Top 12 Largest Social Media Platforms in the World 2022

Facebook holds the title of the largest social media platform, with over two billion people using it every month. This means approximately 36.9% of the world's population are Facebook users. More than 200 million businesses (mostly small enterprises) utilize Facebook's tools, and over seven million advertisers actively promote their businesses on Facebook, making it a rather secure choice if you want to be present on social media.

Getting started on Facebook is easy as most content formats perform well on Facebook, ranging from text, images to video content. However, Facebook's algorithms prioritize content that sparks meaningful conversations and interactions among people, especially those from family and friends. To learn more about initiating conversations on Facebook, check out our guide on marketing your business on Facebook and measuring your results.

Monthly active users: around 2.74 billion

WhatsApp is a widely used messaging app in over 180 countries. Initially, people used WhatsApp to send text messages to their family and friends. Gradually, the majority started engaging with businesses and brands through the WhatsApp social network. WhatsApp's business platform is integrated to allow businesses to provide customer support services while sharing updates with customers about their purchases.

For small businesses, there's the WhatsApp Business app, while enterprise businesses can use the WhatsApp Business API. As the most widely used messaging platform, WhatsApp can be an excellent customer service channel for your business. Check out these success stories from WhatsApp Business users.

Monthly active users: approximately 2 billion

YouTube is a video-sharing platform where users watch billions of hours of video every day. Besides being the second-largest social media site, YouTube is often referred to as the second-largest search engine after its parent company, Google. Anyone can view YouTube content, whether they are registered users or not, and this figure may not accurately represent the actual popularity of the platform.

So, if you're using video marketing to promote your business, you definitely need to be present on YouTube. To get started, here's how to create a YouTube channel for your brand. And to help your videos get discovered by more people, we recommend you to learn about YouTube SEO or consider advertising on YouTube to boost your reach. YouTube is also one of the very few social media platforms today with content suitable for very young age groups.

Monthly active users: 2.291 billion

The world's 5th most popular photo-sharing app with a total of 1.22 billion users worldwide. Founded by former Google employee Kevin Systrom in 2009, Instagram is the product of a diligent analysis of the social media landscape at that time. As a visual platform, Instagram is the place to showcase your products or services through photos or videos. Instagram provides remarkable engagement rates compared to Facebook, its largest competitor.

On the Instagram app, you can share various types of content such as photos, videos, Stories, Reels, live videos, and Instagram TV for longer videos. As a brand, you can create a business profile on Instagram, which provides you with rich analytics about your profile and posts, as well as the ability to schedule posts on Instagram using third-party tools. To help you use Instagram like a pro, we have a comprehensive guide on Instagram marketing.

Monthly active users: 1.221 billion

The original version of Messenger was “Facebook Chat” - a simple IM feature that was introduced into the Facebook environment in 2008. Recognizing the potential of Chat as a standalone app within its unique ecosystem, Facebook revamped the service and renamed it “Facebook Messenger”. Messenger provides businesses an excellent level of communication with their customers and potential customers.

Since 2011, Messenger has become a standalone app with expanded features. Businesses can advertise, create chatbots, send messages, and more. These features have brought countless new ways for businesses to attract and connect with their customers. If you are considering using Messenger for your business, read seven ways you can use Messenger for your marketing activities.

Monthly active users: 1.3 billion

TikTok (known as Douyin in China) is a short-form video sharing app. Despite being launched only in 2017, it is one of the fastest-growing apps globally and recently surpassed many older social networks to become the most accessed social platform in the world. The video-sharing platform exploded onto the international scene in 2017 and quickly began collecting adoption figures that made established competitors nervous.

TikTok allows users to create and share videos ranging from 15 to 60 seconds, and the app features a vast array of sound effects, music clips, and filters to enhance and make videos more engaging. You can find videos related to almost every interest, from lip-syncing, dancing, and challenges to DIY tricks and makeup tutorials. About 47.4% of TikTok users in the U.S. are aged 10-29. So, if your business target and brand development involve a younger audience, TikTok is an excellent platform to grow your business and brand.

