Social media platforms is really important in our daily lives.
There are 4.8 billion people using social media worldwide, which is almost 60% of the entire global population. These platforms have become essential places for getting information, staying in touch with friends and family, and growing businesses.
People now trust and depend on their favorite social networks for everything—from getting the latest news and updates to finding lifestyle tips, doing product research, and more.
For people who advertise stuff, social media is a huge chance to get more customers.
If you have the right tools and plans, you can use social media to make more people know about your business, talk to the people you want to reach, and build a group of loyal customers.
But there are so many social media platforms nowadays that it’s hard to be on all of them and do well everywhere.
Doing well in social media marketing means first picking the right platforms for your brand. You have to figure out where the people you want to reach spend their time and where it makes sense for your brand to talk to them.
In this article, we’ll check out the top social media platforms, quickly saying what each one is about, and then see which kinds of businesses might like them the most.
Top 10 Social Media Platforms Compared
| MAU | REVENUE | LAUNCHED | HEADQUARTERS | ||
| 1 | 3 billion | not specified | 2004 | Menlo Park, CA | |
| 2 | YOUTUBE | 2.5 billion | $29.24 billion | 2005 | San Bruno, California |
| 3 | 2 billion | Not specified | 2010 | Menlo Park, CA | |
| 4 | TIKTOK | 1.2 billion | unknown | 2016 | Culver City, CA |
| 5 | SNAPCHAT | 750 million | $4.6 billion | 2011 | Los Angeles, CA |
| 6 | X (TWITTER) | 541 million | $4.4 billion | 2003 | Mountain, View, CA |
| 7 | 465 million | $2.8 billion | 2005 | Mountain, View, CA | |
| 8 | 430 million | $400 million | 2010 | San Francisco, CA | |
| 9 | <350 million | 12.4 billion | 2006 | San Francisco, CA | |
| 10 | THREADS | 100 million | unknown | 2023 | Menlo Park, CA |
The Top 10 Social Media Apps By Monthly Active Users
| Social media channel | MAU* | |
| 1 | 3 billion | |
| 2 | YouTube | 2.5 billion |
| 3 | 2 billion | |
| 4 | TikTok | 1.2 billion |
| 5 | Snapchat | 750 million |
| 6 | X (Twitter) | 541 million |
| 7 | 465 million | |
| 8 | 430 million | |
| 9 | <350 million | |
| 10 | Threads | 100 million |
The Top 10 Social Media Sites & Platforms This Year
- Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA.
- Launched: 2004.
- Monthly Active Users: 3 billion.
- Founders: Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes.
- Revenue: Facebook-specific revenue not known.
Even though Facebook isn’t as exciting for younger users as it used to be, it’s still very popular.
Nowadays, Facebook is part of Meta, Inc., which also owns Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads. According to Meta’s earnings report for the whole year, all of its apps together, like Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and others, made a total of $114.45 billion in 2022.
Although the people using Facebook have changed a bit in the last few years, it’s still a really big deal in social media.
Lots of different industries, like finance, online shopping, stores, media, telecom, tech, and things people buy, still use Facebook a lot to connect with customers and make more people know about their brand. And even newer businesses, like gaming, entertainment, and cars, are starting to use Facebook too.
If you want to get people to do something, using Facebook ads is a good idea, especially because regular business posts might not show up as much in the News Feed.
But if you don’t want to spend money on ads, there are still other ways to get people interested, like joining special groups on Facebook, using Messenger chatbots for talking to people personally, or doing live videos to talk with your audience right away.
Read more about social media Content
- HOW TO CREATE A SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY
- HOW TO CREATING A SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CALENDAR
YouTube
- Launched: 2005.
- Headquarters: San Bruno, California.
- Monthly Active Users: 2.5 billion.
- Revenue: $29.24 billion (2022).
- Founders: Jawed Karim, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley.
YouTube is still the go-to place for original videos on social media. It’s the second most popular platform, with 2.5 billion people using it every month.
In 2022, ads on YouTube made a huge $29.24 billion, according to Alphabet’s earnings report for the last quarter. And that’s just from ads – it doesn’t include money from other things like subscriptions to YouTube TV and YouTube Premium.
A massive 81% of adults in the U.S. use YouTube, making it a super important place for brands and marketers.
Whether it’s making long videos or jumping on the TikTok trend with YouTube Shorts, there are lots of ways for brands to tell their story and connect with new audiences on YouTube.
The company says that people watching YouTube are twice as likely to buy something they saw on the platform and four times more likely to use it to learn about a brand, product, or service compared to other social networks.
No matter if you’re into makeup tutorials, video games, learning new stuff, or DIY tricks, YouTube has it all. And if a brand wants to focus on making videos, YouTube is the place to do it.
- Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA.
- Launched: 2010.
- Monthly Active Users: 2 billion.
- Founders: Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger.
- Revenue: Instagram-specific revenue not known.
Instagram is a social network where businesses that sell products, influencers, and coaches can do really well.
It started in 2010 and quickly became the top social platform for sharing pictures and visuals. Since then, it’s only gotten more popular and is now a place where people do everything from checking out cool stuff to researching different parts of their lives.
