What are the top 10 most popular social media sites in the world in 2024? Social media platforms have become a must-have hub for gathering information, connecting with friends and loved ones, and growing your business. There are over 4.8 billion social media users worldwide, representing nearly 60% of the global population.
Market leader Facebook was the first social network to surpass one billion registered accounts and currently has over three billion monthly active users. At the same time, social media users have come to rely on their favorite social networks for everything from real-time news and updates to lifestyle hacks, product research, and more.
Meta platforms have four of the biggest social media platforms, Facebook, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram, each of which has over one billion monthly active users. Let’s see what are the top 10 most popular social networks in the world in 2024.
Founders: Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown
Headquarters: Santa Monica, California, the US
With 800 million monthly active users, Snapchat is a multimedia messaging app developed by Snap Inc. It was first released in 2011 and quickly gained popularity, especially among younger users.
Snapchat is known for its unique features that focus on ephemeral content, self-destructing messages, and creative storytelling. It is the tenth most popular social media site in the world.
The main feature of Snapchat is the Snap, which is a photo or video message that users can send to their contacts. Snaps can be customized with text captions, drawings, stickers, and filters.
Snapchat Stories allow users to create a chronological narrative of a Snap that disappears after 24 hours. Users can view the Stories of their friends and favorite celebrities.
Snapchat is known for its focus on privacy and self-destructing content. Snaps, Stories, and chat messages may have a limited viewing time, ranging from seconds to 24 hours. This approach encourages spontaneous and candid sharing.
Headquarters: Tortola, British Virgin Islands, Dubai, UAE
With 900 million monthly active users, Telegram is a cloud-based instant messaging app focused on speed, security, and privacy. In January 2021 it was the most downloaded app worldwide and by the end of August 2021 had 1 billion downloads globally.
It was developed by Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai Durov and launched in August 2013 for iOS and in October 2013 for Android. Also, Telegram has gained popularity for its robust features and commitment to user privacy.
Telegram allows users to send text messages, photos, videos, voice messages, stickers, and files to individual contacts or groups. Telegram places a strong emphasis on user privacy and security. Although not all chats are end-to-end encrypted by default, users can opt for secret chats for an additional layer of security.
The app has a robust system for reporting and blocking users, and it allows users to control who can contact them. It is one of the most popular social media sites in the world.
LinkedIn is a popular business and employment-focused social media site that operates via a website and mobile app. LinkedIn was launched on May 5, 2003 by Reid Hoffman and Eric Lee, and since December 2016, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft.
The platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job seekers to post their CVs and employers to post jobs. Also, LinkedIn has over 1 billion registered members from over 200 countries and territories.
LinkedIn can also be used to organize offline events, join groups, write articles, publish job postings, post photos and videos, and more.
Founded in Mountain View, California, LinkedIn is currently headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with 36 global offices as of February 11, 2024. The company has approximately 18,500 employees.
07. Facebook Messenger – 1.01 billion
Facebook Messenger Headquarters
Monthly Active Users: 1.01 billion
Launched year: August 9, 2011
Founders: Meta Platforms
Headquarters: Menlo Park, California, United States
Messenger is a messaging and video chat app that is integrated with Facebook with 1.01 billion monthly active users. Facebook Messenger allows users to send text messages, voice messages, photos, videos, stickers, and GIFs to other users or groups.
Facebook Messenger also has features such as Messenger Rooms, Messenger Kids, and Messenger Watch Together that enable users to connect and have fun. It is also owned by Meta Platforms which is the 4th most popular social site on Meta.
Facebook Messenger is a standalone messaging app developed by Facebook Inc. It was originally launched in 2011 as part of the Facebook Platform, but became a separate app in 2014.
Messenger is closely integrated with Facebook, and users can access it from the Facebook website or app. However, it is a standalone app and users do not need a Facebook account to use Messenger.
06. WeChat – 1.34 billion
Image: Cnbc.com
Monthly Active Users: 1.34 billion
Launched year: 21 January 2011
Developer: Tencent Holdings Limited
Headquarters: Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
WeChat, known as Weixin in China, is a multi-purpose messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. It was first released in January 2011 and has since become one of the most popular and widely used apps in China and some other parts of the world.
