The Top 10 Social Media Sites & Platforms

Social media is integral to our each day lives.

With 4.8 billion social media customers worldwide – accounting for 59.9% of the worldwide inhabitants – social platforms have develop into needed hubs for gathering data, connecting with our buddies and family members, and rising our companies.

And social media customers have grown to belief and depend on their most well-liked social networks for all the pieces from real-time information and updates to way of life hacks, product analysis, and extra.

For entrepreneurs, the world of social media represents an expansive space of alternative – and each consumer is a possible buyer.

With the suitable instruments, assets, and a powerful social media technique, entrepreneurs can leverage social media platforms to spice up consciousness for his or her enterprise, interact their target market, and even nurture a loyal neighborhood.

However with so many various social media platforms present as we speak, it’s practically unimaginable to be current on each single one – not to mention excel in each house.

Success in social media advertising begins with choosing the proper platforms to your model. It is advisable to determine the place your target market is spending probably the most time and the place it is sensible to your manufacturers to work together with them.

On this article, we’ll take a look at the main social media platforms, giving a fast overview of what they’re earlier than exploring what varieties of companies may discover them most helpful.

High 10 Social Media Platforms In contrast

*Variety of month-to-month energetic customers worldwide, up to date October 2023.

The High 10 Social Media Apps By Month-to-month Lively Customers

*Variety of month-to-month energetic customers worldwide up to date October 2023.

The High 10 Social Media Websites And Platforms

1. Fb

• Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA.
• Launched: 2004.
• Month-to-month Lively Customers: 3 billion.
• Founders: Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes.
• Income: Fb-specific income not recognized.

Whereas Fb may not be the thrilling new platform it as soon as was – and might need fallen out of favor with youthful customers – make no mistake: it’s nonetheless round, and extra in style than ever.

Right this moment, Fb operates beneath the umbrella of Meta, Inc., which additionally owns platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads. Per Meta’s full-year earnings report, its “Household of Apps” – which incorporates Fb, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and different apps – generated a complete of $114.45 billion in income in 2022.

Lately, Fb has undergone a demographic shift – but its affect within the social media sphere stays unparalleled.

Industries similar to monetary companies, ecommerce, retail, media, telecom, know-how, and shopper items proceed to harness Fb’s expansive attain to attach with shoppers and develop their model consciousness – with newer sectors like gaming, leisure, and automotive companies additionally discovering their footing on the platform.

For those who’re seeking to drive conversions, your finest wager is to put money into Fb adverts – particularly given the Information Feed is more and more suppressing enterprise posts.

That mentioned, there are nonetheless loads of methods to generate natural engagement with out investing in adverts.

Contemplate becoming a member of (or constructing) area of interest communities with Fb Teams, leveraging Messenger chatbots for personalised communication, or utilizing reside video to encourage real-time viewers interplay.

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2. YouTube

• Launched: 2005.
• Headquarters: San Bruno, California.
• Month-to-month Lively Customers: 2.5 billion.
• Income: $29.24 billion (2022).
• Founders: Jawed Karim, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley.

YouTube continues to carry the crown because the dominant unique video social media platform. It’s at present the second most used platform, with 2.5 billion month-to-month energetic customers.

In keeping with Alphabet’s This fall 2022 earnings, YouTube adverts generated $29.24 billion in income in 2022. It’s value noting that that quantity doesn’t embody income from non-advertising sources, which incorporates subscription revenues from companies like YouTube TV and YouTube Premium.

The potential for attain on YouTube is unequalled, with 81% of U.S. adults utilizing the platform. Such engagement metrics are exhausting for entrepreneurs and types to disregard.

From longform video storytelling to the current introduction of YouTube Shorts, the platform’s TikTok rival, YouTube offers loads of alternatives for manufacturers to interact in visible storytelling and attain new audiences.

And based on the corporate, it’s a really highly effective advertising instrument. YouTube viewers say they’re 2X extra seemingly to purchase one thing they noticed on YouTube, and 4X extra seemingly to make use of the platform to search out details about a model, product, or service versus different social networks.

