You probably knew that social media was popular – the rapidly-growing audiences of Facebook, Twitter and the other top platforms are heavily touted, after all – but a new study has unveiled just how big social networking has become, and, perhaps more impressively, is becoming, around the world.

In their Worldwide Social Network Users: 2013 Forecast and Comparative Estimates report, eMarketer has determined that one in four people worldwide will use social networks in 2013. This equates to a rise of 1.73 billion social media users from 1.47 billion in 2012, and this global audience is expected to jump to an incredible 2.55 billion within the next five years.

The two billion user barrier should breach in 2015, with more than one-third of all people on the planet expected to be active on one or more social networks by 2017.

Asia-Pacific has the largest overall social network base, with a share of close to half (44.8 percent) of all social media users expected by the end of this year, more than three times the size of second-placed Latin America.

(Source: eMarketer. Social media image via Shutterstock.)