23 Leading Social Media Platforms For 2026 (Ranked By Monthly Active Users)

Want to know which social media platforms actually dominate the internet right now? You’re in the right place.

In this post, we’re breaking down the most popular social media platforms in the world, ranked by monthly active users.

You’ll get a clear snapshot of who’s winning, how big each platform really is, and a few eye-opening stats that put it all into perspective.

Note: Where possible, I’ve used official sources (such as each platform’s investor reports) to determine the number of monthly active users. However, some social media platforms do not share any official data on their monthly active user counts. In these cases, I’ve used the best third-party sources and industry estimates I could find.

#1 – Facebook

Facebook, owned by Meta, is both the largest social media platform in the world. With over 3.049 billion monthly active users (MAUs). And its one of the oldest.

Two decades ago, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg and some of his friends & roommates built Facebook out of their college dorm.

Initially, it was exclusively an online space for Harvard students to hang out and network, but it soon spread to other universities in North America. And from there to the world.

Facebook has come a long way since those humble beginnings. And it’s weathered its fair share of controversies along the way.

Despite being racked by scandals surrounding internet privacy (i.e. the Cambridge Analytica Scandal) and political censorship, it’s remained the number one most used social media platform globally.

Stats:

Facebook has 3.049 billion monthly active users (MAUs)…
…and 2.06 billion daily active users (DAUs)
Facebook Messenger has over 979 million monthly active users
56.8% of Facebook’s audience is male and 43.2% is female
31% of Facebook users are 25-34 years old (making this the biggest age group)
89% of social media marketers use Facebook (more than any other network)
The average user spends 19 hours, 47 minutes on Facebook each month
The top reason people use Facebook is to ‘message friends and family’ (72.6%)
Facebook (Meta) headquarters are based in CA, USA

Sources: Datareportal, Social Media Curve¹

#2 – YouTube

YouTube is the second most used social media platform in the world, with around 2.49 billion monthly active users. Users go to YouTube to view and share video content.

The platform was launched in 2005 by three former PayPal employees: Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Kawed Karim.

It would go on to be bought out by Google in late 2006, which would then expand the site and implement advertisements as a way to generate revenue.

Later, Google would also roll out YouTube’s Partner Program. Eligible creators can sign up for the Partner Program to monetize their videos and earn a share of the ad revenue.

In late 2020, YouTube released YouTube Shorts in response to the growth of rival platform TikTok. Until then, the platform had mainly been for long-form video content. But Shorts focused exclusively on short-form video content.

Stats:

YouTube has around 2.49 billion monthly active viewers
Users watch 70 billion YouTube Shorts every day…
…and consume around a billion hours of content on the platform.
Around 63% of brands that post video content share it on YouTube…
…making it the second most common video distribution channel after Facebook
The average creator earns around $0.50 per 1,000 views
YouTube is the second most trafficked website in the world after Google…
…And the second most-used internet search engine

Source: Datareportal, YouTube, Social Media Curve²

#3 – WhatsApp

WhatsApp, by Meta, is the world’s leading instant messaging app, and the third most popular social network globally, with at least 2 billion monthly active users.

And that’s a conservative estimate. The 2-billion milestone was reached a few years back in 2020, and WhatsApp hasn’t released any more up-to-date data since, so there’s a good chance that there are now hundreds of millions more users.

People use WhatsApp to send text, voice, and video messages; make calls, and share images, locations, and other media content directly from their mobile phones.

It was founded in 2009 by former Yahoo! Employees Brian Acton and Jan Koum and quickly became successful, racking up hundreds of millions of users in just a few years. It was bought out by Facebook (now Meta) in 2014 and a year later, it became the world’s most-used messaging application.

In 2018, Meta expanded the platform by releasing WhatsApp Business—an app & API that businesses can use to communicate with and support their customers on WhatsApp. That too has been majorly successful and now has over 200 million MAUs.

