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Top 27 Social Media Platforms

by Josh Howarth
June 5, 2023

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 2023 data. Monthly active user estimates are calculated from the latest reports from each platform.

What Is The #1 Most Popular Social Media Platform?

According tot he latest available data, Facebook is the world's most popular and widely used social media platform. With 2.96 billion monthly active users, that means 37 percent of the world’s population uses Facebook at least once per month. With 2.56 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 YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Messenger applications like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram have also quickly climbed this list over the past few years.

Top 27 Most Popular Social Media Websites

Ranking Social Media Network Monthly Active Users (MAUs) Monthly Organic Traffic
1 Facebook 2.96 billion 13,770,000,000
2 YouTube 2.56 billion 94,830,000,000
3 Instagram 2.35 billion 6,180,000,000
4 WhatsApp 2.0 billion 1,680,000,000
5 TikTok 1.53 billion 3,390,000,000
6 WeChat 1.31 billion 5,600,000
7 Messenger 1.30 billion 182,800,000
8 Snapchat 750 million 118,200,000
9 Douyin 743 million 134,900,000
10 Telegram 700 million 393,700,000
11 Qzone 600 million 14,300,000
12 Sina Weibo 586 million 135,200,000
13 Kuaishou 580 million 15,800,000
14 Spotify 500 million 788,000,000
15 Pinterest 450 million 830,600,000
16 Reddit 430 million 5,410,000,000
17 Twitter 368.4 million 8,520,000,000
18 LinkedIn 310 million 1,490,000,000
19 Quora 305 million 1,430,000,000
20 Skype 300 million 61,000,000
21 Microsoft Teams 280 million 1,510,000,000
22 Line 230 million 271,700,000
23 Discord 154 million 960,200,000
24 Twitch 140 million 1,850,000,000
25 Tumblr 135 million 379,900,000
26 Stack Exchange 100 million 180,100,000
27 Rumble 78 million 213,700,000

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

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

1. Telegram

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5-year search growth: 290%

Search growth status: Exploding

Monthly Active Users: 700 million

Monthly Traffic (Global): 393,700,000

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

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5-year search growth: 3,133%

Search growth status: Exploding

Monthly Active Users: 1.53 billion

Monthly Traffic (Global): 3,390,000,000

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. Rumble

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5-year search growth: 2,300%

Search growth status: Exploding

Monthly Active Users: 78 million

Monthly Traffic (Global): 213,700,000

Description: Rumble is an “alt-tech” online video-sharing platform similar to YouTube. Rumble allows for immediate monetization for new creators and aims to be more creator-friendly by sharing up to 60% of ad revenue with users. The platform was originally backed by some big name investors (like Peter Thiel) and went public in a SPAC deal in 2022.

4. Discord

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5-year search growth: 244%

Search growth status: Exploding

Monthly Active Users: 154 million

Monthly Traffic (Global): 960,200,000

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

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5-year search growth: 136%

Search growth status: Exploding

Monthly Active Users: 2.0 billion

Monthly Traffic (Global): 1,680,000,000

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

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5-year search growth: 85%

Search growth status: Exploding

Monthly Active Users: 430 million

Monthly Traffic (Global): 5,410,000,000

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 connection online.

7. Douyin

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5-year search growth: 4,900%

Search growth status: Exploding

Monthly Active Users: 743 million

Monthly Traffic (Global): 134,900,000

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 2023.