8 Popular Social Media Platforms with the Most Users

In today's digital age, social media isn't just about sharing, but also about finding communities that align with your interests and passions. With a variety of popular apps, you have many options for connecting and socializing online.

Social media serves various important functions in modern life. Its primary function is as a communication tool, enabling interaction and information sharing between users, both privately and publicly. Furthermore, social media also plays a role in marketing and business, education and learning, and building self-image or branding.

According to a survey from the Statista data site, social media users currently reach approximately 5.42 billion worldwide, and this number is expected to continue to grow along with the increasing use of mobile devices and mobile social media in previously underserved markets.

Here's a review of some of the most popular social media platforms based on the number of users worldwide.

1. Facebook

Facebook is the social media platform with the most active users in the world. Facebook, created by a Harvard student named Mark Zuckerberg, was originally designed for social media within the Harvard community, but has now grown into a social media platform used by billions of people worldwide.

Since its founding in 2004, Facebook has had 3.07 billion users. This figure represents approximately 37.81% of the world's population and 59.38% of total global social media users.

2. YouTube

YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim in San Mateo, California, United States. The first video uploaded to YouTube was titled "Me at the Zoo," which was uploaded by Jawed Karim on April 23, 2005. In November 2006, Google acquired YouTube and made it part of their company.

The social streaming site YouTube currently has approximately 2.53 billion users. The number of YouTube users has steadily increased over the past decade, with significant growth since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. WhatsApp

WhatsApp was founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton in 2009. Both had worked at the technology giant Yahoo for 20 years. In 2014, Facebook, now known as Meta, acquired WhatsApp for US$19 billion.

WhatsApp currently has over 3 billion users worldwide, making it one of the most popular social chat or messaging apps in the world.

4. Instagram

The social media site Instagram was founded in October 2010. Specifically, it was launched on October 6, 2010, by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. In April 2012, Facebook, now known as Meta, acquired Instagram for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock.

Instagram currently has approximately 2 billion users worldwide.

5. TikTok

TikTok was first launched in September 2016 by Chinese technology company ByteDance, under the name Douyin in China. Its global version, known as TikTok, launched the same year and was later integrated with Musical.ly in 2018.

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a technology company founded by Zhang Yiming in 2012. Although Zhang Yiming is the founder and owns the majority of ByteDance's shares, the current CEO of TikTok is Shou Zi Chew.

TikTok currently has over 1.8 billion users worldwide, making it one of the largest social media platforms.

6. WeChat

WeChat was founded in 2011. Its initial version, called Weixin, was launched in January 2011 in China. Then, in April 2012, the app officially changed its name to WeChat, marking its global expansion.

WeChat, a popular instant messaging app and social media platform, currently has over 1.38 billion users. Most WeChat users are in China, but the app also has a significant user base overseas.

7. Telegram

Telegram was founded in 2013. The iOS version of Telegram was launched on August 14, 2013, and the Android version was released on October 20, 2013. The app was founded by two brothers, Nikolai and Pavel Durov.

This platform is one of the top five most downloaded apps globally. Telegram currently has over 950 million users worldwide.

8. Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger began as a chat service within Facebook in 2008. However, Messenger was launched as a separate application in 2011, developed by the former Facebook company Meta.

Facebook Messenger currently has 947 million users worldwide. It remains one of the most widely used messaging apps globally.

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