The Top 10 Social Media Sites & Platforms

There are 5.41 billion social media users worldwide, which is 65.5% of the global population (8.25 billion people living on Earth).

The majority of people on the earth use social platforms to either connect with friends and loved ones, grow their businesses, or consume news, information, and entertainment. Social media shapes and influences opinions and trends, and is controversially instrumental in swaying elections.

Generation Z was the first demographic to be digitally native, and for them, a world before social media is incomprehensible. Lifestyle hacks, product research, reviews, real-time news, ideas and trends, memes, laughs, outrage – it’s all on social.

Wherever users are, marketers will follow, and social media is a huge opportunity to connect with a highly targeted audience.

Investing time in a social media strategy and nurturing an engaged audience can be all-consuming, so being aware of the social media platform nuances and focusing on just one or two core social channels can deliver better results than trying to be everywhere at once.

As a guide, we have collated the leading social media platforms and an overview of their active users, their core audience, and the types of businesses that might find them most useful.

Top 10 Social Media Platforms Compared

*Updated November 2025. Sources below.

The Top 10 Social Media Apps By Monthly Active Users

*Updated November 2025. Sources below.

The Top 10 Social Media Sites And Platforms

1. Facebook

• Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA.
• Launched: 2004.
• Monthly Active Users: 3.07 billion.
• Founders: Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes.
• Revenue: Facebook-specific revenue not known.

While Facebook might not be the exciting new platform it once was, in 2024, it saw growth, projected to increase from 49.0% (33.9 million Gen Z users) in 2024 to 56.9% (40.5 million Gen Z users) by 2028, despite an overall decline. Make no mistake: It’s still around, and more popular than ever.

Today, Facebook operates under the umbrella of Meta, Inc., which also owns platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.

According to Meta’s full-year earnings report, its “Family of Apps” – which includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and other apps – generated a total of $164.50 billion in revenue in 2024.

In recent years, Facebook has undergone a demographic shift; yet, its influence in the social media sphere remains unparalleled.

Industries such as financial services, ecommerce, retail, media, telecom, technology, and consumer goods continue to harness Facebook’s expansive reach to connect with consumers and grow their brand awareness – with newer sectors like gaming, entertainment, and automotive businesses also finding their footing on the platform.

If you’re looking to drive conversions, your best bet is to invest in Facebook ads, especially given that the News Feed is increasingly suppressing business posts.

That said, there are still plenty of ways to generate organic engagement without investing in ads.

Consider joining (or building) niche communities with Facebook Groups, leveraging Messenger chatbots for personalized communication, or using live video to encourage real-time audience interaction.

• Facebook Marketing: An In-Depth Guide For Beginners
• 8 Ways To Promote Your Facebook Page Successfully
• Top 10 Advantages of Facebook Marketing For Your Business

2. Instagram

• Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA.
• Launched: 2010.
• Monthly Active Users: 3 billion.
• Founders: Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger.
• Revenue: Instagram-specific revenue not known.

Instagram is a social network where product-based businesses, influencers, and coaches can thrive.

Launched in 2010, Instagram quickly became the leading image-based, visually rich social platform. Since then, it has only grown in popularity and reach, becoming a place for users to conduct research on every aspect of their lives.

The platform has also introduced new features that marketers can leverage to grow awareness, including ephemeral Stories, vertical-video Reels, and more.

Not only can B2B businesses connect with a massive audience, but they can also guide followers from product research to purchase by linking product information on Instagram, making it an effective channel for driving awareness and conversions.

• The Best Time To Post On Instagram
• How To Get More Followers On Instagram
• How To Create Your Instagram Content Plan

3. YouTube

• Launched: 2005.
• Headquarters: San Bruno, California.
• Monthly Active Users: 2.5 billion.
• Founders: Jawed Karim, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley.
• Revenue: $10.47 billion.

YouTube continues to hold the crown as the dominant original video social media platform. It is currently the third most used platform, with 2.5 billion monthly active users.

According to Alphabet’s Q2 2025 earnings, YouTube ads generated over $9.8 billion in revenue from Q2 2025. It’s worth noting that that number does not include revenue from non-advertising sources, which include subscription revenues from services like YouTube TV and YouTube Premium.