Whether or not you’re into magnificence tutorials, gaming streams, training content material, or DIY hacks, YouTube has all of it. And for manufacturers aiming to pivot into video-centric content material advertising, YouTube is the platform to prioritize.

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3. Instagram

• Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA.
• Launched: 2010.
• Month-to-month Lively Customers: 2 billion.
• Founders: Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger.
• Income: Instagram-specific income not recognized.

Instagram is a social community the place product-based companies, influencers, and coaches can thrive.

Launched in 2010, Instagram shortly turned the main image-based, visually-rich social platform. Since then, it has solely grown in reputation and attain, turning into a spot for customers to conduct and analysis each side of their lives.

The platform has additionally launched new options that entrepreneurs can leverage to develop consciousness, together with ephemeral Tales, vertical-video Reels, and extra.

Since introducing shoppable posts in 2018, the potential ROI for product-based companies has been increased than ever.

Not solely can B2B companies join with an enormous viewers, they will seamlessly transition followers from product analysis to buy by linking product data and making gross sales – all inside the Instagram interface.

And in case your goal demographic is beneath 35, Instagram is a gold mine: over 68% of Instagram customers are beneath 35.

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4. TikTok

• Launched: 2016.
• Headquarters: Culver Metropolis, California.
• Month-to-month Lively Customers: 1.2 billion.
• Founders: ByteDance Ltd, Zhang Yiming, Toutiao.
• Income: Unknown.

TikTok payments itself as “the main vacation spot for short-form cell video” with an organization mission to encourage creativity and produce pleasure. And evidently, it’s succeeding.

As a privately held firm, ByteDance shouldn’t be required to reveal monetary data, so we can’t be sure of TikTok’s annual income. Nevertheless, a report from Bloomberg suggests the mother or father firm generated someplace within the ballpark of $80 billion in 2022 – and the social app accounts for a proportion of that.

TikTok’s meteoric rise over the previous few years has been unprecedented. In 2017, after just one 12 months, the app turned the fastest-growing app worldwide.

Its give attention to short-form movies pushed by audio and visible traits has taken the world by storm, with different platforms dashing to emulate it.

Regardless of makes an attempt to ban TikTok within the U.S. and being banned in India, as of 2021, the app had been downloaded greater than 3.5 billion occasions globally.

And whereas TikTok reaches customers of all demographics, in case your model desires to attach with Technology Z, it ought to be your first precedence.

Within the U.S., it’s significantly in style among the many 12 to 17 age bracket, who represent about 17.7% of the consumer base.

These customers are extremely engaged, too, with the common consumer spending practically 54 minutes on the app day-after-day – the longest period of time of any app, forward of YouTube at 48.7 minutes.

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5. Snapchat

• Headquarters: Los Angeles, CA.
• Launched: 2011.
• Month-to-month Lively Customers: 750 million.
• Founders: Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, Daniel Smith, David Kravitz, Leo Noah Katz.
• Income: $4.6 billion (2022).

If a youthful viewers is your goal, Snapchat may be a platform value contemplating. This social platform is a superb place for connecting with millennials and Gen Z customers.

Snapchat now reaches 70% of 13 to 24-year-olds, showcasing its immense attraction to the youthful era.

The typical Snapchat consumer spends 19 minutes per day on the app – not sufficient time to rival that of TikTok and YouTube, however nonetheless a possibility window for manufacturers to succeed in and join with them.

Snapchat has a uniquely natural really feel, with content material that provides an unfiltered glimpse into on a regular basis moments – so the platform is a haven for user-generated content material, behind-the-scenes movies, unique presents, and influencer takeovers.

The platform has all the time maintained its dedication to real-time, ephemeral content material, and it presents a way of privateness to customers that many different social platforms don’t. For that reason, it’s a worthwhile instrument for manufacturers that wish to authentically communicate to a youthful demographic who may be much less within the broader approaches of different social networks.

And whereas it could not get as a lot consideration because the likes of Instagram and TikTok, Snapchat is quietly buzzing alongside. Since launching its premium subscription service Snapchat+, the model introduced it has generated 5 million paying subscribers who’re prepared to dish out cash for entry to unique options.

