Introduction

In today’s digital age, social media stages have become an important part of our lives, revolutionizing the way we connect, share, and communicate with one another. These platforms transcend geographical boundaries and allow us to interact with friends, family, and even strangers from around the world. From sharing moments to expressing opinions, staying updated on news to discovering new interests, social media apps offer a plethora of possibilities.

This introduction will provide you with a glimpse into some of the most essential and widely used social media apps that have shaped the modern online landscape. Each of these platforms serves a unique purpose, catering to different types of content, interactions, and communities. Whether you’re a casual user, a content creator, a business owner, or someone simply curious about the digital world, understanding these social media apps will help you navigate the dynamic realm of online social interaction.

Read on if you’re developing a social media marketing strategy and want to find out what each social network can do to reach your target audience. It is a comprehensive overview of 20 of the world’s largest and most popular social media apps.

Note the sources in this article: Monthly active user numbers are taken from Statista and Hootsuite’s April 2021 digital update but have also been confirmed and updated with the platforms themselves as needed.

So we’re bringing you all social media sites from most prominent to lowest (but not by hype or value).

Facebook

Monthly active users: 2.8 billion

Facebook remains the most effective social system globally and the most developed channel for organic and paid social marketing. 18.2% of adults in the United States shopped on Facebook last year.

People use Facebook to stay updated with friends, and family, and the latest on various forms of shared content – from written updates to live videos to short Facebook stories.

You tube

youtube

Monthly active users: 2.29 billion

YouTube is not always considered one of the world’s social media apps. You could quickly call it a video platform or the second-largest search engine globally.

For established brands with high-performing marketing agencies, the YouTube ads that appear before or in the middle of the original videos aren’t much different than what would appear on TV. In the meantime, for brands that create their own YouTube channel by posting original videos, it’s essential to play the YouTube algorithm well, which requires a combination of skill, strategy, budget, and luck. But there is also a potential payoff: 70% of viewers bought a brand after seeing it on YouTube.

WhatsApp

Monthly active users: 2,000 million

WhatsApp is the number 3 social app on the list by user base, but it is the number 1 messaging app globally. It was recently voted the world’s most popular social media app (although the survey excluded users from China).

Source: Global Statistics Digital Report of April 2021

It may be a first for many Americans, but WhatsApp is one of the world’s most important social media apps.

Facebook bought WhatsApp for $ 19 billion in 2014 and has more or less remained as a messaging and professional app.

Every day, 175 million users in 180 states send messages to one of the 50 million businesses on WhatsApp.

For these businesses, some of WhatsApp’s most exciting features include optimizing customer service conversations and displaying products in a catalog (essentially a digital store similar to a Facebook store, although users should always exit the app to make purchases.).

Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger

Monthly active users: 1.3 billion

Next, Messenger – Facebook’s other private messaging app. As part of Facebook’s continued strategy to prioritize private messages, Facebook Messenger differs from WhatsApp in several ways:

  • does not provide end-to-end encryption to users
  • Serves a wide variety of ads (including sponsored posts, inbox ads, etc.)
  • it also links all of a user’s associates from Instagram and Facebook.
  • In 2019, a Facebook survey found that 64% of people expect to message brands for customer service.

Instagram

Instagram

Monthly active users: 1.220 million

Another feature of Facebook complements the five most popular social media sites by population: Instagram.

Formerly a humble photo-sharing app, Instagram has grown into one of the world’s leading social media apps for social commerce in recent years. With astrology memes and latte art. Instagram has become a virtual mall with various features designed to help businesses sell products, preferably beautiful ones.

We chat

Monthly Active Users: 1.220 million

The first non-North American app on this list remains Tencent’s WeChat (or Weixin in China). Because America’s social media sites are restricted in China, it has its thriving social ecology.

WeChat remains the dominant social system in China, but this incredible social media app goes beyond messaging. Users can send messages, make video calls, shop with WeChat Pay, use government services, order rides, play games, and much more. According to a survey, 73% of respondents in China used WeChat last month.

By the end of 2020, 88% of US companies doing business in China said that Donald Trump’s plan to ban WeChat would negatively affect their operations, and 42% predicted they would lose revenue if the ban were applied. (That is not the case.)

For companies looking to expand their efforts in China, looking at WeChat marketing is an important step, whether advertising, influencer campaigns, in-app e-commerce, or developing an applet within WeChat.

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