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 change 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 every part 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 precise instruments, assets, and a powerful social media technique, entrepreneurs can leverage social media platforms to spice up consciousness for his or her enterprise, have interaction their target market, and even nurture a loyal neighborhood.

However with so many various social media platforms present in the present day, it’s almost not possible to be current on each single one – not to mention excel in each house.

Success in social media advertising begins with selecting the best platforms to your model. It’s worthwhile to establish the place your target market is spending essentially the most time and the place it is smart 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 sorts of companies would possibly discover them most helpful.

Prime 10 Social Media Platforms In contrast

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

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

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

The Prime 10 Social Media Websites And Platforms

1. Fb

Screenshot by creator, November 2023

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

At this time, Fb operates below 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 corresponding to monetary companies, ecommerce, retail, media, telecom, expertise, and shopper items proceed to harness Fb’s expansive attain to attach with customers and develop their model consciousness – with newer sectors like gaming, leisure, and automotive companies additionally discovering their footing on the platform.

When you’re trying to drive conversions, your finest guess is to spend money on 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.

Think about 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.

2. YouTube

Screenshot by creator, November 2023

• 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 lively customers.

In response to Alphabet’s This autumn 2022 earnings, YouTube adverts generated $29.24 billion in income in 2022. It’s value noting that that quantity doesn’t embrace 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 onerous for entrepreneurs and types to disregard.

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

And in line with the corporate, it’s a really highly effective advertising instrument. YouTube viewers say they’re 2X extra possible to purchase one thing they noticed on YouTube, and 4X extra possible to make use of the platform to seek 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.

3. Instagram

Screenshot by creator, November 2023

• 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, changing into a spot for customers to conduct and analysis each facet 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 greater than ever.

Not solely can B2B companies join with a large 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 below 35, Instagram is a gold mine: over 68% of Instagram customers are below 35.

4. TikTok

Screenshot by creator, November 2023

• 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 cellular video” with an organization mission to encourage creativity and convey pleasure. And evidently, it’s succeeding.

As a privately held firm, ByteDance is just not required to reveal monetary data, so we can’t be sure of TikTok’s annual income. Nonetheless, a report from Bloomberg suggests the mum or dad firm generated someplace within the ballpark of $80 billion in 2022 – and the social app accounts for a share of that.

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

Its deal with short-form movies pushed by audio and visible traits has taken the world by storm, with different platforms speeding 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 instances globally.

And whereas TikTok reaches customers of all demographics, in case your model needs to attach with Era Z, it must be your first precedence.

Within the U.S., it’s notably 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 almost 54 minutes on the app day by day – the longest period of time of any app, forward of YouTube at 48.7 minutes.

5. Snapchat

Screenshot by creator, November 2023

• 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 common Snapchat consumer spends 19 minutes per day on the app – not sufficient time to rival that of TikTok and YouTube, however nonetheless a chance window for manufacturers to achieve 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 gives, and influencer takeovers.

The platform has at all times maintained its dedication to real-time, ephemeral content material, and it gives 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 keen to dish out cash for entry to unique options.

6. X/Twitter

Screenshot by creator, November 2023

• 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 adjustments – together with its rebranding as “X.”

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

This might clarify the fluctuation within the information and numbers round X’s site visitors and customers. Whereas some sources present X’s site 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 for certain: X (previously Twitter) stays an area to look at. Regardless of some turmoil over the previous yr, it’s clear that there are huge plans for the platform, and it stays a forerunner amongst social media platforms.

If your online business is said to leisure, sports activities, politics, tech, or advertising, there are nonetheless alternatives to drive nice engagement on this app – if you’ll find your viewers there.

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

Soar into conversations, present worth, share your individual content material in addition to others, and be part of the dialog. Simply make sure you monitor the app and your viewers to ensure your funding is paying off.

7. Pinterest

Screenshot by creator, November 2023

• 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 targeted on wealthy visuals. From scrumptious recipes to house decor inspiration, wedding 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 strong 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.

8. Reddit

Screenshot by creator, November 2023

• 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 in line with 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 a precise image of its annual income. Nonetheless, in mid-2021, the corporate referred to having hit $100 million in quarterly advert income – so, based mostly on this, we are able to fairly assume it’s within the ballpark of $400 million.

It has change into often known 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 novel mix of content material and neighborhood, with greater than 2.8 million communities, or subreddits, devoted to each matter possible. Whether or not you’re in tech, vogue, gaming, or well being, there’s a minimum of one subreddit actively discussing your business.

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

Nonetheless, be warned: Reddit thrives on authenticity and real interplay. Customers don’t sometimes reply nicely to blatant self-promotion, and advertising gimmicks will likely 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 received’t hesitate to name out and critique what they understand as inauthentic.

Interact thoughtfully, contribute genuinely, and Reddit may very well be an unbelievable advertising instrument to your model.

9. LinkedIn

Screenshot from creator, November 2023

• 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 change into one of many extra in style and interesting platforms, with an unlimited and influential neighborhood of pros.

Not like different social media platforms, LinkedIn doesn’t publicly share its variety of month-to-month lively customers. Nonetheless, as a part of the EU’s new DSA, the corporate did launch MAU counts for its EU customers – and by taking the share of lively customers within the EU and making use of the identical traits to international consumer counts (and accounting for variations in utilization), the workforce at Social Media At this time was in a position to give you “lower than 350 million” as an inexpensive 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 of us who’ve the ability to rent your organization, inventory your product, or associate along 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 sensible place to market your model.

LinkedIn is a really targeted 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 online business.

10. Threads

Screenshot from creator, November 2023

• 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 appears and features fairly equally to X (previously Twitter), although Threads requires you to have an Instagram account as a way to join.

Threads initially made a splash within the social media house by shortly surpassing 150 million downloads and changing into essentially 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 must 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 would possibly discover on X.

In case your model is searching 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 the potential to construct a following fairly quickly when you’ve got a powerful and engaged Instagram neighborhood.

Which Platform(s) Ought to You Use?

The ubiquity of social media is simple.

Out of your teenage neighbor who needs 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, relating to enterprise, a one-size-fits-all method to social media received’t work.

So, if you happen to had been hoping you’d attain the top 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 likely be distinctive.

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

Whether or not you’re trying to enhance buyer engagement, improve 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 lively, after which tailoring your technique to resonate on these channels.

It’s all about making the precise selections and discovering genuine alignment as a way to make use of this highly effective advertising alternative.

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

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Featured Picture: Viktollio/Search Engine Journal