From long-form video storytelling to the recent introduction of YouTube Shorts, the platform’s TikTok rival, YouTube provides plenty of opportunities for brands to engage in visual storytelling and reach new audiences.

According to the company, it’s a very powerful marketing tool. The platform’s advertising audience reached 2.53 billion users in 2025, making it “first place in DataReportal’s ranking of social media platforms by reported ad reach.”

What’s more? From the same report:

“YouTube ads reached 30.9% of all people on Earth in January 2025, based on the latest population data from the United Nations.”

Brands looking to advertise video content internationally cannot afford to skip this platform. Whether you’re into beauty tutorials, gaming streams, education content, or DIY hacks, YouTube has it all.

For brands aiming to pivot into video-centric content marketing, YouTube is the platform to prioritize.

• The 30 Most-Subscribed YouTube Individuals
• A Beginner’s Guide To YouTube Marketing
• The Complete Beginner’s Guide To YouTube Video Advertising

4. TikTok

• Launched: 2016.
• Headquarters: Culver City, California.
• Monthly Active Users: 1.6 billion.
• Founders: ByteDance Ltd, Zhang Yiming, Toutiao.
• Revenue: Unknown.

TikTok bills itself as “the leading destination for short-form mobile video” with a company mission to inspire creativity and bring joy. Evidently, it’s succeeding.

As a privately held company, ByteDance is not required to disclose financial information, so we cannot be certain of TikTok’s annual revenue.

However, a report from Bloomberg suggests the parent company generated somewhere in the ballpark of $155 billion in 2024 – and the social app accounts for a percentage of that.

TikTok’s meteoric rise over the past few years has been unprecedented. In 2017, after only one year, the app became the fastest-growing app worldwide.

Its focus on short-form videos driven by audio and visual trends has taken the world by storm, with other platforms rushing to emulate it.

Despite attempts to ban TikTok in the U.S. and being banned in India, as of 2024, the app had been downloaded 825.5 million times in 2024, making it the most downloaded mobile app for the same year. There is, however, uncertainty about the app’s future in the U.S., with TikTok denying a Reuters report that it was building a separate U.S.-only version of the app.

While TikTok reaches users of all demographics, if your brand wants to connect with Generation Z, it should be your first priority.

• TikTok: Your Guide To Quickly Growing Followers
• 10 TikTok Marketing Tips & Best Practices
• TikTok Marketing 101: How To Get Started

5. Snapchat

• Headquarters: Los Angeles, CA.
• Launched: 2011.
• Monthly Active Users: 932 million.
• Founders: Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, Daniel Smith, David Kravitz, Leo Noah Katz.
• Revenue: $5.36 billion.

Impressively, the social platform earned a revenue of $1.34 billion in Q2 2025 alone, a 9% increase year-over-year. If a younger audience is your target, Snapchat might be worth considering. The platform is a great place for connecting with Millennials and Gen Z users.

The average Snapchat user in the U.S. spends seven hours per month on the app – not enough time to rival that of TikTok and YouTube, but still an opportunity window for brands to reach and connect with them.

Snapchat has a uniquely organic feel, with content that offers an unfiltered glimpse into everyday moments, so the platform is a haven for user-generated content, behind-the-scenes videos, exclusive offers, and influencer takeovers.

The platform has always maintained its commitment to real-time, ephemeral content, and it offers a sense of privacy to users that many other social platforms do not.

For this reason, it’s a worthwhile tool for brands that want to authentically speak to a younger demographic who might be less interested in the broader approaches of other social networks.

While it may not get as much attention as the likes of Instagram and TikTok, Snapchat is quietly humming along.

Since launching its premium subscription service Snapchat+, the brand announced it has generated 16 million paying subscribers who are willing to dish out money for access to exclusive features.

• Snapchat Marketing: An In-Depth Guide
• 10 Ways Businesses Can Use Snapchat
• 25 Surprising Facts You Didn’t Know About Snapchat

6. X/Twitter

• Headquarters: San Francisco, CA.
• Launched: 2006.
• Monthly Active Users: 586 million.
• Founders: Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone, Noah Glass.
• Revenue: Unknown.

