Photo: Anete Lusina

Which social media is used the most and why?

Facebook—which is owned by Meta—is the most popular social media platform with 2.9 billion monthly active users (MAUs). Which refers to individual users who visit your site in a given month. In fact, the combined number of Meta product users (Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp) in Q1 of 2022 was 3.64 billion.

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Social media platforms help you increase brand awareness and reach, engage with your audience, and gather valuable customer and competitor insights.

And these days, there are tons of platforms to choose from. Which ones are worth focusing on?

You’re about to find out. See below for the 28 top social media platforms in the world by monthly active users. And how to use them for your business.

What Is the Most Popular Social Media Platform?

Now let’s get into the full list.

Top Social Media Platforms in 2022

Here’s our full list of the top 28 social media sites, ranked by MAUs. *Platforms haven’t published updated stats in the past 12 months—figures may be out of date/less reliable **Platform reports on daily active users, so monthly active user number is likely higher

Data is courtesy of Statista from January 2022 unless otherwise specified.

Now let’s cover the ins and outs of the most popular social media platforms so you can decide which to focus on for your business.

1. Facebook: 2.9 Billion MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Meta

Meta Country: United States

United States Year launched: 2004

Facebook comfortably leads the pack with 2.9 billion MAUs.

Each day, 1.93 billion users visit Facebook. There are also more than 7 million active advertisers on Facebook. Your business is likely missing out if you don’t consider this huge customer base. Get started by setting up a business page. Claim your page’s URL: When your page is created, it will get a randomly generated URL (like facebook.com/pages/yourbusiness/1838227). Visit this page to create a “vanity URL, like this one for INH Hair: https://www.facebook.com/INHHair/ When your page is created, it will get a randomly generated URL (like facebook.com/pages/yourbusiness/1838227). Visit this page to create a “vanity URL, like this one for INH Hair: https://www.facebook.com/INHHair/ Optimize your “about” section: When editing your business page, be sure to include a description of your business, a link to your site, your hours, your phone number, etc. When editing your business page, be sure to include a description of your business, a link to your site, your hours, your phone number, etc. Include an eye-catching cover photo: Include an 820 x 312 cover photo that best represents your business to appear at the top of your page. Include an 820 x 312 cover photo that best represents your business to appear at the top of your page. Add a CTA (call to action): You can add a CTA that will appear on the bottom right of your cover photo. Common CTAs include “Sign up” or “Shop now.” You can schedule posts, review your metrics, and keep an eye on competitors through different tools. Learn how to use the toolkit for Facebook as well as other social media platforms.

2. YouTube: 2.56 Billion MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Alphabet

Alphabet Country: United States

United States Year launched: 2005

YouTube users worldwide watch more than 1 billion hours of video content on the platform daily. Since its launch in 2005 and its acquisition by Google just a year later, YouTube has become the largest video platform in the world. Because of these impressive feats, it’s not surprising that YouTube has become an advertising juggernaut. In 2021, YouTube’s global advertising revenue amounted to an astounding $28.84 billion US dollars.

And it also has the highest ROI of any video content platform.

No matter your business industry, there’s a place for you on YouTube. There are countless active communities, from beauty to gaming to home improvement. Here are a few ways to get started on YouTube as a business:

Create a YouTube channel linked to your Brand Account

Upload a channel trailer (or a short video) that encourages engagement and tells the audience what your brand is about Interact with users via comments and likes (you can also subscribe to related brands in your industry)

Organize your videos into themed playlists

And even if you aren’t actively posting videos, you can use YouTube advertising. Either way, use YouTube Analytics to measure your video or paid ad performance.

3. WhatsApp: 2 Billion MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Meta

Meta Country: United States

United States Year launched: 2009

WhatsApp is a messaging platform that boasts a daily messaging volume of 100 billion. At first, WhatsApp users primarily used the app to talk to family and friends. It remains a convenient way to communicate with people around the world regardless of their phone provider.

These days, the app also provides WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business API.

