Ranked: The World's Most Popular Social Networks, and Who Owns Them

The World's Most Popular Social Networks, and Who Owns Them

At present, there are more than 4.5 billion people in the globe who are using any form of social media, which is around five-seven percent of world's population.

However, even though the audience of social media is vast and diverse, only few companies own most of the most well-known websites for social networking. Meta the technology giant that was previously known as Facebook has all five of the most widely utilized platforms.

This graphic showcases the most popular social networks around the world as measured by their active monthly user count (MAUs).

Note: We'll use words like "social network" and "social platform" in conjunction to describe various messaging, video and image-sharing platforms with social features built-in.

Top Social Platforms by Monthly Active Users

To determine the MAUs of each platform We analyzed a variety of sources which include the most recent company SEC filings as well as quarterly earnings statements.

The majority of Meta's user base is from the most well-known platform, Facebook. The social media giant has approximately 2.9 billion MAUs across the globe.

Where in the world where are Facebook users where? The largest user base on Facebook is from India with an audience of nearly 350 million. The second largest user base comes from that of the United States, with 193.9 million users. Indonesia is third place with 142.5 million.

However, Facebook doesn't represent the sole major social media player in Meta's entire network of platforms. WhatsApp boasts around 2 billion MAUs which makes it the second-largest Meta platform and third largest social network in general.

Similar to Facebook and Twitter, a large portion of WhatsApp users reside in India which has around three hundred million people. Brazil is home to a significant portion of WhatsApp users, too with an audience of around 108 million.

The Billion Users Club

Meta is currently the most popular social media landscape, boasting an aggregate of 7.5 billion MAUs across all the four platforms. There are a few other companies have also crossed the one billion MAU mark across all of their platforms listed.

Following Meta, Tencent has the second-highest popularity due to its three platforms: WeChat, Qzone Qzone, and QQ. Out of the three platforms, WeChat is currently the most used. In the an average WeChat customers send around 45 billion text messages per day.

The third place in the order is Alphabet due to one platform, YouTube. It was founded in 2005 and this video streaming platform has more than 50 million creators of content and they share around 500 hours worth of content each minute.

The closest competitor to Alphabet close behind is Bytedance which has a total of 1.6 billion MAUs on Douyin and its International counterpart TikTok. Although the two apps have many similarities, they operate as distinct entities with distinct registration policies, content policies and rules.

Global Social Networks? Not Always

Although social media sites frequently transcend borders of countries It's important to note that the internet is not entirely free of the restrictions and rules of the physical world.

In 2009 and since, Facebook was banned by China because it did not follow the rules of censorship. Facebook was also banned by Iran and Syria at the same time, and was blocked intermittently since.

In 2020 the Trump administration attempted to pass the same ban on TikTok however, the plan was denied by a federal judge and then revoked by the Biden administration one year after.

Despite numerous roadblocks and bans however, it's evident that social media platforms have sunk into the daily lives (and on the screen) of people across the world. As internet connectivity worldwide increases and expand, so will the amount of people who use social media.