after the pandemic.
They basically use it to get close to customers, improve engagement, build networks, sell products, and so on. This also helps them improve in their communities to see real success.
And, learning about the online community statistics can help you do so. Here, we’ll get into the details on this topic and share it to track what’s in the future.
Let’s begin!
Highlighted Online Community Statistics in 2026
The global online community is projected to get 10.5% of CAGR from 2026 to 2035.
In 2026, the community of internet users is 73.2% based on the Data Reportal data.
The number of members of an online community is not static. But, it shows Facebook is leading with 3.07B monthly active users. But, YouTube seems to dominate with 84% of users in the US.
Communities use emails frequently to market or reach out to people. Plus, it shows 56% open rate per day and 54% per week.
58% of brands work in online & offline communities, while 38% go for online-only and 4% prefer offline type.
77% of Gen Z and Millennials are familiar with online communities or have joined.
64% online community visitors are checking the sites more than in previous years.
36% of people use online communities to find genuine connections with others.
69% of buyers trust a brand with an online community to buy products.
Which Online Social Community Platforms Are Most Popular?
It seems like YouTube and Facebook are dominating the online community platform with social presence in the US. After that, you will find Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest stand out in slight differences.
But then, platforms to host the communities rank differently based on the CMX Hub report. It shows that Slack is leading with 25% following Discord, Discourse, Salesforce, and Circle.
Business Statistics of Online Community
According to Thinkific community statistics, it shows 12% of people started the community prior to others. In which 24% spend money on a membership plan, and 30% agree to pay for online courses in a community of students.
Plus, Coherent shows a report that brands use online communities to do these three things:
Build customer engagement.
Reinforce brand loyalty.
Get real-time feedback or review.
Market Size Statistics of Online Community
Based on the report of Coherent, it is stated that the online community’s market size is $14.4B in 2026. And, it is expected to reach 33.3B by 2033. The main goal of most communities is to keep customers and not lose them.
Age of Online Community Users
Most community platforms contain around 35 to 64 years of age users in both male and female genders, based on the Meltwater survey.
However, Instagram has 24% to 25.1% of young users aged between 16 and 24 years. Then, you’ll see 20% women and 19.9% men between 25 and 34 are using this platform.
Investment Stats in Online Community
The investment of the community in 2026 is increasing compared to before. Based on the report of Bettermode, it shows:
65% of groups agree to raise their community budget.
Up to 20% of businesses find it hard to budget for communities.
More than 50% of businesses that contain a community have been working on it for 4+ years.
42% of communities are still continuing after 5 years of launch, which was 28% in 2017.
Up to 60% of businesses are focusing on improving their existing communities.
Engagement Stats of Online Community
55% of people feel frustrated when keeping group members consistent in an online community.
Up to 81% of people use the community for content, reporting, and moderation. In which 92% are curious to learn more about it.
86% of the hosts run online forums, chat rooms, or message boards in their communities. Then again, 68% of them go to conferences and live events.
Around 40% of people don’t use automation in their communities. Due to this, they use most of their time managing them. To avoid that, it is suggested to go with online community platforms that have automation.
59% of brands use communities to give client support.
Up to 28% of online communities use CRM tools to track members’ insights.
19% bump in extra revenue from buyers after they joined the online community.
40% of the businesses find better results with the feedback from their buyers.
Statistics on Challenges of Online Community
Based on industry research by Giulia May, more than 83% of online communities see a decline in their first year.
Apart from this downside, a lot of platforms face difficulties in adding engaging members who post or contribute to the community.
It also shows that 55% of community experts found it hard to find engaging members. Plus, 59% of posts in a community get no reply. Basically, you’ll see no interaction or good threads that have comments.
Besides, 73% of members feel like they don’t belong to a brand community. Due to that, it makes them harder to relate to or get involved.
Users Behaviour Statistics
Users Prefer Online Communities to Social Media
A lot of users visit online community platforms in the US for a couple of reasons. Based on the GWI report, 77% find new things, 66% connect with people, 62% discover meme/funny content, 60% for news, 55% for honest opinion, and so on.
Users Get More Benefits in Online Communities
Based on the survey of Facebook community insights, it shows a lot of aspects that have happened after COVID-19. It includes:
91% of people find some form of support from others via a group or community in the pandemic era.
77% of people find online groups more important than any other type.
98% of people who joined an online group feel like they belong to that.
33% of people find it more comfortable sharing their feelings or perspectives online with a group than with their friends and family.
58% of people think effective leadership is one of the top qualities that helps a community grow and succeed.
Influence of Online Community
86% of community builders in 500+ think branded communities do affect positively on main operations.
85% think that the communities improve the buyer’s journey and increase trust.
61% find some improvement in retention with branded communities.
92% of people rely more on recommendations from family and friends for advertising than in any other way.
79% say that they rely a lot on the reviews from strangers rather than personal recommendations.
84% of content sharing occurs now via private groups rather than public feeds.
Growth of Online Community
60% of small group discussions and peer support dominate.
54% of people are getting into paid memberships to join premium communities.
82% of people who responded to the survey said that their newsletter has a mid to high impact on the community businesses.
76% of people use AI & social media to support the community on creation or editing tasks.
70% of businesses are planning to integrate AI chat agents into their community.
Meta owns 46% of entry-level communities.
👉Also Read: How Big Will the Creator Economy Be in 2026? (With Data & Predictions)
We’re Towards An Online Community-focused Future
With the online community statistics, you can clearly guess what it will be in the future. Basically, we can notice the pattern as both the community and social media seem to be interlinked.
So, it will be a blend of both aspects. Plus, there’s a high chance that the community will have a representative AI agent or chatbot to communicate with.
That’s all for today, and I hope you find it helpful.
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