Instagram keeps adding new features that marketers can use to get more people interested, like temporary Stories, vertical video Reels, and more.
Since they added the option to buy things directly from posts in 2018, businesses selling products have been making more money than ever.
Not only can businesses connect with a huge audience, but they can also guide followers from checking out a product to actually buying it, all without leaving Instagram.
And if the people you’re trying to reach are mostly under 35, Instagram is a great place to be: more than 68% of Instagram users are in that age group.
TikTok
- Launched: 2016.
- Headquarters: Culver City, California.
- Monthly Active Users: 1.2 billion.
- Founders: ByteDance Ltd, Zhang Yiming, Toutiao.
- Revenue: Unknown.
TikTok bills itself as “the leading destination for short-form mobile video” with a company mission to inspire creativity and bring joy. And evidently, it’s succeeding.
As a privately held company, ByteDance is not required to disclose financial information, so we cannot be certain of TikTok’s annual revenue. However, a report from Bloomberg suggests the parent company generated somewhere in the ballpark of $80 billion in 2022 – and the social app accounts for a percentage of that.
TikTok’s meteoric rise over the past few years has been unprecedented. In 2017, after only one year, the app became the fastest-growing app worldwide.
Its focus on short-form videos driven by audio and visual trends has taken the world by storm, with other platforms rushing to emulate it.
Despite attempts to ban TikTok in the U.S. and being banned in India, as of 2021, the app had been downloaded more than 3.5 billion times globally.
And while TikTok reaches users of all demographics, if your brand wants to connect with Generation Z, it should be your first priority.
In the U.S., it’s particularly popular among the 12 to 17 age bracket, who constitute about 17.7% of the user base.
Those users are highly engaged, too, with the average user spending nearly 54 minutes on the app every day – the longest amount of time of any app, ahead of YouTube at 48.7 minutes.
Snapchat
- Headquarters: Los Angeles, CA.
- Launched: 2011.
- Monthly Active Users: 750 million.
- Founders: Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, Daniel Smith, David Kravitz, Leo Noah Katz.
- Revenue: $4.6 billion (2022).
If you’re aiming for a younger crowd, Snapchat could be a good platform to think about. It’s a social space that’s especially popular with millennials and Gen Z users.
Snapchat is reaching 70% of people between 13 and 24 years old, showing it’s a big hit with the younger generation.
On average, a Snapchat user spends about 19 minutes on the app every day – not as much as TikTok and YouTube, but it’s still a chance for brands to get their attention.
Snapchat has a unique and natural feel to it. The content is often a raw look into everyday moments, making it a hotspot for user-created content, behind-the-scenes videos, special deals, and influencers taking over.
The platform has stuck to its commitment to showing real-time, temporary content, and it gives users a sense of privacy that some other social platforms don’t offer. This makes it a useful tool for brands that want to talk to a younger audience who might not be as interested in the broader approaches of other social networks.
Even though it might not be as popular as Instagram and TikTok, Snapchat is still doing well. Since they launched their premium subscription service, Snapchat+, they’ve got 5 million subscribers who are willing to pay for exclusive features.
X/Twitter
- Headquarters: San Francisco, CA.
- Launched: 2006.
- Monthly Active Users: 541 million (July 2023).
- Founders: Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone, Noah Glass.
- Revenue: $3 billion (2023) estimated.
After Elon Musk bought Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion, the platform went through some big changes, including a rebranding to “X.”
Since Musk became CEO, he introduced Twitter Blue, now called X Premium, which is a paid monthly subscription service. This service comes with a price tag for account verification. Musk also shut down a bunch of bot accounts and launched a way for creators to earn a percentage of the money their subscribers generate.
Because of these changes, the data and numbers for X’s traffic and users have been a bit up and down. Some sources say the traffic is down compared to the previous year, but a tweet from Musk in July said that monthly users hit an all-time high in 2023.
One thing we know for sure is that X, which used to be Twitter, is still a platform to keep an eye on. Even with some issues over the last year, it’s clear that there are big plans for the platform, and it’s still a leader among social media platforms.
If your business is connected to entertainment, sports, politics, tech, or marketing, there are still chances to get a lot of engagement on this app – if you can find your audience there.
On X, brands can really shape and refine their voice. There’s room to be smart and friendly while still giving useful information.
Join conversations, bring value, share your content and other people’s, and be a part of the discussion. Just make sure to keep an eye on the app and your audience to make sure your efforts are paying off.
- Launched: 2010.
- Headquarters: San Francisco, CA.
- Monthly Active Users: 465 million.
- Founders: Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, Evan Sharp.
- Revenue: $2.8 billion (2022).
Pinterest, like Instagram, is a social media platform all about beautiful visuals. Whether it’s mouth-watering recipes, home decor ideas, wedding plans, fitness routines, or creative DIY projects, Pinterest is where visual aspirations come to life.
If your brand loves telling stories through visuals, Pinterest is the perfect playground for you.
It’s worth noting that 60% of Pinterest users are women. So, if your audience is mainly women, that’s a great reason to put your time into social media marketing on Pinterest.