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6. X/Twitter

• Headquarters: San Francisco, CA.
• Launched: 2006.
• Month-to-month Lively Customers: 541 million (July 2023).
• Founders: Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone, Noah Glass.
• Income: $3 billion (2023) estimated.

Since being bought by Tesla CEO Elon Musk in October 2022 for $44 billion, Twitter has undergone some main modifications – together with its rebranding as “X.”

Different modifications Musk has made throughout his time as CEO embody introducing Twitter Blue (now X Premium), a paid month-to-month subscription service that connected a price ticket to verification, shutting down a variety of bot accounts, and launching a service the place creators can receives a commission a proportion of income generated by their subscribers.

This might clarify the fluctuation within the information and numbers round X’s visitors and customers. Whereas some sources present X’s visitors as being down YoY, a July tweet from Musk revealed that month-to-month customers reached an all-time excessive in 2023.

One factor is definite: X (previously Twitter) stays an area to look at. Regardless of some turmoil over the previous 12 months, it’s clear that there are huge plans for the platform, and it stays a forerunner amongst social media platforms.

If your corporation is expounded to leisure, sports activities, politics, tech, or advertising, there are nonetheless alternatives to drive nice engagement on this app – if you could find your viewers there.

On X, manufacturers have a possibility to craft and hone their voice. There’s room to be intelligent and personable whereas nonetheless being informative and useful.

Leap into conversations, present worth, share your personal content material in addition to others, and be part of the dialog. Simply remember to monitor the app and your viewers to verify your funding is paying off.

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7. Pinterest

• Launched: 2010.
• Headquarters: San Francisco, CA.
• Month-to-month Lively Customers: 465 million.
• Founders: Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, Evan Sharp.
• Income: $2.8 billion (2022).

Like Instagram, Pinterest is a social media platform that’s centered on wealthy visuals. From scrumptious recipes to residence decor inspiration, marriage ceremony concepts, exercise strikes, and DIY-related content material, Pinterest is the place visible goals come to life.

In case your model has an curiosity in visible storytelling, Pinterest is the platform for you.

Notably, 60% of Pinterest customers are ladies. In case your viewers is predominantly ladies, that’s a compelling purpose to take a position time in social media advertising on Pinterest.

That’s to not say that males aren’t on Pinterest – male Pinners are up 40% year-over-year (as are Gen Z Pinners!).

What’s extra, Pinterest has confirmed itself to be a robust advertising instrument. 89% of weekly Pinners use the platform for inspiration on their path to buy, whereas 80% have found a brand new model or product on Pinterest.

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8. Reddit

• Launched: 2005.
• Headquarters: San Francisco, CA.
• Month-to-month Lively Customers: 430 million.
• Founders: Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian, Aaron Swartz.
• Income: $400 million (estimated).

Reddit heralds itself as “the entrance web page of the web,” and based on Alexa rankings, Reddit is without doubt one of the prime 20 most-visited websites.

Because it’s not a public firm, Reddit doesn’t need to disclose its financials, so we don’t have an actual image of its annual income. Nevertheless, in mid-2021, the corporate referred to having hit $100 million in quarterly advert income – so, primarily based on this, we are able to moderately assume it’s within the ballpark of $400 million.

It has develop into referred to as the dominant digital watercooler, and changed boards and chatrooms of yore to be the go-to place for connecting with likeminded communities and getting your questions answered.

Reddit has a singular mix of content material and neighborhood, with greater than 2.8 million communities, or subreddits, devoted to each matter conceivable. Whether or not you’re in tech, trend, gaming, or well being, there’s at the very least one subreddit actively discussing your business.

With so many niches, there’s a spot for each model and enterprise to interact their viewers – it’s a matter of discovering the niches the place your potential prospects are energetic and diving in.

Nevertheless, be warned: Reddit thrives on authenticity and real interplay. Customers don’t sometimes reply effectively to blatant self-promotion, and advertising gimmicks will probably be met with sharp skepticism.

Manufacturers ought to beware earlier than wandering into any subreddit and making an attempt to tout their merchandise to neighborhood members.

