According to a new eMarketer report, the number of worldwide social network users will climb to 1.73 billion this year, meaning that almost one in four people on the planet will regularly use Facebook, Twitter, Tencent Weibo or one of their many competitors.

The Asia-Pacific region is expected to be the biggest driver of social network growth in the next few years, while developed markets such as North America and Western Europe are slowly approaching saturation. With approximately 777 million users, Asia-Pacific currently has the largest social network audience. China alone has more social network users than North America and Western Europe combined.

Until 2015, eMarketer predicts annual double digit growth for social networks around the world. By 2017, 2.55 billion or one in three people could be using social networks according to the report.