Alexis Kestler
Do you want to know the current top social media platforms? This article is here to help. This article provides you with the top social media platforms you can use for your social media marketing and brand promotion.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned social media marketer, a traditional marketer aiming to expand into social media, or a business owner interested in using social media; it's helpful to be familiar with the most popular social networking platforms now accessible.
As a result, you’ll be able to expand the reach of your brand on social media, foster meaningful connections with the appropriate audiences, and realize your desired outcomes.
Obviously, there’s more to it than just the popularity of various social networking platforms. It’s also important to consider whether the social media platform is a good match for you and your company.
Does it represent your company’s values? Is your intended audience active there? To what extent are you able to juggle many social media accounts simultaneously?
To save you time, I collated data on the most popular social media platforms expected to be in use in 2022. You’ll likely recognize some of them, while others will be novel to you.
Read on to discover which social media platforms may be a good fit for your business. To reiterate, your business can be successful without a presence on every social media platform.
Top 20 Social Media Platforms in 2022
1. Facebook — Has Over 2.9 Billion Monthly Active Users
With over two billion active users each month, Facebook easily takes the crown as the most popular social networking platform. This equates to around 36 percent of the global population is active on Facebook. You can feel confident establishing a Facebook presence, as over 200 million companies (majorly small ones) utilize Facebook tools, and over seven million advertising regularly market their company on Facebook.
2. YouTube — Has Over 2.2 Billion Monthly Active Users
People spend an average of one billion hours every day watching videos on YouTube. YouTube is generally referred to as the second biggest search engine behind Google, its parent corporation, and is also the second largest social networking platform.
You should have a YouTube channel if you’re promoting your company via videos. If you want more people to see your videos, you can either learn more about YouTube search engine optimization (SEO) or invest in YouTube advertising.
3. WhatsApp — Has Over 2 Billion Monthly Active Users
More than 180 countries have registered users of the messaging software WhatsApp. It was first used for simple texting between friends and family. Over time, WhatsApp became the preferred method of contact between consumers and companies.
Thanks to WhatsApp’s platform for enterprises, companies can now provide their customers with help and communicate information about their orders. The WhatsApp Business application is aimed at smaller enterprises, while the WhatsApp Business API is designed for larger ones.
4. Instagram — Has Over 2 Billion Monthly Active Users
Instagram is ideal for displaying visual content, such as images and videos, for promoting your business. Share pictures, videos, Stories, reels, live videos, and even longer-form films via the IGTV application.
When using Instagram for business, you can schedule posts in advance using third-party applications and get extensive analytics about your profile and postings.
5. Facebook Messenger — Has Over 1.3 Billion Monthly Active Users
Prior to 2011, Messenger was a subset of Facebook, but since then, it has existed as its own program with a plethora of new options.
Companies can use this to their advantage by, among other things, advertising, developing chatbots, and sending out newsletters.
These additions have provided companies with several more channels through which to interact with their clientele.
6. WeChat — Has Over 1.26 Billion Monthly Active Users
Tencent, one of the largest technology firms in China, launched WeChat in 2011. WeChat, like WhatsApp and Messenger before it, started off as messaging software but has now expanded into a more comprehensive social media and communication system.
In addition to traditional telephone calls and text messages, users can also do things like make purchases, send money to friends and family, schedule appointments, and hail cabs.
When it comes to social media in China and the rest of Asia, WeChat is king. Since WeChat is widely used in China despite the fact that Facebook and Twitter are blocked in the country, it is an excellent choice for promoting a business’s brand in the country.
Both the main WeChat account and WeChat Moments are available for advertising purposes.
7. TikTok — Has Over 1 Billion Monthly Active Users
TikTok is a popular video-sharing platform that is known as Douyin in China. Despite being released just in 2017, it has quickly become one of the most popular social sites worldwide, even surpassing Google as the most visited website.
TikTok users can record and share films between 15 and 60 seconds in length, with access to an extensive library of filters, music clips, and sound effects to make their creations stand out.
Videos on YouTube include a wide variety of topics, from lip sync battles and dance competitions to how-to projects and beauty guides.
In the United States, around 47.4 percent of TikTok users fall into the ten-to-twenty-nine age range. Thus, if you want to reach a youthful audience, you should have your brand represented on TikTok.
8. Sina Weibo — Has Over 573 Million Monthly Active Users
The literal translation of “Weibo” into English is “micro-blog” Weibo, sometimes known as Sina Weibo or just Weibo, is a microblogging platform launched in 2009 by Sina Corporation, a Chinese technology firm.
Users of Weibo can share text, video, and visual content, browse hot topics, make use of hashtags, and engage in instant chat with one another.
9. Telegram — Has Over 550 Million Monthly Active Users
Telegram is an open-source, cross-platform instant messaging service that does not restrict user upload size for any material sent over the application. Telegram stands out from the crowd because of its end-to-end encryption, which protects all communications and files sent or received inside the app.
Its dedication to user safety had helped it gain users over time, particularly when it disclosed plans to share user data with parent firm Meta through a revised privacy policy.
10. QQ — Has Over 538.91 Million Active Users
Back in 1999, Tencent introduced QQ to the Chinese market. QQ was the most popular Chinese chat program until WeChat was released. QQ is more than just an IM client; it also lets you buy online, blog, view movies, play games, listen to music, pay for things, and customize your virtual self.
Though WeChat has taken over as China’s dominant messaging app, QQ is still widely used, especially among the country’s youth. It has translations into a large number of languages and is used in over 80 countries.
QQ’s convenience lies in the fact that it doesn’t need a phone number for registration. There are many young individuals who do not own mobile devices but who utilize the desktop version, and this appeals to them.