It’s essential to get the tone proper from the start, as commentators gained’t hesitate to name out and critique what they understand as inauthentic.

Have interaction thoughtfully, contribute genuinely, and Reddit could possibly be an unbelievable advertising instrument to your model.

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9. LinkedIn

• Headquarters: Sunnyvale, CA.
• Launched: 2003.
• Month-to-month Lively Customers: <350 million (2023) estimated.
• Founders: Reid Hoffman, Konstantin Guericke, Allen Blue, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Eric Ly.
• Income: $15 billion+ (2023).

LinkedIn has been considerably of a darkish horse amongst social media platforms. Whereas many could not initially have anticipated a career-focused social platform to take off, it has develop into one of many extra in style and interesting platforms, with an enormous and influential neighborhood of pros.

Not like different social media platforms, LinkedIn doesn’t publicly share its variety of month-to-month energetic customers. Nevertheless, as a part of the EU’s new DSA, the corporate did launch MAU counts for its EU customers – and by taking the proportion of energetic customers within the EU and making use of the identical traits to world consumer counts (and accounting for variations in utilization), the workforce at Social Media Right this moment was capable of provide you with “lower than 350 million” as an affordable estimate.”

The platform boasts over 180 million customers holding senior roles, 63 million decision-makers, and 10 million C-level executives – making it a hotspot for these aiming to attach with people who’ve the facility to rent your organization, inventory your product, or accomplice together with your model.

And the platform isn’t only for networking – it’s an aspirational hub. Each week, 61 million folks use LinkedIn to seek for job alternatives – so it’s a wise place to market your model.

LinkedIn is a really centered social media platform. Due to that, it has limitless potential for connecting with an elite group of pros who could make a distinction for your corporation.

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10. Threads

• Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA.
• Launched: 2023.
• Month-to-month Lively Customers: 100 million (2023).
• Founders: Mark Zuckerberg.
• Income: Unknown.

The newcomer to the block, Threads was created by the workforce behind Instagram and launched in July 2023. The text-based app was designed as a competitor to X (previously Twitter).

It seems to be and features fairly equally to X (previously Twitter), although Threads requires you to have an Instagram account in an effort to enroll.

Threads initially made a splash within the social media house by shortly surpassing 150 million downloads and turning into probably the most profitable social media platform launch in historical past.

Since then, it has struggled to retain customers – however there’s nonetheless loads of promise for the way forward for the platform.

So, who ought to be promoting on Threads? It’s nonetheless early days, so the reply isn’t completely clear but.

The excellent news is that Threads seems to be partaking customers by leaning into its technique to create a optimistic neighborhood house, and veering away from the extremely politicized panorama that you simply may discover on X.

In case your model is on the lookout for a substitute for X (previously Twitter) or is eager to attempt your hand at a brand new platform, Threads is actually value testing.

Its integration with Instagram means that you’ve got the potential to construct a following fairly quickly when you’ve got a powerful and engaged Instagram neighborhood.

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Which Platform(s) Ought to You Use?

The ubiquity of social media is simple.

Out of your teenage neighbor who desires to go viral on TikTok to your 86-year-old grandmother who’s utilizing Fb to trace down long-lost buddies, everyone has a use for social media.

But, in relation to enterprise, a one-size-fits-all strategy to social media gained’t work.

So, should you have been hoping you’d attain the tip of this piece, and discover a easy, definitive reply on the proper platform to your model, you’re out of luck.

Each social media combine will probably be distinctive.

Every platform presents distinct options and functionalities, some which align extra naturally with particular industries or advertising aims.

Whether or not you’re seeking to increase buyer engagement, enhance attain, or create unforgettable model experiences, all of it begins with getting clear in your objectives.

Begin by understanding your aims, determining the place your viewers is most energetic, after which tailoring your technique to resonate on these channels.

It’s all about making the suitable selections and discovering genuine alignment in an effort to make use of this highly effective advertising alternative.

Up to date with information from DataReportal’s Digital 2023 October World Statshot Report. 

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Featured Picture: Viktollio/Search Engine Journal