grid-line

Top 35 Social Media Platforms (September 2024)

by Josh Howarth
December 3, 2024

We’ve compiled this list of the top social media platforms.

Specifically, we ranked the most popular social media networks based on number of users and monthly traffic data.

(Traffic data was obtained using Semrush and Similarweb).

All traffic data is estimated based on the most recent available August 2024 data. Monthly active user estimates are calculated from the latest reports from each platform.

What Is The #1 Most Popular Social Media Platform?

According to the latest available data, Facebook is the world's most popular and widely used social media platform. With 3.06 billion monthly active users, that means 37 percent of the world’s population uses Facebook at least once per month. With 2.7 billion users, YouTube is the second most popular social network.

Social media networks that focus on short-form video content are growing quickly. This includes Instagram and TikTok. Messenger applications like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram have also quickly climbed this list over the past few years.

Top 35 Most Popular Social Media Websites

RankingSocial Media NetworkMonthly Active Users (MAUs)Monthly Organic Traffic
1Facebook3.06 billion13,100,000,000
2YouTube 2.70 billion 73,000,000,000
3WhatsApp2.40 billion3,900,000,000
4Instagram2.35 billion6,700,000,000
5TikTok1.67 billion2,700,000,000
6WeChat1.31 billion6,100,000
7Messenger1.10 billion253,700,000
8Telegram900 million615,100,000
9Viber820 million17,300,000
10Snapchat800 million189,300,000
11Douyin752 million209,800,000
12Baidu676 million1,600,000,000
13Qzone615 million473,900,000
14Spotify602 million725,100,000
15X (Twitter)600 million4,400,000,000
16Sina Weibo588 million136,600,000
17Pinterest518 million974,500,000
18Reddit430 million5,500,000,000
19Kuaishou370 million12,700,000
20Bilibili336 million1,000,000,000
21Microsoft Teams320 million1,700,000,000
22LinkedIn310 million1,900,000,000
23Quora305 million1,100,000,000
24Vimeo260 million81,700,000
25Line230 million286,500,000
26Xiaohongshu200 million76,300,000
27Discord200 million1,000,000,000
28ShareChat180 million11,000,000
29Threads175 million109,300,000
30Josh151 million540,200
31Twitch140 million1,700,000,000
32Tumblr135 million216,900,000
33Medium100 million215,600,000
34VK (Vkontakte)80 million1,100,000,000
35Rumble50 million94,600,000

Not surprisingly, this list includes many of the big names in the social media space, like Facebook, Instagram, and X (Twitter).

We decided to highlight a few of the top social networks experiencing increased growth right now. 

1. Telegram

undefined

5-year search growth: 400%

Search growth status: Exploding

Monthly Active Users: 900 million

Monthly Traffic (Global): 615,100,000

Description: Telegram is a freemium instant messaging application that prioritizes security and encryption. The cloud-based platform allows users to share large media files and create groups of up to 200,000 members. Telegram Premium, an ad-free experience, grew to 1 million users within six months after its launch.

2. TikTok

undefined

5-year search growth: 227%

Search growth status: Exploding

Monthly Active Users: 1.67 billion

Monthly Traffic (Global): 2,700,000,000

Description: TikTok is a short-form video social media network focused on a highly personalized "For You" feed. Unlike many popular social media sites, TikTok's algorithm shows videos based on users' interactions, making it possible for users to go viral without a huge following.

3. Xiaohongshu

undefined

5-year search growth: 3,233%

Search growth status: Exploding

Monthly Active Users: 200 million

Monthly Traffic (Global): 76,300,000

Description: Xiaohongshu, also known as RED, is a Chinese social media and e-commerce platform that combines the features of Instagram, Pinterest, and Amazon into one platform. The company reported a $500 million profit in 2023, compared to a $200 million loss in 2022. After a recent funding round, the social media giant is now valued at $17 billion

4. Discord

undefined

5-year search growth: 171%

Search growth status: Regular

Monthly Active Users: 200 million

Monthly Traffic (Global): 1,000,000,000

Description: Discord is a communication platform for creating communities and groups for gaming, education, or any other topic. Notably, the company turned down a $10 billion acquisition offer from Microsoft in 2021.

5. WhatsApp

undefined

5-year search growth: 135%

Search growth status: Exploding

Monthly Active Users: 2.4 billion

Monthly Traffic (Global): 3,900,000,000

Description: Now part of Meta, WhatsApp is a messaging app that allows users to send text messages, voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share media with other users. End-to-end encryption and user privacy controls keep conversations secure and private.

6. Reddit

undefined

5-year search growth: 133%

Search growth status: Exploding

Monthly Active Users: 430 million

Monthly Traffic (Global): 5,500,000,000

Description: Reddit is a social news and discussion platform where users can share content, vote on it, and comment on posts. It is organized into communities or subreddits about specific niche topics. This social media network aims to create authentic human connections online.

7. Douyin

undefined

5-year search growth: 1,567%

Search growth status: Exploding

Monthly Active Users: 752 million

Monthly Traffic (Global): 209,800,000

Description: Douyin is a social media app for creating and sharing short videos. It’s popular in China and other Asian countries and is owned and operated by ByteDance, the same company that created TikTok. The platforms are nearly identical but operate as completely different entities.

Conclusion

That concludes our list of the world's most popular social media networks.

Big brands like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube have all pivoted to short-form video content to keep users engaged, like TikTok. This content and messaging apps like Telegram, Whatsapp, and Discord are growing and popular and worth keeping an eye on throughout 2024.