It doesn’t matter whether you’re a seasoned marketer, new marketer, or a business owner or brand seeking to get the most from your social media engagement.
You need to know what social media platforms are trending, surviving, thriving, and which ones are the most popular.
One of the best ways to leverage your social media marketing game is to understand the most popular social media platforms 2023 has to offer.
After reading this article, you should have more knowledge and understanding about the most popular social platforms, their audiences, and how to better leverage your marketing strategy.
Let’s discuss the top 10 social media sites and how you can use them.
Top 10 Most Popular Social Media Platforms
First, you should know that as of 2023, an estimated 4.9 billion people from all around the world are using social media platforms of some kind.
Furthermore, by 2027, this figure is expected to reach 5.85 billion.
Additionally, some people have multiple social media accounts that they use daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.
We’re going to highlight some data for you in the next few paragraphs.
1. Facebook (Meta): 2.96 Billion MAUs
As of August 2023, Facebook reigns as the most popular global social network.
Facebook has almost 3 billion (2.96B) monthly active users (MAUs) which is about 37% of the global population.
This giant social platform also has over 200 million businesses, which are mostly small businesses and over 7 million advertisers that promote their businesses on the platform.
Facebook’s global advertising audience accounts for 2.249 billion, according to April 2023 data.
Of the nearly 3 billion users, 47.6% are legally old enough to use the platform and to make purchasing decisions.
Here are some more demographics to help you create your Facebook marketing strategy:
- 56.8% of Facebook users identify as male.
- 43.2% of its users identify as female.
- Facebook Ads reach 43.4% of all internet users.
- 29.6% of Facebook’s users are aged 25 to 34 (668.5 million users).
- 22.6% of its users are aged 18 to 24 (508.2 million users).
- 98.5% of Facebook’s users aged 18+ accessed the mobile app in July 2021.
(Bank My Cell, DataReportal Facebook, Statista)
2. YouTube: 2.527 Billion MAUs
YouTube is ranked second among the most popular social sites with 2.514 billion monthly active users as of 2023.
Out of the world’s total social media users, 51.4% watch videos on the platform.
The potential of YouTube’s advertising reach accounts for an estimated 2.527 billion internet users.
Additionally, 76.8% of YouTube users also use Facebook.
Users watch at least one billion hours of YouTube videos daily.
More demographics about YouTube you need to know:
- 70.9% of users also use WhatsApp.
- 75.7% of users also have an Instagram account.
- 2.077 billion YouTube users are over 18.
- 45.6% of global users identify as female.
- 54.4% of YouTube’s global user database identifies as male.
- 20.7% of global YouTube users are aged 25 to 34 (522.5 million users)
(Bank My Cell, DataReportal YouTube, Statista)
3. WhatsApp (Meta): 2.7 Billion MAUs
WhatsApp takes third place among the most popular social platforms in the world with around 2 billion monthly active users.
In 2022, WhatsApp experienced 44.93 million monthly downloads on average.
In the mobile messaging realm, WhatsApp is the world’s most popular choice.
WhatsApp is expected to reach 3.14 billion users by 2025.140 billion messages are sent/received per day on average on WhatsApp.
We have some additional demographics for WhatsApp:
- 53.9% of WhatsApp users identify as male.
- 46.1% of WhatsApp users identify as female.
- In the United States, WhatsApp gender demographics include 46.5% female and 53.5% male.
- India has the most WhatsApp users with 535.8 million users.
- 27% of WhatsApp users in the United States are aged 26 to 35.
- Globally, 20.1% of female users and 21% of male users on WhatsApp are aged 55 to 64.
(Bank My Cell, Demand Sage WhatsApp, Statista)
4. Instagram (Meta): 2 Billion MAUs
While Instagram is still growing, its 2023 user database accounts for roughly 2 billion monthly active users, making it the fourth most popular social media platform in the world.
This data shows that about 20.3% of the world’s population is using Instagram.
Marketers are reaching about 310 million users through Instagram (Meta) Ads.
Likewise, 25.9% of internet users 13 and older use Instagram.
Here are a few more Instagram demographics for you:
- 50.6% of Instagram global users identify as male.
- 49.4% of global Instagram users identify as female.
- 32% of Instagram users are aged 18 to 24 (517.7 million users).
- 29.6% of Instagram users are aged 25 to 34 (488.7 million users).
- Instagram Carousel posts have the highest engagement rate at 1.26%.
- Among businesses/brands with fewer than 10,000 followers 0.98% is the average engagement rate.
(Bank My Cell, DataReportal Instagram, Statista)
5. WeChat/Weixin: 1.319 Billion MAUs
WeChat, or Weixin in China has the fifth position among the most popular global apps with 1.319 billion monthly active users.
In China, Weixin is its most popular messaging app.
Statistics show that almost 205 million video messages are sent via WeChat each day.
Furthermore, 410 million video and audio calls combined are made daily.
Here are some further WeChat demographics:
- 22.7% of WeChat users are over 51 years old.
- 22.3% of its users are under 24 years old.
- 52.9% of WeChat’s users identify as male.
- 47.1% of its users identify as female.
- By 2025, WeChat is expected to grow by 259 million more users.
- WeChat mini programs has an estimated 614 million users.
(Bank My Cell, Bank My Cell WeChat, Statista)
6. TikTok: 1.051 Billion MAUs
Number six in the most popular social media platforms for 2023 is TikTok.
This short-form video social app is also the most popular download in the Google Play Store (23.96 million) and second from the Apple Store (7.51 million).
TikTok is owned by ByteDance and most popular among the young crowds.
The United States has the largest share of TikTok users with over 136 million and Indonesia follows with over 99 million users.