Monthly active users: 689 million

WeChat was released in 2011 by Tencent, one of China's largest tech companies. Similar to WhatsApp and Messenger, WeChat initially was a messaging app, but it evolved into an all-in-one platform. Alongside messaging and calling, users can shop online, pay bills, buy groceries, transfer money, book appointments, hail a taxi, and more. It's no surprise that WeChat holds such a high position in the list of the world's largest social networks.

WeChat is the most popular social media platform in China and other parts of Asia. So, if you want to promote your brand in China (where popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter are banned), WeChat is a good alternative. You can run ads on official WeChat accounts or on WeChat Moments. There are also many influencers on WeChat who can help your brand reach millions of Chinese consumers.

Monthly active users: 1.213 billion

Douyin is a distinct version of TikTok catering specifically to the Chinese audience. Both platforms share the same parent company and core functionality, but they are undoubtedly two different applications marketed to different target groups. In the Chinese market, Douyin has become one of the most popular marketing channels for luxury companies and brands. Many have struggled to create meaningful interactions with the social media's young users, but some have easily found success on this platform.

Unlike TikTok, Douyin now embraces monetization from users, providing content creators with more specific mechanisms to generate passive income from their videos, primarily by integrating with popular Chinese e-commerce platforms like Taobao. Douyin is more widely used in China because the social network is tailored specifically for Chinese users. With China's population of 1.4 billion people, it's understandable that Douyin still makes the list of the world's largest social networks.

Monthly active users: 600 million

9. QQ

QQ was launched in China in 1999 by Tencent as a downloadable real-time messaging service, quickly becoming the most popular digital communication platform in China. In addition to real-time messaging features, QQ allows users to decorate avatars, watch movies, play online games, listen to music, shop online, write blogs, and make payments. QQ, as a business communication platform, has been aided by the software's exceptional file transfer capabilities.

While WeChat has become the market leader in China, QQ is still favored by younger users. It is also used in 80 countries and available in multiple languages. One advantage of QQ is that you don't need a phone number to register, attracting young people without mobile devices who use the desktop version. However, QQ's largest user base is the working class. QQ's desktop messaging application is popular due to its user-friendly interface and the ability to transfer files larger than 25MB, which WeChat does not allow.

Monthly active users: 617 million

10. Telegram

Telegram is a free messaging app that works across multiple devices with no limits on media size. There are several ways brands can use Telegram for promotion, alongside offering direct customer support services. For example, brands can create chatbots for the Telegram platform or use Telegram's channel feature to broadcast messages to 200,000 people. When WhatsApp announced changes to their privacy policy, many users switched to Telegram.

Over the past month (January 1 to January 21), Telegram gained around 25 million new users. Telegram's standout feature is end-to-end encryption for all activities, including chats, groups, and shared media among participants. Its focus on security has attracted more customers over the years, especially when WhatsApp announced policy changes allowing it to share information with its parent company Meta.

Monthly active users: 500 million

11. Sina Weibo

“Weibo” translates to “small blog” in Chinese, launched by the Chinese tech company Sina Corporation in 2009. Sina Weibo, simply known as Weibo, is a microblogging platform often compared to Twitter and Instagram. Through Weibo, users can post images, videos, and stories, explore trending topics, use hashtags starting with # in posts, and use the platform for quick messaging. Weibo is also considered an information hub used by businesses, journalists, influencers, and regular users.

Notably, many companies and brands have used Weibo as a marketing platform, with some international brands even succeeding in tapping into the massive Chinese business market. In fact, The New York Times suggests Weibo is the place to go if you want to “go viral” in China. Weibo also allows businesses to establish verified official accounts to communicate with their followers and use paid advertising.

Monthly Active Users: 511 million

The photo and video sharing platform gained popularity for displaying user posts for a limited time before they disappear. Snapchat focuses on short photos and videos (called snaps) shared among friends. It popularized the vertical video format, eventually becoming widespread on other social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. However, the rise of Instagram Stories, in particular, seems to have hindered Snapchat's growth and marketers' interest in using Snapchat for their brands in general.

However, 69% of US teenagers say they use Snapchat. So, if your target audience is primarily teens, you should consider using the app. If you're not familiar with Snapchat, check out our beginner's guide to Snapchat. Or if you're undecided between Snapchat and Instagram, we've written a small comparison of Snapchat and Instagram for brands.

Monthly Active Users: 498 million