It is impossible to imagine today without them: social media platforms. But which platforms are actually used the most and are therefore the most popular? Are you curious which platforms they are and why? Then here is the top 10 social media platforms.
1. Best social media platform: Facebook
It could not be otherwise. Facebook is by far the most used social media platform of our time. The company is based in Menlo Park, California. It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, along with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. With a platform suitable for young and old, Mark Zuckerberg therefore is one of the richest individuals on earth.
Currently, Facebook has about 2.74 billion users, which makes Facebook the absolute number 1 in the list of “top 10 best social media”.
| Users | 2.740.000.000 |
| Founded in | 2004 |
| Website |
2. YouTube
YouTube is a completely different platform than Facebook, with people consuming much more than producing when you compare it to Facebook. YouTube is a website of YouTube LLC, a subsidiary of Google LLC. On this website, users can publish and watch videos. YouTube is the second most visited website in the world after Google.com. In 2016, about 300,000 new videos were posted per day.
Currently, YouTube has about 2.29 billion users.
| Users | 2.290.000.000 |
| Founded in | 2005 |
| Website | YouTube |
3. WhatsApp
Again, a different type of platform, named: WhatsApp. The app to communicate quickly and directly with people via your cell phone through sending text. By the way, WhatsApp was developed by Facebook; the number 1 in this series and was released in 2009. Whatsapp was introduced on the iPhone, but was soon made available for other operating systems.
Currently, WhatsApp has an estimated 2 billion users.
| Users | 2.000.000.000 |
| Founded in | 2009 |
| Website |
4. Instagram
Among many young people the most used social media platform, named: Instagram. And nothing could be further from the truth, Instagram was also developed by Facebook and was released in 2010. Instagram was in the beginning only usable on the Iphone and Ipad. Later it was also made available for other operating systems. The app allows users to share photos and videos with their followers. The videos have a maximum duration of 60 seconds.
Instagram has about 1.2 Billion active users.
| Users | 1.200.000.000 |
| Founded in | 2010 |
| Website |
5. WeChat
WeChat is just like WhatsApp an application to communicate quickly and directly with other users. However, it is a lot more extensive than WhatsApp and can be described as a combination of Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. WeChat was developed by Tencent Holdings Limited, a software company from China and was released back in 2011.
WeChat has about 1.2 Billion users.
| Users | 1.200.000.000 |
| Founded in | 2011 |
| Website |
6. TikTok
TikTok, the fastest grower in this list of the best social media. Perhaps this is due to the algorithm in this app. After all, TikTok is not that old. TikTok was released in 2017 by ByteDance, a Chinese technology company. The app allows you to create short videos and add effects and stickers.
TikTok has 700 million active users.
| Users | 700.000.000 |
| Founded in | 2017 |
| Website | TikTok |
7. QQ
QQ is another social media platform from the founder Tencent Holdings Limited and is actually similar to Wechat. It is an application to directly and quickly message other users. QQ was founded in 1999 and the amount of users is falling.
Currently, the social media app still has about 600 million users.
| Users | 600.000.000 |
| Founded in | 1999 |
| Website |
8. Douyin
The Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin. They are both made for the same purpose, just with a different target audience. They distinguish in terms of demographics. Douyin was also founded in 2017 by ByteDance.
Currently, it has about 600 million users.
| Users | 600.000.000 |
| Founded in | 2017 |
| Website | Douyin |
9. Telegram
Telegram is a messaging platform that allows you to send encrypted messages, photos and videos to other users. Telegram was released in 2013 by Telegram messenger LLP itself.
Telegram has 500 million active users.
| Users | 500.000.000 |
| Founded in | 2013 |
| Website | Telegram |
10. Snapchat
And then snapchat. More popular in some countries than others. Snapchat is an application for sharing photos and videos and communicating through a chat function. Snapchat is distinguished by the feature that the photos and videos are only available for a short time and are deleted afterwards. Snapchat was released in 2013 by Snap Inc.
Snapchat has about 500 million active users.
| Users | 500.000.000 |
| Founded in | 2013 |
| Website | Snapchat |
Frequently asked questions about social media
Social media is a collective term for online platforms where the users, without or with minimal intervention from a professional editor, provide the content. Main features are interaction and dialogue between the users.
Facebook is the most popular social media platform. Currently, Facebook has about 2.74 billion users.
Facebook has about 2.74 billion users. That makes Facebook the most used social media platform.
WhatsApp, Instagram and TikTok are popular social media platforms among teens.