WhatsApp Business is a free app created with small businesses in mind. Business owners can create a catalog of their products and services. And quickly respond to messages. WhatsApp Business API is a better choice for medium to large businesses. It helps business owners provide customer support and send important notifications to customers. Here are a few things businesses can do with business accounts on WhatsApp:

Send customers order and shipping notifications

Re-engage with customers who have abandoned their carts while online shopping

Allow customers to browse products directly in WhatsApp

4. Instagram: 1.47 Billion MAUs

Fast Facts:

Company: Meta

Meta Country: United States

United States Year founded: 2010

Instagram is an app where users curate visual content. Including photos, Stories, Reels, Instagram TV, and live videos. And it makes a lot of its money from ads. Instagram's estimated US ad revenue in 2021 was $25.05 billion. To start using Instagram, create an Instagram Business Profile. This type of account allows you to view your analytics and schedule posts in advance with third-party tools. Here are just a few things you can do with a business account:

Set up a shop where users can buy your products directly

Allow users to book reservations

Pro tip: Use Semrush's Social Media Poster to create and schedule posts directly from Semrush.

Start by connecting at least one social media profile.

After you connect a profile, you can schedule a post. To begin, click the blue “New post” button on the top left of the screen. You can even include a first comment from your profile and update the link in your bio.

Then schedule when the post should go live.

As you fill out your post, the “Post preview” to the right of the screen will show what the post will look like once it’s live. You can also toggle to the “Calendar” view to see all other scheduled posts on the platform(s) you chose.

5. WeChat: 1.26 Billion MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Tencent

Tencent Country: China

China Year founded: 2011

WeChat began as a messaging platform. But just like WhatsApp, it’s much more these days. Users can send calls and messages, shop online, transfer money, and more. Many WeChat users refer to it as the “app for everything” or “super app” due to its wide range of features. Facebook and Twitter are banned in China. But WeChat is a popular alternative. In fact, it’s the most popular social media app in China. So WeChat is a good option if you want to boost your brand awareness in China. If you’d like to advertise on WeChat, it offers three main advertising placements:

WeChat Moments ads

WeChat Article banner ads

WeChat Mini Program ads

6. TikTok: 1 Billion MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: ByteDance

ByteDance Country: China

China Year founded: 2016

TikTok (or Douyin in China) is a short-form video hosting app created by ByteDance in 2016. The app is heavily based around trends and memes. Users can “stitch” or duet other videos. Or just post their renditions of the latest viral trend. TikTok was the fastest global social network to reach 1 billion MAUs during 2021. While there’s a community for seemingly everything on TikTok, the audience skews young—25% of users are between 10 and 19. And 22.4% are between 20 and 29. TikTok is beginning to expand past short-form content, though. At launch, TikTok videos could be a maximum of 15 seconds. These days, users can post videos up to 10 minutes long.

Here are a few ways to leverage TikTok for business:

Run top-view or in-feed ads (top-view ads appear when a user opens the app, while in-feed ads play organically between videos) Create branded effects (filters, games, stickers, etc.) that users can apply to videos

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Start a Branded Hashtag Challenge to boost awareness and drive engagement (these have a median engagement of 17.5%)

Fast facts:

Company: Meta

Meta Country: United States

United States Year founded: 2011

It’s popular in its own right, though. Recent studies show that it gets around 2 million monthly downloads in the app store. And because businesses and customers exchange over 20 billion messages on Messenger per month, you’re missing out on potential new customers and conversions if you don’t use it. Messenger is a great place to get quality leads. Once a customer contacts you, your message history remains. You may want to follow up for plenty of reasons, from providing coupons to asking about their recent purchase.

8. Douyin: 600 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: ByteDance

ByteDance Country: China

China Year founded: 2016

Douyin is the Chinese counterpart of TikTok. It’s only available for download in mainland China. TikTok users cannot access Douyin (and vice versa).

Some key Douyin features include:

In-app shopping features

Location tagging

Most of Douyin’s user base (80%) is between 19 and 40. That makes it a great place for Chinese businesses to reach younger generations. Douyin also limits time on the app for younger kids. Which is unusual for a social media platform. Those under 14 can only spend up to 40 minutes on the app daily.

9. QQ: 574 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Tencent

Tencent Country: China

China Year founded: 1999

After WeChat and Douyin, QQ is the most popular social media platform in China. QQ offers a variety of uses in addition to its chat features. Those include games, music, shopping, and microblogging.