11. Snapchat — Has Over 538 Million Active Users
Snaps, the multimedia content of Snapchat, are meant to be exchanged between peers. Social networking sites like Instagram and TikTok copied its trendsetting vertical video structure.
However, the popularity of Instagram Stories seems to have stifled the expansion of Snapchat and the enthusiasm of marketers to use Snapchat to promote their companies.
12. Kuaishou — Has Over 519.8 Million Active Users
Kuaishou is the Chinese equivalent of platforms like Douyin and TikTok. Kuaishou, like its rivals, lets users superimpose text, stickers, and audio clips on top of visual media.
In addition to sharing shorter videos, users can also record lengthier live stream content for their audience.
Kuaishou, in contrast to TikTok, is favored by a mature demographic, particularly in outlying regions of China. E-commerce is more important to the app’s financial success than advertising.
13. Qzone — Has Over 517 Million Monthly Active Users
Qzone is a social networking/blogging software developed by Tencent for the Chinese market. Users can share and view photos and videos, create diaries and blogs, play games and listen to music online.
It’s similar to Facebook in that users can add friends, see a stream of updates, comment on or respond to postings, and change their profile pictures.
14. Pinterest — Has Over 444 Million Monthly Active Users
When it comes to finding new ideas and items, Pinterest is your one-stop shop. Users “pin” images that lead to other resources, including web pages, products, and blogs.
People who use Pinterest are seven times more inclined to buy items they’ve posted, making it a valuable tool for generating sales. Do-it-yourself, garden, home, beauty, and fashion are all subjects and themes that do well on social media sites.
15. Twitter — Has Over 436 Million Monthly Active Users
It’s common for Twitter users to provide updates on current events, popular culture, sports, and politics. Different from other social networking sites, Twitter focuses on the here-and-now and the trending.
All of these descriptions are condensed down to 280 characters or fewer; in Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, that number drops to only 140.
Twitter is being used by a growing number of companies as a secondary means of communicating with their customers.
In fact, Twitter is where more than 80 percent of social customer support inquiries are made, according to Twitter’s advertisers.
Additionally, Salesforce refers to Twitter as the “New 1-800 Number for Customer Service.”
16. Reddit — Has Over 430 Million Monthly Active Users
Reddit, with its well-liked upvoting system, has been termed “the front page of the internet” because of its eclectic mix of news, celebrity “ask me anything” (AMA) sessions, and in-depth discussions on esoteric issues. Subreddits, or specialized forums, can be found for about every topic imaginable.
Nevertheless, participation varies widely between subreddits; thus, it is advisable to investigate to see whether or not there are any particularly active subreddits that your business can join. If, say, your company produces beauty products, you could want to get active on the subreddit r/beauty. Keep in mind that self-promotion is often frowned upon in subreddits.
The goal is to interact with people in such subreddits by asking and answering questions, posting helpful hints and links, and taking part in threaded conversations.
17. Quora — Has Over 300 Million Monthly Active Users
Quora is a community-driven question-and-answer website and mobile application where individuals can learn more about any subject of interest. What I like about Quora is that it uses shares, reviews, votes, and views to determine the order in which questions and answers appear.
You can utilize Quora to answer questions about your brand, goods, and company by creating a brand page or having staff advocates do so.
Market your company on Quora via their advertising platform. It’s a terrific way to target people who are actively seeking a product or service since 63 percent of users do research before making a large online purchase.
18. Skype — Has Over 300 Million Monthly Active Users
With Skype, you can make free video calls to other Skype users on any device and exchange instant messages with them in real-time. Even though it was founded as a separate business in 2013, Microsoft is currently in charge of Skype’s ongoing development and maintenance.
All the familiar Skype capabilities, plus some handy extras, are included in Skype for Business, making it a solid choice for any size company.
For instance, with Skype for Business, you can have online meetings with up to 250 participants, enjoy enterprise-grade security, control user access, and take advantage of seamless integration with Microsoft Office tools.
19. Microsoft Teams — Has Over 270 Million Monthly Active Users
Microsoft Teams is a communications platform that allows users to communicate and collaborate through text, phone, and video.
It also works with other Microsoft 365 apps like OneDrive and PowerPoint, thanks to its many connections. Microsoft Teams is a better choice than Skype for corporations of a certain size.
Microsoft Teams, in particular, has several advantages over Skype for Business, including superior security fit for a business, support for meetings with up to 10,000 participants, and the ability to exchange files of enormous size (up to 1 terabyte per participant).
20. LinkedIn — Has Over 250 Million Monthly Active Users
Originally designed as a place to post resumes and get jobs, LinkedIn is now a hub for professionals to exchange insights, make connections, and advance their own brands. It has also become a platform for companies to showcase their expertise and compete for the attention of the best employees.
I’ve outlined a straightforward five-step plan to help you expand your LinkedIn Business Page. LinkedIn also provides a platform for advertisers, with options including targeted email campaigns.
FAQs
Q. Which social media platform is the biggest?
Currently, the biggest social media platform is Facebook. It has over 2 billion monthly active users.
Q. When was Facebook founded?
Mark Zuckerberg, Chris Hughes, Dustin Moskovitz, and Eduardo Saverin, all then undergraduates at Harvard University, established Facebook in 2004.
Q. Is Quora a social media platform?
In addition to being a search engine, Quora is also a place for people to share their knowledge and learn from others.
Conclusion
No matter how popular a social media network may be, you should think about whether or not your brand’s ideal customers spend time there. Instead of spreading your efforts across several platforms, focus on a select few and master them.