Stats:

WhatsApp has at least 2 billion MAUs
WhatsApp Business has over 200 million MAUs
WhatsApp users collectively send over 100 billion messages daily…
…and make over 100 million voice calls
54.5% of WhatsApp users are male, while 45.5% are female.
WhatsApp is used in over 180 countries
Messages sent through the WhatsApp Business API have a 99% average open rate

Sources: Statista, Datareportal, Blogging Wizard

#4 – Instagram

Instagram is another popular social media platform under the Meta umbrella. It has at least 2 billion monthly active users (some estimates put it closer to 2.4 billion), making it the fourth-largest social network globally.

It also happens to be the world’s ‘favorite’ social media platform, per a recent survey of social media users.

Instagram is known for being more ‘image-centric’ than other platforms—the number one reason people use it is to ‘post or share photos or videos’—so it’s a good place for brands to showcase their products.

Aside from images, users can also share other content types including Reels (short-form videos), Carousels (swipeable posts featuring multiple videos/images), and Stories (time-limited posts that disappear after 24 hours).

Posts can be edited with filters, and hashtags are commonly added to help increase reach.

The Instagram app was originally launched way back in 2010 by founders Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom. It blew up quickly, gaining millions of users in a matter of months, and was acquired by Facebook (now Meta) a couple of years later in 2012.

Stats:

Instagram has at least 2 billion monthly active users
50.6% of Instagram’s audience is male, while 49.4% is female
31.8% of Instagram users are 18-24 years old, making this the largest age bracket
The average user spends 15 hours and 50 minutes on Instagram monthly
The average Instagram engagement rate for all post types is 1.89%
Users spend more than 50% of their time watching Instagram Reels
70.4% of Instagram users say they use it to ‘post or share photos or videos’, making this the number one use case.
16.5% of surveyed social media users said Instagram is their ‘favorite’ social media platform, which is more than any other network.

Source: Datareportal

#5 – TikTok

TikTok, owned by ByteDance, is a short-form video-sharing app and social media platform based in China.

It’s taken the world by storm and has been the fastest-growing social network since it launched in 2017. Within just a few years, it’s already grown to around 1.56 billion monthly active users, making it the fifth most used social media platform—and it continues to grow rapidly.

That growth is even more impressive considering how late TikTok entered the social media market and the fact that various countries have attempted to ban or restrict the app’s use due to national security concerns relating to data collection by the Chinese government.

TikTok users create, share, and consume short videos under 10 minutes long (usually <3 minutes). Often, these videos feature ‘trending sounds’, which may be snippets of dialogue, music, or sound effects.

While TikTok has broad appeal across age ranges, it’s particularly popular amongst younger audiences. So, if your brand’s target audience is Gen Z or Gen Alpha, it’s a good place to reach them.

Stats:

TikTok stats show that the platform has 1.562 billion monthly active users
TikTok’s counterpart in mainland China is known as Douyin
TikTok recently overtook Google to become the most visited internet site
80.3% of TikTok users say they use the app to ‘look for funny or entertaining content’, making this the number one use case.
52% of TikTok users are male, while 48% are female
36.7% of TikTok users are 18-24 years old, making this the largest age bracket
Only 6.3% of TikTok users are 55+ years old, making this the smallest age bracket
The average TikTok user spends 34 hours on the app each month
The median engagement rate for posts by TikTok business accounts is 7.8%

Sources: Datareportal, CBS News

#6 – WeChat

WeChat, also known as ‘the Everything app’ and ‘Weixin’ in China, is another Chinese social media app, owned by Tencent. With over 1.336 billion monthly active users, it’s the sixth-largest social media platform in the world and the most popular social media app in China by a large margin.

Unlike TikTok, WeChat caters almost exclusively to a domestic audience, rather than an international one. The vast majority of the app’s users are Chinese and most international users are from elsewhere in Asia. The two biggest non-China markets are India and Malaysia.

WeChat was created by Allen Zhang and was first released in 2011 as a straightforward messaging app, much like WhatsApp. But over time, it evolved to become what’s been dubbed a ‘super app’ that can do much more than instant messaging.

Now, WeChat users can leave voice messages, make phone or video calls, play games, shop for products, pay bills, book taxis, and a whole lot more.

This is enabled by WeChat’s ecosystem of cloud-based embedded apps within their core mobile app. These embedded social media apps are called ‘mini programs’, and extend WeChat’s functionality in various ways.

It’s worth noting that WeChat has faced controversy surrounding privacy, surveillance, and censorship. User activity on the Chinese version, Weixin, is tracked, analyzed, and shared with Chinese authorities as part of China’s mass surveillance network. The government also censors politically sensitive topics.

Stats:

WeChat has around 1.336 billion monthly active users
Over 1 billion of those users are based in China
The average Chinese mobile internet user spends 1 hour 20 minutes on WeChat daily (over 40 hours a month)
88% of Chinese respondents say they use WeChat daily
There are over a million mini-programs in the WeChat app market

Sources: Datareportal, Statista², Statista³, World Population Review, ChoZan

#7 – Reddit

Reddit is a forum-style social media platform with over 850 million monthly active users. It’s made up of thousands of separate, user-created, niche communities called ‘subreddits’.

The site was founded in 2005 by Virginia University roommates Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian, and Aaron Swartz. It’s currently owned by various shareholders, of which Advance Publications is the majority stakeholder (30%). It’s operated by Reddit Inc. and has headquarters in San Francisco, CA, USA.

Despite having such a large audience, Reddit is notorious for being difficult for social media marketers to tap into, on account of the fact that many subreddits have strict rules that don’t allow self-promotion. But if you can work around that, it’s a great place to reach all sorts of highly engaged niche communities.

The way it works is that users join subreddits they’re interested in. Then, they can post content like text posts, videos, images, and links, which appear in that subreddit’s feed for other members to browse.

Members can vote posts up or down based on whether or not they like them, and submissions with the most upvotes get more visibility in the feed. Those that get lots of upvotes quickly can be featured on Reddit’s front page, also called ‘the front page of the internet’

Stats:

Reddit stats show the platform has around 1.2 billion monthly active users…
…and around 70 million daily active users.
63.6% of Reddit users are male, while just 35.1% are female
There are over 2.2 million subreddits
The largest Subreddit is r/funny, with 56 million members
33% of Reddit users use the platform to ‘look for funny or entertaining content’, making this the number one use case
The average Redditor spends 10 minutes 23 seconds on the app daily

Source: Datareportal, BusinessOfApps

#8 – Telegram

Telegram is a cloud-based, encrypted instant messaging service and social network with over 800 million monthly active users. It was first launched in 2013 by founders Nikolai and Pavel Durov, and its headquarters are located in Dubai, UAE.

Telegram’s USP is its focus on privacy and security, with end-to-end encryption protecting calls and private chats. Users can share messages, media, and files through the app. Plus, conduct voice calls, video calls, and livestreams; share stories, create public groups, share updates, and more.

While Telegram’s focus on privacy is its main appeal, it’s also its major source of criticism. Critics have pointed to the fact that Telegram is often used by criminals and terrorist groups to communicate anonymously and that there’s little to no content moderation.

Stats:

Telegram has around 800 million monthly active users
57.5% of Telegram users are male, while 42.4% are female
The average Telegram user spends 3 hours and 45 minutes on the app monthly
Telegram is the most popular non-gaming app in Russia
Telegram gets 36.7 million app downloads monthly
The largest share of Telegram users are 25-34 years old

Sources: Statista⁴, Datareportal

#9 – Snapchat

Snapchat, by Snap Inc., is a multimedia instant messaging app based in the US with over 800 million monthly active users. It was created in 2011 by three former Stanford University students: Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown.

Snapchat’s main feature is ‘snaps’—time-limited multimedia messages that users can send privately to their contacts, or share to their public ‘Story’ (much like Instagram Stories).

Snaps can feature pictures and videos, and are only available for a short ti