Some benefits of QQ for businesses include:

In-app shopping capabilities

Hyper-specific segments for ad targeting (down to location, age, gender, and interests)

In addition to traditional social media ads, QQ also allows influencers (called KOLs) to host KOL fan groups. Influencers can partner with a brand, invite followers to a large group chat, and promote products. Typically, users will get some sort of deal or discount code if they join.

10. Weibo: 573 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Sina

Sina Country: China

China Year founded: 2009

Weibo, formerly known as Sina Weibo, means microblog in Chinese (微博). Users can post images, send personal messages to followers, post stories, follow trending topics, and more. Like WeChat, Weibo appeals to younger users. It’s often compared to both Twitter and Instagram. Weibo also offers opportunities for businesses. Companies can grow and raise brand awareness through influencer campaigns, sponsored posts, and “Weibo lottery” (where followers can earn prizes from businesses).

11. Kuaishou: 573 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Kuaishou

Kuaishou Country: China

China Year founded: 2011

Kuaishou is a video sharing platform similar to Douyin and TikTok. Users spend over two hours on Kuaishou per day on average, making it Douyin’s biggest competitor in China. The company began in 2011 as “GIF Kuaishou.” At that time, the platform’s primary feature was the ability to make GIFs. In 2013, Kuaishou introduced short videos. In 2016, they added a live streaming functionality.

Kuaishou gained popularity in the ecommerce space with “shopping festivals.”

During these events, users get access to shop directly in the app. Typically, brands collaborate with influencers who livestream and promote products. This took off in 2020. That’s when Kuaishou partnered with Chinese ecommerce giant JD.com. It made over $200 million USD in sales in just one day.

Fast facts:

Company: Snap

Snap Country: United States

United States Year founded: 2011

While Snapchat is still going strong, other platforms like Instagram have successfully recreated the idea (like with Instagram Stories). This competition has made it harder for Snapchat to keep up. So if your primary audience skews younger, it may be a good option for your business.

Create sponsored geofilters available to users

Create sponsored lenses that use facial recognition technology to transform the user’s face (add flower crowns, morph into an animal, tack on devil horns, etc.) Run ads that start at only $5 per day (meaning there are plenty of options for small businesses)

Target users based on interests, behavior, location, and more

13. Qzone: 553.5 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Tencent

Tencent Country: China

China Year founded: 2005

Qzone is another app from Tencent that offers blogging capabilities. Users can write blogs, keep diaries, send photos, listen to music, play games, and watch videos.

While users can customize their blogs or “spaces,” many add-ons cost money.

Qzone’s audience skews younger. Which means they probably don’t have a lot of spending power. However, many celebrities and influencers use QQ and Qzone to connect with their fans. So there are opportunities for influencer marketing campaigns. Marketers can also run a variety of ads for brand promotion or product promotion.

14. Telegram: 550 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Telegram

Telegram Country: Dubai

Dubai Year founded: 2013

Telegram is a messaging app known for its end-to-end encryption. In other words, “Secret Messaging.”

There are two main ways businesses can use Telegram:

Use Telegram Bot (or business account) or Telegram Business API

Broadcast messages to an unlimited number of recipients

Fast facts:

United States Year founded: 2009

Pinterest is an image sharing social platform. It allows users to save images and curate or “pin” them onto “boards.” According to Pinterest, 80% of weekly Pinners have discovered a new brand or product while on the site. That means there’s plenty of opportunity to reach new customers.

Here are a few tips for pinning as a business:

Carefully plan your boards: 97% of Pinterest boards are unbranded. So plan engaging content that doesn’t come across sales-y. If you had a clothing brand, for example, you might create boards for “summer trends,” “wedding guest outfits,” and so on. 97% of Pinterest boards are unbranded. So plan engaging content that doesn’t come across sales-y. If you had a clothing brand, for example, you might create boards for “summer trends,” “wedding guest outfits,” and so on. Optimize pins for SEO: Include keywords in your descriptions, plan your boards according to keyword research, and use relevant hashtags You can also connect Pinterest to our Social Media Toolkit. When using Social Media Poster, you can add a link to your scheduled pin and choose which board to pin it to.