WeChat is a multi-purpose social media app with 1.34 billion monthly active users. It allows users to communicate via text, voice, video calls, and stickers as well as access various services such as payments, e-commerce, gaming, and mini-programs.
WeChat also has features such as WeChat Moments, WeChat Official Accounts, and WeChat Pay that cater to various user needs. Also, WeChat is one of the top 10 most popular social media sites in the world with over 1.3 billion active users.
TikTok is a highly popular social media platform focused on short-form video content. It was launched in September 2016 by the Chinese company ByteDance and has since gained tremendous popularity worldwide, especially among young users.
Also, Cloudflare ranked TikTok as the most popular website of 2021, surpassing Google. TikTok’s popularity has fueled viral trends in food and music and increased the platform’s cultural influence worldwide.
TikTok allows users to create and share short videos, which typically range from 15 seconds to a minute in length. Users can add music tracks, sound effects, and voiceovers to their videos from a vast library of songs and sounds.
TikTok is a short-form video-sharing social network with 1.58 billion monthly active users. TikTok has a huge and diverse user base globally, with users from different age groups and backgrounds. It is available in multiple languages and has offices and creators in multiple countries.
04. Instagram – 2 billion
Headquarters Instagram – Image Source Facebook
Monthly Active Users: 2 billion
Launched year: October 2012
Founders: Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger
Headquarters: Menlo Park, California, United States
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service, also owned by Meta Platforms, a Facebook and WhatsApp company. Instagram is a popular social media platform that allows you to create your photos, stories, reels, and videos and share them with friends and followers.
It is a photo and video-sharing social network with 2 billion monthly active users. Instagram allows users to post and edit photos and videos with filters and effects and share them with their followers or on other platforms.
In 2012, Facebook acquired Instagram, making it one of the most widely used social networking platforms in the world. It was previously created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and launched in October 2010.
03. WhatsApp – 2 billion
HeadquartersWhatsapp – Image Source Facebook
Monthly Active Users: 2 billion
Launched year: February 2009
Founders: Will Cathcart
Headquarters: Menlo Park, California, United States
WhatsApp is a popular messaging service with 2 billion monthly active users, owned by technology group Meta. It allows users to send text messages, voice messages, photos, videos, documents and stickers to other users or groups.
WhatsApp also has features such as WhatsApp Web, WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Status that provide a better user experience. Also, WhatsApp is one of the top 10 most popular social media sites in the world, with more than 2 billion users.
WhatsApp was founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton and was first released in 2009. In 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp, making it one of the world’s largest messaging platforms.
WhatsApp places an emphasis on privacy and security, all messages, calls and shared content are end-to-end encrypted, meaning they can only be decrypted by the sender and recipient.
02. YouTube – 2.5 billion
Headquarters Youtube
Monthly Active Users: 2.5 billion
Launched year: February 14, 2005
Founders: Jawed Karim, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley
Headquarters: San Bruno, California, United States
YouTube is a leading video sharing platform with 2.5 billion monthly active users. YouTube allows users to upload, watch, comment, and rate videos of various genres such as music, entertainment, education, and live streams.
Also, YouTube also has features such as YouTube Premium, YouTube Music, and YouTube TV that provide additional benefits to users. YouTube is an American online video sharing platform owned by Google. It is one of the top 10 most popular social media sites in the world.
YouTube is a widely popular video-sharing platform that allows users to upload, watch, share, and interact with videos. It was created by three former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim and was officially launched in 2005.
Founders: Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, Andrew McCollum, Eduardo Saverin
Headquarters: Menlo Park, California, United States
With 3.05 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the world’s most popular social media platform. It allows users to post, comment, react, and share a variety of content such as text, photos, videos, and GIFs.
Facebook also has features such as Audience Insights, Facebook 360, and Facebook Live that help businesses and influencers reach and engage with their audiences. It is a social media and social networking service owned by American technology group Meta.
Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and created on February 4, 2004, along with four other Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes.
Originally created as a way for college students to connect online, Facebook has evolved into a global platform connecting people from all walks of life.
Users create a personal profile with their name, profile picture, cover photo, and information about themselves. It serves as their online identity. Facebook is ranked as the third most visited website in the world, with 22.56% of its traffic coming from the United States.
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