TikTok ads reach an estimated 1.081 billion adults over 18.
More TikTok demographics for you:
- 43% of TikTok users identify as male in all age groups.
- 57% of TikTok users identify as female across age groups.
- 23.8% of TikTok users identify as female and 17.9% male in the 18- to 24-year-old group.
- TikTok creators account for 53.79% of those who identify as female and 46.21% male.
- The 55+ male crowd is the smallest age demographic on TikTok at only 1.7%.
- The average age of all creators on TikTok is 24.
(Bank My Cell, Exploding Topics TikTok, Statista)
7. Facebook Messenger: 931 million MAUs
Facebook Messenger has also made the most popular list in the social media realm with 931 million monthly active users.
Its potential ad reach is about 1.038 billion.
Statistics show that Facebook Messenger is used by 12.9% of the global population as of 2023.
Furthermore, the potential advertising reach has grown significantly over the past 90 days.
Let’s look at some more Facebook Messenger demographics:
- Advertisers can now reach 10 million more users than just three months ago.
- India has the highest number of Facebook Messenger users at 132 million.
- 6.2 million active users live in North America which includes the United States.
- 44.4% of global Facebook Messenger users identify as female.
- 55.65 of Facebook Messengers global users identify as male.
- 32.1% of Facebook Messengers users are aged 25 to 34 (332.7 million).
(Bank My Cell, DataReportal Facebook Messenger, Statista)
8. Douyin: 730 Million MAUs
Douyin is China’s option similar to TikTok and it has 715 million monthly active users which places then in eighth position among the most popular social platforms in the world for 2023.
Douyin users are spending nearly 90 minutes a day watching videos on this platform.
That’s an hour and a half per day.
We don’t have much about Douyin’s demographics, but we found a few.
Here they are:
- 89% of Douyin users are under 40 years old.
- 49% are under 30.
- 50.8% of China’s population uses Douyin.
- 90% of Douyin users access the app multiple times each day.
- The average monthly usage on Douyin accounts for nearly 30 hours.
(Bank My Cell, Kolsquare Douyin, Statista)
9. Telegram: 700 Million MAUs
While Telegram is known as an instant messaging app/platform that works on mobile and desktop, it ranks ninth among the world’s most popular social media platforms for 2023.
In terms of messaging apps, it ranks fourth and in 2022 it averaged 31.84 million monthly downloads.
Users in India have download it the most (70.42 downloads) followed by Russia (24.15 downloads), and then the United States (20.03 downloads).
We have gathered some Telegram demographics for you:
- 55.2 million Telegram users use the app daily.
- Telegram users spend an average of nearly 3 hours per day on the app.
- More than 15 billion messages are sent via Telegram per day.
- 58.6% of Telegram users are male.
- 41.1% of Telegram users are female.
- Telegram users account for 8.7% of the global population.
(Bank My Cell, Demand Sage Telegram, Statista)
10. Snapchat: 654.4 Million MAUs
It’s estimated that Snapchat has 654.4 million monthly active users in 2023, which is also Its potential advertising reach.
India is Snapchat’s largest user base with 182.4 million users.
The United States has a Snapchat user share of 108.8 million users. Women are more likely to use Snapchat than men.
The global figures show that about 8.2% of the planet’s population is using Snapchat in 2023.
We have more Snapchat demographics for you:
- 50.6% of global Snapchat users identify as female.
- 48.7% of Snapchat’s global users identify as male.
- 38.6% of Snapchat users are aged 18 to 24 (243.5 million users)
- 23.2% of Snapchat users are aged 25 to 34 (145.9 million users).
- Only 3.8% of Snapchat users are 50+ (23.6 million users).
- Snapchat’s audience reach in North America is 120.3 million users.
(Bank My Cell, DataReportal Snapchat, Statista)
FAQs
Why Should You Include Social Media in Your Marketing Strategies?
We have several solid reasons you should include social media in your marketing strategies.
Here are the benefits:
• It boost brand awareness.
• It helps you position yourself as an authority/expert in your industry/niche.
• It helps to generate leads.
• It will drive website traffic.
• It helps you to build relationships with your targeted audience.
• It improves the customer experience.
How Often Should I Post on Social Media Platforms?
Two things that you need to consider when posting on social media include your target audience and the social platform.
However, the golden rule of posting on social media for marketing is to post at least two to three times per week across platforms.
How Do I Measure My Social Media Marketing Success?
The following metrics are used to measure how your social media marketing campaigns and strategies are doing:
• Your number of followers.
• Your click-through rate to your site from social media.
• Your number of impressions equals how many times people have seen your content.
• Your number of times where your brand is mentioned on social platforms.
• Your engagement numbers from likes, shares, and comments on posts.
What Should We Know About Social Media Marketing and Shopping?
We have found a few statistics for you about social media marketing and shopping:
• Globally, social commerce sales are estimated to achieve over $1.2 trillion (USD) in 2023.
• Social media users spend an average of 2 hours a day which means you have a massive opportunity to market to them.
• Nearly 25% of all social media users primarily use social media to shop for products.
• Social commerce is the most popular in China, but its rapidly growing across the Asia Pacific.
Conclusion
The data we have researched and shared is mostly from 2023 unless it’s otherwise mentioned as being from another year for comparison and reference purposes.
This is where the world stands among the most popular social sites.
If you market anything on any of these social media sites and/or cross market on multiple social media sites, you can use this data to make any changes in your strategy if needed.
We hope you have learned some new things from this article about the most popular social media platforms offers.
Below, you will find more recent demographics across these popular social media outlets.
Sources
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Written by Jason Wise
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