Since being purchased by Elon Musk in October 2022 for $44 billion, Twitter has undergone some major changes, including its rebranding as “X.” According to a 2024 Pew Research Center study, views of X were more positive than negative.

Despite some turmoil, X (Twitter) remains a dominant social channel. If your business is related to entertainment, sports, politics, tech, or marketing, there are still opportunities to drive great engagement on this app – if you can find your audience there.

Jump into conversations, provide value, share your own content as well as others, and join the conversation. Just be sure to monitor the app and your audience to make sure your investment is paying off.

• 21 Things To Tweet For Your Business or Brand
• What To Tweet: 24 Ideas For Inspiration

7. Pinterest

• Launched: 2010.
• Headquarters: San Francisco, CA.
• Monthly Active Users: 578 million.
• Founders: Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, Evan Sharp.
• Revenue: $3.6 billion.

Like Instagram, Pinterest is a social media platform that’s focused on rich visuals. From delicious recipes to home decor inspiration, wedding ideas, workout moves, and DIY-related content, Pinterest is where visual dreams come to life.

If your brand has an interest in visual storytelling, Pinterest is the platform for you.

Notably, 70% of Pinterest users are women. If your audience is predominantly women, that’s a compelling reason to invest time in social media marketing on Pinterest.

That’s not to say that men aren’t on Pinterest – male Pinners make up 28% of the audience (as do Gen Z, who are 42% of Pinners around the globe!).

What’s more, Pinterest has proven itself to be a powerful marketing tool: 80% of weekly Pinners feel inspired by their shopping experience on the platform, while 96% of top searches are unbranded, showing open-minded users looking for new ideas.

• How To Use Pinterest For Ecommerce
• 12 Strategies To Boost Growth On Pinterest
• The Ultimate Guide To Pinterest Ads: Ad Types, Specs & Strategy

8. LinkedIn

• Headquarters: Sunnyvale, CA.
• Launched: 2003.
• Monthly Active Users: <350 million (estimated).
• Founders: Reid Hoffman, Konstantin Guericke, Allen Blue, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Eric Ly.
• Revenue: $17.8 billion (Fiscal Year 2025).

LinkedIn has become one of the more popular and engaging platforms, with a vast and influential community of professionals.

Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn does not publicly share its number of monthly active users.

However, as part of the EU’s new DSA, the company did release MAU counts for its EU users.

By taking the percentage of active users in the EU and applying the same trends to global user counts (and accounting for variations in usage), the team at Social Media Today was able to come up with “less than 350 million” as a reasonable estimate.

LinkedIn boasts over 1.2 billion members and generated $17.8 billion in fiscal year 2025, according to its Chief Operating Officer Daniel Shapero. Members of the platform include millions holding senior roles, millions of decision-makers, and millions of C-level executives, making it a hotspot for those aiming to connect with folks who have the power to hire your company, stock your product, or partner with your brand.

The platform isn’t just for networking; it’s an aspirational hub. Every minute, more than 9,500 members use LinkedIn to apply for job opportunities, so it’s a smart place to market your brand.

LinkedIn is a very focused social media platform. Because of that, it has unlimited potential for connecting with an elite group of professionals who can make a difference for your business.

• How To Use LinkedIn For Marketing
• LinkedIn Ads: A Complete Guide For Beginners
• 5 Pro Tips To Improve Your B2B LinkedIn Marketing Campaigns

9. Threads

• Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA.
• Launched: 2023.
• Monthly Active Users: 300 million.
• Founders: Mark Zuckerberg.
• Revenue: Unknown.

Threads, was created by the team behind Instagram and launched in July 2023. The text-based app was designed as a competitor to X (Twitter).

It looks and functions quite similarly to X (Twitter), though Threads requires you to have an Instagram account in order to sign up.

Threads initially made a splash in the social media space by quickly surpassing 150 million downloads and becoming the most successful social media platform launch in history. It has struggled to retain users, but has since stabilized, with monthly active users at 300 million and daily active users at 100 million, according to Instagram Head Adam Mosseri.

So, who should be advertising on Threads? It’s still early days, so the answer isn’t totally clear yet.

The good news is that Threads appears to be engaging users by leaning into its strategy to create a positive community space, and veering away from the highly politicized landscape that you might find on X (Twitter).

