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The popularity of social media varies by region. For example, in the US, Instagram and TikTok remain the most popular platforms among young people, while in China, WeChat and Weibo continue to dominate. In Europe, Facebook still holds its own, but new platforms such as Bluesky are gaining momentum. Let's take a closer look at which social networks are the most popular in different countries and why they have gained such attention from users.
In addition to the world-famous platforms, there are less popular social networks that have their own unique offerings and audiences. These networks often specialise in specific topics or provide specific features that appeal to certain groups of users. Some of them, such as Mastodon or YY, may not have as many users as their more well-known counterparts, but offer interesting opportunities for communication and interaction.
The most popular social networks in the world in 2024
Most popular social networks worldwide as of April 2024, ranked by number of monthly active users
Source: Statista
These statistics reflect the popularity and reach of different platforms on a global scale, showing the dominance of Facebook and the significant presence of YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp. Other platforms also have large audiences, but much smaller ones compared to the leaders.
Let's take a closer look at some of the world's most popular platforms as of April 2024:
3,065 million monthly active users
Facebook is one of the largest and most popular social networks in the world, allowing users to communicate, share content, interact with various groups and pages, and use numerous integrated applications.
Country of origin: USA.
Company: Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook, Inc.).
Year of foundation: 2004.
Facebook offers a great opportunity to build a loyal audience and engage with customers. This platform can significantly improve a company's reputation, increase its visibility, and receive feedback from the target audience.
A properly configured Facebook page will help you attract new customers and increase the number of potential orders.
YouTube
2,504 million monthly active users
YouTube is a video-sharing platform that allows users to upload, watch, comment and share videos. It is one of the largest video platforms in the world.
Country of origin: UNITED STATES.
Company: Alphabet.
Year of foundation: 2005.
YouTube has become an integral part of digital marketing for many businesses, and for good reason. Thanks to a wide range of features and tools, this platform allows you to effectively engage and retain your audience, contributing to business growth.
One of the main advantages of YouTube is the ability to precisely target. By using demographic data, interests, and behavioural characteristics of viewers, you can customise your advertising campaign to reach people who are most likely to be interested in your business. This allows you to not only increase the effectiveness of your advertising efforts, but also optimise costs by targeting the most promising market segments.
YouTube offers a wide range of content formats that can be used to promote your business. These can include product reviews, demonstrations, tutorials, live broadcasts, and much more. This diversity allows you to choose the formats that best suit your needs and goals, giving you the opportunity to experiment and find the most effective approaches to communicate with your audience.
YouTube also offers a wide range of content formats that can be used to promote your business. These can include product reviews, demonstrations, tutorials, live broadcasts, and much more. You can choose the format that best suits your needs and goals.
2,000 million monthly active users
Instagram is a social network focused on photo and video sharing that allows users to share content with followers and interact through likes, comments, and personal messages.
Country of origin: UNITED STATES.
Company: Meta Platforms, Inc. (previously Facebook, Inc. acquired Instagram in 2012).
Year of foundation: 2010.
Instagram is a visual platform, which makes it ideal for showcasing products and services. You can post photos, videos, Stories, Reels, and IGTV. You can also use visual elements to create a consistent brand aesthetic.
Instagram offers powerful targeting options that allow you to reach your ideal audience. You can target your ads based on demographics, interests, behaviour, and more. This will help you maximise your marketing ROI.
Instagram is a highly interactive platform that allows you to communicate with your followers.
Instagram offers detailed analytics to help you track the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. You can see which posts are the most successful, who your audience is, and how they interact with your content. This will help you improve your marketing strategy over time.
2,000 million monthly active users
WhatsApp is a mobile messenger that allows users to exchange text messages, voice messages, photos, videos, and files. It also supports voice messaging and video calling.
Country of origin: UNITED STATES.
Company: Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook, Inc. acquired WhatsApp in 2014).
Year of foundation: 2009.
WhatsApp allows for instant messaging with customers, which makes it possible to respond quickly to their requests. You can send messages, photos, videos, voice messages, and documents. You can also create groups to communicate with several customers at the same time.
WhatsApp can be used to send promotional messages and announcements to reach a wider audience and increase sales.
WhatsApp is a free app, so you can save on the cost of communicating with customers.
Most people are already using WhatsApp, so it will be easy for them to communicate with businesses in this format.
TikTok
1,582 million monthly active users
TikTok is a short video-sharing platform where users can create, edit and publish videos ranging in length from a few seconds to several minutes.
Country of origin: China.
Company: ByteDance.
Year of foundation: 2016.
TikTok can be useful for many businesses, but not all of them. For example, for companies that target a younger audience, such as cosmetic brands, clothing stores, or restaurants, TikTok can be very useful. However, for companies that target an older generation or offer business services, this network will be less effective. Therefore, before you start working on the platform, it is important to assess whether it suits your goals and audience.
TikTok's algorithm promotes the organic distribution of content, which means that your videos can be seen by many people even if you don't have a large number of subscribers. This allows businesses to save money on advertising and promotion.
Snapchat
800 million monthly active users
Snapchat is a mobile application for sharing photos and videos that disappear after a short period of time after viewing. The app also supports chat features, stories, and interactive filters.
Country of origin: USA.
Company: Snap.
Year of foundation: 2011.
Snapchat is popular among young people, especially among users aged 13 to 34. This is a great opportunity for brands targeting young people to connect with their target audience.
One of the unique features of Snapchat is the temporary nature of the content. Posts (snapchats) disappear after 24 hours, which encourages users to check the app frequently so as not to miss anything important. This creates a sense of urgency and encourages more active interaction with the content.
Snapchat is also famous for its unique filters and masks that make content exciting and funny. This attracts attention and allows you to create original and diverse content to promote your brand.
X/Twitter
611 million monthly active users
Twitter is a microblogging social network where users can post short messages (tweets) of up to 280 characters.
Country of origin: USA.
Company: X Corp.
Year of foundation: 2006.
Thanks to retweets, hashtags, and trends, content on Twitter has great viral potential. A well-crafted tweet can quickly spread among users, increasing brand awareness and attracting new customers.
Twitter provides business accounts with access to detailed analytics that allow them to track the effectiveness of tweets, engagement rates, audience growth, and other key metrics. This helps to optimise strategies and increase the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
Twitter is a platform for discussing current events and news. Businesses can use this feature to participate in important discussions, demonstrate their expertise and draw attention to their activities.
598 million monthly active users
Weibo is a Chinese microblogging platform similar to Twitter that allows users to post short messages, images and videos.
Country of origin: China.
Company: Sina.
Year of foundation: 2009.
Weibo users are very active and engaged on the platform. They often post content, comment on other users' posts, and share them. This allows businesses to connect with their audience. Weibo allows you to post short messages and microblogs, which makes it ideal for quickly sharing information, news and updates.
Weibo is a popular platform for influencers, allowing brands to collaborate with celebrities to promote their products and services. Influencers can help to significantly increase brand awareness and attract new audiences.
498 million monthly active users
Pinterest is a visual social network that allows users to find and save ideas in the form of images and videos to their boards.
Country of origin: UNITED STATES.
Company: Pinterest.
Year of foundation: 2010.
Users come to Pinterest in search of inspiration and ideas for various areas of life, such as fashion, cooking, interior design, travel, etc. This gives businesses an opportunity to become a source of inspiration for their audience by offering useful and interesting content.
Pinterest can help you drive more traffic to your website. When you post pins on Pinterest, they include a link to your website. This can lead to increased traffic and sales.
The platform allows you to create content collections (boards), which makes it easier to organise and distribute content. This helps users easily find the information they need and interact with the brand.
Geography of Social Networks: The most popular social networks by country
Leading countries based on audience size
Source: Statista
Snapchat
Source: Statista
Source: Statista
YouTube
Source: Statista
X/Twitter
Source: Statista
Source: World Population Review
TikTok
Source: Statista
Source: Statista
Social networks you might not have heard of
Kuaishou — 673 million monthly active users
Kuaishou, which means ‘quick hand’ in Chinese, is a popular Chinese social network for sharing short videos, similar to TikTok. Launched in 2012, it quickly gained popularity, especially in rural China, and currently has over 300 million daily active users.
Sina Weibo — 599 million monthly active users
Sina Weibo, also known as Weibo, is a Chinese microblogging platform similar to Twitter and Facebook, launched by Sina Corp in 2009. It quickly became one of the most popular social networks in China with over 550 million monthly active users.
Bluesky
A new social network created to provide a decentralised platform for communication and information exchange. The development of Bluesky was initiated by Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter.
Mastodon — 1.7 million monthly active users
The social network was launched in 2016 by German programmer Eugen (Eugene) Rochko. Mastodon bills itself as a ‘free, open, decentralised social network’ that aims to be an ‘acceptable alternative to Twitter’. The mastodon was chosen as the symbol of the platform, after which it was named.
Baidu Tieba – 300 million monthly active users
Baidu Tieba is a Chinese social network based on thematic online communities, which makes it similar to such Western resources as Reddit. Users can post text, graphics, audio and video content, as well as reply to and comment on posts and form separate groups for thematic discussions.
YY – 122 million monthly active users
Established in 2005, YY is one of the largest social media platforms in China. It has gained popularity for its interactive features, including video streaming, online games and voice chats.
Youku – 461 million monthly active users
Youku is a Chinese video platform similar to YouTube where users can upload, watch and share video content. It was founded in 2006 and has quickly become one of the most popular websites in China, with millions of active users every day.
Copains D'avant
Copains d'avant is a French social network created in 2006 that helps people find their old friends, classmates and colleagues. Its goal is to make it easier for people to reconnect with people from the past.
Studieverzeichnis
Studieverzeichnis is a German social network specifically designed for students. It allows users to create profiles, communicate with other students, find courses and events, and search for accommodation and jobs.
Conclusion
The article examines the most popular social networks in the world as of April 2024, their functions and features. Facebook's dominance continues to be undisputed with the largest number of active users per month, while YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp also hold significant market shares. Each of these platforms offers unique business opportunities, such as audience targeting, content diversity and interactivity.
In addition, the article mentions lesser-known social media platforms such as Kuaishou, Sina Weibo and Mastodon, which also have a large number of users and offer a variety of ways to interact with the audience.
It is important to note that the effective use of each of these platforms can significantly increase brand awareness, boost sales, and improve communication with customers. Thus, properly configured social media strategies are key to the success of a modern business.
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