Fast facts:

United States Year founded: 2006

Twitter is a social networking site where users can post messages. Those messages (or tweets) can only be 280 characters or fewer.

Its focus is primarily on current events and what’s trending.

Twitter’s MAU numbers trail behind other U.S. social networks like Facebook and Instagram. But its brand growth has grown by 84% in 2022. It’s a smart idea to run a business Twitter. Why? Because Twitter is often the first point of contact for customers who have frustrations or complaints. According to Twitter, they are the number one platform for discovery. And people spend 26% more time viewing ads on Twitter than on any other platform. When scheduling tweets with the Social Media Poster, you’ll also see a counter that lets you know how many characters you have left.

17. Reddit: 430 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Reddit

Reddit Country: United States

United States Year founded: 2005

Reddit is a news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Essentially, a site where people can find a community for anything and everything. The site is broken up into “subreddits,” or forums about specific topics. Members can ask questions, participate in live AMAs (Ask Me Anything), and “upvote” content they like to push it to the top of the subreddit. As a business, it’s a good idea to participate in subreddits related to your community. You can engage with users, but do so with caution. Reddit has guidelines on how to properly self-promote, but some subreddit moderators are more strict about it than others. Ignoring these guidelines can result in your account being banned. Regardless of your niche, you’ll have plenty of reach—the number of overall monthly visits to Reddit is 1.5 billion.

18. LinkedIn: 310 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company : Microsoft

Microsoft Country: United States

United States Year founded: 2003

LinkedIn is no longer just a job search engine. Users can now also recruit new hires for their own companies, engage with customers, become thought leaders, and so on. Microsoft clearly saw the platform’s potential when they purchased LinkedIn for $26.2 billion USD in 2016. Businesses can also use LinkedIn to grow their audience. Posting thought-provoking, relevant content about topics in your niche can help you build an audience. And connect with other top voices in your industry. You can also connect your LinkedIn account to the Social Media Toolkit to schedule posts and analyze data.

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19. Quora: 300 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Quora

Quora Country: United States

United States Year founded: 2009

Quora is a social Q&A website. You can find questions and answers to just about any topic.

But keep in mind:

The entire site is made up of user-generated content. Not all answers are guaranteed to come from reputable sources. Users can vote on answers to highlight which they think is the most helpful and accurate. Or downvote the ones that are not helpful or accurate. Because of this, it can be useful for crowdsourcing and finding answers to opinion-based questions. In addition to running ads on Quora, businesses can engage with customers. Answer and ask questions, speak directly to your audience, and observe how users interact with each other. You should avoid coming across as sales-y, though. Think about it as an exercise in thought leadership. If those in your niche see you as a helpful, knowledgeable source, that may boost your reputation. Which could boost sales and revenue down the line.

20. Viber: 250 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Rakuten

Rakuten Country: Japan

Japan Year founded: 2001

Viber (or Rakuten Viber) is an instant messaging app that lets users send messages, make voice and video calls, start group chats and calls, join communities, and more. Viber has been around since 2011. Rakuten acquired it in 2014 for $900 million. Viber prioritizes safety by using default end-to-end encryption on all messages, offering “disappearing” messages, and allowing users to delete and edit any message. You can also set up a Viber Business account. This allows customers to interact with your brand. If customers connect with you, you can send individual messages or broadcast messages to a larger group.

21. imo: 200 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: PageBites

PageBites Country: United States

United States Year founded: 2005

imo is a messenger app that supports audio and video calls, text messaging, stories, file sharing, and more. It’s free, easy to use, and a simple option for international calls. imo also offers chat rooms and “big groups,” where you can meet new people who share your interests. Companies can create business accounts. These accounts allow you to run ads and set a weekly budget. And because imo is on the smaller side, there could be less competition within your niche.