If your brand is looking for an alternative to X (Twitter) or is keen to try your hand at a new platform, Threads is certainly worth testing.

Its integration with Instagram means that you have the potential to build a following quite rapidly if you have a strong and engaged Instagram community.

• Threads: What Is The New Social App From Instagram?
• Threads And The Art Of Short-Form Storytelling: How Brevity Is Winning Hearts
• 68 SEO Experts To Follow On Threads

10. Reddit

• Launched: 2005.
• Headquarters: San Francisco, CA.
• Estimated Monthly Active Uniques: 201–245 million**
• Founders: Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian, Aaron Swartz.
• Revenue:$1.3 billion.

Reddit heralds itself as “the front page of the internet,” and according to Alexa rankings, Reddit is one of the top 20 most-visited sites.

In the second quarter of 2025, the company hit $500 million in quarterly ad revenue.

It has become known as the dominant digital watercooler and has replaced forums and chat rooms of yore to be the go-to place for connecting with like-minded communities and getting your questions answered.

Reddit has a unique blend of content and community, with over 100,000 active subreddits dedicated to every topic imaginable.

Whether you’re in tech, fashion, gaming, or health, there’s at least one subreddit actively discussing your industry.

With so many niches, there’s a place for every brand and business to engage their audience. It’s a matter of finding the niches where your potential customers are active and diving in.

However, be warned: Reddit thrives on authenticity and genuine interaction. Users don’t typically respond well to blatant self-promotion, and marketing gimmicks will be met with sharp skepticism.

Brands should beware before wandering into any subreddit and trying to tout their products to community members.

It’s crucial to get the tone right from the beginning, as commentators won’t hesitate to call out and critique what they perceive as inauthentic.

Engage thoughtfully, contribute genuinely, and Reddit could be an incredible marketing tool for your brand.

• A Beginner’s Guide To Reddit: How To Get Started & Be Successful
• AMA Recap: Reddit Leadership On Leveraging The Platform For Business Success
• Why Every Marketer Should Be On Reddit

Which Platform(s) Should You Use?

The appeal of social media is felt across all generations and demographics. From Gen Alpha, to ageing Boomers, and to seniors.

But don’t fall into the mistake of a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing on social media.

Every platform is unique, and within platforms are subgroups and communities, all with their own rules and nuances. Some platforms, like Reddit, are especially resistant to marketing, and others, like Facebook, are full of in-feed ads.

Start out with clear goals of what you want to achieve. Then, find the platform most suitable for your target audience, and then craft a plan to create an unforgettable brand experience relevant to that platform.

It’s all about making the right choices and finding authentic alignment in order to make use of this powerful marketing opportunity.

Data from DataReportal’s Digital 2025 July Global Statshot Report and DataReportal – YouTube Users, Stats & Trends 2025, updated with data from the following sources:

• Meta Q2 2025 Earnings Report (Facebook, Instagram MAU from DataReportal Social Media Users 2025 Report, Threads MAU) 
• Alphabet Q2 2025 Earnings Report (YouTube MAU & revenue)
• Snap Inc. Q2 2025 Earnings Report (Snapchat MAU & revenue)
• Reddit Q2 2025 Press Release (DAU), with MAU estimated using industry-standard DAU/MAU ratio (0.45–0.55)
• Pinterest Q2 2025 Press Release (MAU & revenue)
• Social Media Today (LinkedIn MAU estimate based on EU DSA disclosure)
• Elon Musk tweet (July 2023) (X/Twitter MAU)
• Microsoft FY2025 Earnings Report + LinkedIn Business Highlights analyst estimates  + Daniel Shapero’s LinkedIn post (LinkedIn members & revenue)
  
• *Threads MAU from source + Adam Mosseri’s Threads post (Threads MAU & DAU)

** Estimate based on Reddit’s Q2 2025 DAU (110.4 million) and an industry DAU/MAU ratio of 0.45–0.55.

More Resources:

• The 30 Most-Subscribed YouTube Individuals (Q1 2025)
• The Top 30 Social Media Influencers Worldwide
• 12 Of The Most Engaged Brands On Instagram

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal