Favorite Social Media Platforms
With the number of social media users and time spent on social networks rising year after year, there’s no questioning where brands should be focusing their digital marketing efforts.
However, not all social media platforms are made equal. Knowing what the most popular social media platforms are in terms of the number of users can give you a better idea of where to market. But it would also help to understand which platforms users actually enjoy using and prefer being on.
This then begs the question: What social media website is a favorite among users?
Top 10 favorite social media platforms (2024): table
|
Social media platform |
Percentage of social media users who say the following is their “favorite” |
|
1. Instagram |
16.8% |
|
2. WhatsApp |
15.9% |
|
3. Facebook |
13.6% |
|
4. WeChat |
12.4% |
|
5. TikTok |
7.6% |
|
6. Douyin |
6.8% |
|
7. X (Twitter) |
3.1% |
|
8. Facebook Messenger |
2.4% |
|
9. Telegram |
2.4% |
|
10. Line |
1.9% |
Favorite social media platforms among global users (2024)
According to a recent survey, photo-sharing app Instagram tops the list of users’ favorite social media platforms, with 16.8% of them saying it’s their preferred network. This equates to around one out of every six social media users worldwide.
The second-favorite social media network among global consumers is WhatsApp, favored by 15.3% of global social media users. WhatsApp’s popularity among consumers and brands is clear. Not only is it the most used messaging app in the US and the world, it also ranks among businesses’ top social media marketing platforms.
Facebook is next in third place, with 13.6%. Incidentally, all of these top three favorites are all owned by the same parent company, Meta.
WeChat ranks in fourth place. Also known as Weixin in China, WeChat is the preferred social media network for 12.4% of users. It is followed by TikTok, which is the favorite social media platform for 7.6% of global users, and Douyin, known as the Chinese version of TikTok, with 6.8%.
Microblogging site X, previously known as Twitter, is the seventh-favorite social media network—3.1% of active social media users say it’s their preferred channel.
Facebook Messenger, another Meta-owned product, and Telegram follow, with 2.4% each. Together, the shares of all these four Meta-owned platforms on the list add up to 48.7%. This means that nearly half of all active social media users worldwide name a Meta-owned entity as their favorite social media site, which is a testament to Meta’s social media dominance worldwide.
Another messaging app, Line, rounds out the list of consumers’ 10 favorite social media platforms, with 1.9%.