22. LINE: 178 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Naver

Naver Country: South Korea

South Korea Year founded: 2011

LINE is a messaging app where users can exchange texts, images, video, and audio. In 2021, the company launched LINE Voom, a feature similar to TikTok. It allows users to follow each other and post video content. Users can also make purchases using LINE Pay (similar to Apple Pay). As for business uses, companies can make a LINE for Business account to interact with customers and run various types of ads. Here are a few things you can do after setting up your business account:

Create branded stickers that users can send in chats

Run video ads that appear at the top of the chat screen

Create traditional ads that reach a wide audience

Run an “online-merge-offline” campaign that encourages users to visit your store while also gaining insight on their shopping behavior

23. Picsart: 150 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Picsart

Picsart Country: United States

United States Year founded: 2011

Picsart is a photo and video editing app. Users can either share edited pictures and videos on the app or on other social networks. If you own a small business and don’t have dedicated designers, Picsart is a great option. You can use images, fonts, and stickers from the app so long as they are tagged #freeforbusiness. Make a logo, create social media images, and so on. A standard Picsart account is free. But there are also two paid options that cost under $10 USD a month for a single user. If you often use Picsart’s design capabilities for your business, it may be worth opting for a paid account. This way, you can access more image templates, fonts, and more.

Fast facts:

Company: JOYY Inc.

JOYY Inc. Country: China

China Year founded: 2017

If your content gains traction, it can earn “crowns” that translate into real money. Followers can also give creators virtual “gifts,” or money, during live streams. In addition to traditional in-app ads, Likee also supports in-app purchases. Capitalizing on these can bring potential customers one step closer to a purchase.

25. Discord: 150 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Discord

Discord Country: United States

United States Year founded: 2015

Discord was created to let people around the world communicate online. Users can join or create different communities (servers) and connect through text, voice chat, and video. Many companies have expressed interest in buying Discord—including Microsoft. But it remains a private company.

Discord’s user base averages 4 billion server conversation minutes per day.

But keep in mind that Discord does not permit advertisements. Instead, businesses can create a server for their community and engage with their users that way. Here’s an example: Spotify has a channel within their Discord community. There, users share what they’re currently listening to and their favorite playlists. Any business can potentially benefit from Discord if your audience uses it. Treat it as an FAQ, share updates about product launches, and more.

26. Twitch: 140 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Amazon

Amazon Country: United States

United States Year founded: 2011

Twitch is a live streaming service that focuses mainly on video gaming. However, some users live stream music, other creative content, or vlog-style content. In the first quarter of 2021 alone, users watched 6.13 billion hours of content on Twitch. Amazon clearly saw the value of Twitch early. It acquired Twitch in 2014 for $970 million.

There are three main methods to advertise on Twitch:

Influencer marketing campaigns: Brands can collaborate with influencers who will promote products to their followers on live streams Run banner or in-video ads on specific channels (the channels must be a part of the Twitch Partner program) Branded channels: Create a sense of community by hosting livestreams, interviewing people at your company, and sharing brand updates

27. Stack Exchange: 100 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Stack Exchange Inc.

Stack Exchange Inc. Country: United States

United States Year founded: 2009

Like Quora, Stack Exchange is a Q&A-style social platform. The site hosts 170+ communities where users can ask and answer questions. Users can vote for the best answers. And the person who asked the question can mark their favorite answer as “accepted.” Stack Exchange recommends that users avoid opinion-based questions that don’t match the areas of expertise of their various communities To use Stack Exchange for business purposes, answer questions within your business’s niche. This will help put your name out there and boost your reputation. In the past year, users asked 3.1 million questions and provided 3.5 million answers.

28. Tieba: 45 Million MAUs

Fast facts:

Company: Baidu

Baidu Country: China

China Year founded: 2003

With Baidu Tieba, users can interact with each other in different forums or “bars.” Each bar covers a different topic. Tieba is similar to Reddit. It provides an opportunity to observe or communicate directly with your audience. But it seems that Tieba is having a tough time competing with QQ, Qzone, and Weibo. Since 2015, Tieba has lost 90% of its users. It went from 300 million MAUs to just 45 million in 2022. While Tieba has dwindled in popularity, 45 million users is still significant. Especially if you have a large user base in China. In which case, you can use Tieba to connect with potential customers.

Maintain Your Social Media Profiles with Semrush

Once you choose which social media sites to focus on, it’s important to keep track of your analytics—and your competitors. Use Semrush’s Social Media Toolkit to do it all from one site for free: Schedule posts with Social Media Poster (connect up to 10 profiles for free) Keep tabs on competitors with Social Media Tracker (connect up to 50 profiles for free)