But don’t think men are left out – male users on Pinterest have increased by 40% year-over-year, and so have Gen Z users!
Pinterest is more than just a pretty picture platform; it’s a potent marketing tool. A whopping 89% of people who use Pinterest weekly do it to get inspired before making a purchase. Plus, 80% of users have stumbled upon a new brand or product while browsing through Pinterest.
- Launched: 2005.
- Headquarters: San Francisco, CA.
- Monthly Active Users: 430 million.
- Founders: Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian, Aaron Swartz.
- Revenue: $400 million (estimated).
Reddit proudly calls itself “the front page of the internet,” and according to Alexa rankings, it’s among the top 20 most-visited sites.
Since Reddit isn’t a public company, it doesn’t have to share its financial details. Still, back in mid-2021, the company mentioned hitting $100 million in quarterly ad revenue. So, making a reasonable estimate, it’s likely around $400 million annually.
Known as the ultimate digital watercooler, Reddit has taken over the role of forums and chatrooms. It’s now the primary spot for connecting with communities that share your interests and finding answers to your questions.
Reddit is a unique mix of content and community, boasting over 2.8 million communities, or subreddits, covering every imaginable topic. Whether you’re into tech, fashion, gaming, or health, there’s a subreddit discussing it.
With such diversity, every brand and business can find a place to engage their audience. The key is discovering the niches where your potential customers are active.
But, here’s the catch: Reddit thrives on authenticity and genuine interaction. Users don’t usually respond well to direct self-promotion, and marketing tricks are met with sharp skepticism.
Brands should tread carefully before stepping into any subreddit and pushing their products. Getting the tone right is crucial from the start, as users won’t hesitate to call out what they see as inauthentic.
Engage thoughtfully, contribute genuinely, and Reddit has the potential to be an incredible marketing tool for your brand.
- Headquarters: Sunnyvale, CA.
- Launched: 2003.
- Monthly Active Users: <350 million (2023) estimated.
- Founders: Reid Hoffman, Konstantin Guericke, Allen Blue, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Eric Ly.
- Revenue: $15 billion+ (2023).
LinkedIn has proven to be a surprising success among social media platforms. Even though a career-oriented social platform might not have seemed likely to become popular, it has indeed emerged as one of the more engaging platforms, boasting a vast and influential community of professionals.
Unlike some other social media platforms, LinkedIn doesn’t publicly disclose its monthly active user count. However, as part of the EU’s new DSA, the company did release MAU counts for its EU users. By using this information and applying the same trends to global user counts while considering variations in usage, Social Media Today estimated “less than 350 million” as a reasonable figure.
With over 180 million users holding senior roles, 63 million decision-makers, and 10 million C-level executives, LinkedIn has become a focal point for those looking to connect with individuals who have the authority to hire your company, stock your product, or collaborate with your brand.
LinkedIn is not just a networking platform; it’s an aspirational hub. Every week, 61 million people use LinkedIn to explore job opportunities, making it a strategic place to market your brand.
LinkedIn stands out as a highly focused social media platform, offering unparalleled potential for connecting with a select group of professionals who can significantly impact your business.
Threads
- Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA.
- Launched: 2023.
- Monthly Active Users: 100 million (2023).
- Founders: Mark Zuckerberg.
- Revenue: Unknown.
The latest entrant on the scene, Threads, was developed by the team responsible for Instagram and made its debut in July 2023. This text-based app was crafted to compete with X (formerly Twitter).
In appearance and functionality, Threads closely resembles X (formerly Twitter), but it mandates users to have an Instagram account to sign up.
Threads initially grabbed attention in the social media sphere by swiftly exceeding 150 million downloads, making it the most successful social media platform launch in history.
However, it has faced challenges in retaining users since then, although there remains significant potential for the platform’s future.
Determining who should advertise on Threads is still uncertain in these early stages. The positive note is that Threads seems to be captivating users by emphasizing its strategy to foster a positive community atmosphere, steering away from the highly politicized landscape often found on X.
If your brand is exploring alternatives to X (formerly Twitter) or is eager to experiment with a new platform, Threads is definitely worth trying. Its integration with Instagram offers the potential to rapidly build a following, especially if you already have a strong and engaged Instagram community.
Which Platform(s) Should You Use For Your Business?
The prevalence of social media is undeniable.
From the teenager next door striving for TikTok fame to the 86-year-old grandma reconnecting on Facebook, everyone finds a purpose in social media.
However, applying a one-size-fits-all approach to social media in business simply won’t cut it.
If you were anticipating a straightforward, definitive answer to the perfect platform for your brand by the end of this piece, you’re in for disappointment.
Every social media mix is distinct.
Each platform comes with unique features and functionalities, some of which naturally complement specific industries or marketing goals.
Whether your aim is to enhance customer engagement, broaden your reach, or craft memorable brand experiences, it all begins with clarifying your goals.
Start by understanding your objectives, identify where your audience is most active, and then customize your strategy to resonate on those channels.
Making the right choices and authentic alignment are key to harnessing the full potential of this powerful marketing opportunity.
