In 2023, everyone knows Facebook, Instagram or YouTube, the largest social networks that each drain a number of active users that exceeds one billion.
But these platforms aren’t the only ones carving out the lion’s share of the social media market today.
Hundreds of other Social Media are used on all continents of the planet, most of which are probably unknown to you, as they are mainly employed in their countries of origin.
Whether they allow the sharing of photos, videos, articles, music, stories or even information, all the most popular social networks in France and around the world have one thing in common: connecting people and help them interact.
It is for this reason that we have decided to compile a ranking of the most used and popular social networks throughout the world, from Western Europe to North America, including Asia, North Africa and Northern Europe.
1- Facebook
We no longer need to introduce Facebook, the largest social media site in the world, number 1 in this ranking with almost 3 billion active monthly users and a turnover that exceeds 120 billion dollars, which places its parent company , Meta, among the largest companies in the world.
A staggering figure, almost 37% of the world’s population uses Facebook in 2022, and more than 200 million companies (mainly VSEs and SMEs) use Facebook tools and more than seven million advertisers actively promote their business on Facebook, which makes it a safe bet if you want to be present on social networks.
It’s easy to get started on Facebook because almost all content formats work very well on this social network, whether it’s posts in the form of text, images, photos, video content or the famous ” Stories”. But for your marketing strategy, keep in mind that Facebook’s algorithm prioritizes content that sparks meaningful conversations and interactions between people, especially those involving family and friends.
2- YouTube
YouTube has been the number 1 video sharing platform for several years, with 2.2 billion monthly active users.
It is estimated that around one billion hours of video are watched on average every day by users of what is the second largest social media site in the world. YouTube is even considered the second most used search engine after Google, its parent company.
So, if you want to use the video format for the implementation of your Social Media marketing strategy, you absolutely must be on YouTube. Just create a YouTube channel for your brand or business and do some advertising and SEO to get your videos seen by as many people as possible.
3- WhatsApp
WhatsApp is a social network-like messaging app used in over 180 countries, with a whopping 2 billion monthly active users.
Initially, people used WhatsApp to send messages to family and friends. But gradually, companies have also started to use this courier service.
WhatsApp’s commerce platform allows businesses to provide customer support and share updates with their customers about their purchases.
As a messaging platform, WhatsApp can become a great customer service channel for your business.
4- Instagram
This image-based social network belongs to the giant Meta. Thanks to its 2 billion monthly active users, Instagram is a perfect social media platform to present your products or services via photos and videos. On the mobile app, you can share a wide range of content such as photos, videos, stories, live videos and IGTV (longer type).
As a brand, you can create an Instagram business profile, which will provide you with in-depth analytics reports on your posts and give you the ability to schedule Instagram posts using third-party tools.
5- Twitter
What sets Twitter apart from most other social media sites is its heavy emphasis on real-time information and current events and trends.
Twitter users love posting and sharing Tweets (a text of up to 280 characters) about news, entertainment, sports, politics, and more.
Many brands use Twitter as an alternate customer service channel. According to statistics made public by advertisers on Twitter, more than 80% of customer service requests on social networks are made on Twitter.
6- Facebook Messenger
You may remember that a few years back, Messenger was included in the Facebook platform, but since 2011, Messenger is a standalone application that offers extensive functionality.
Companies can now advertise there, create chatbots, send newsletters, etc.
These features have given businesses a myriad of new ways to engage and connect with their customers.
7-WeChat
WeChat is a Chinese social network that was launched in 2011 by Tencent, one of the biggest technology companies in the Middle Kingdom. Like WhatsApp and Messenger, WeChat was originally a messaging app, but has evolved into an all-in-one platform and social media that boasts over 1 billion monthly active users. today.
Apart from the usual features like messaging and calling, WeChat users can shop online, pay bills, shop online, transfer money, make reservations, and more.
WeChat has become the most popular social media platform in China and even has a good penetration rate and other countries in Asia.
So if you want to boost your brand visibility in China (where popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter are banned), WeChat is a good alternative. You can advertise on WeChat Official Account or WeChat Moments. There are also plenty of WeChat-based influencers who can help your brand reach millions of Chinese consumers.
8- TikTok
TikTok (known as “Douyin” in China) is a short video sharing app.
Although launched in 2017, it is one of the fastest growing social networks in the world and now has around one billion monthly active users.
TikTok allows its users to create and share videos lasting between 15 and 60 seconds, and the application has an extensive catalog of sound effects, music clips and filters to enhance videos. and make them more attractive.
In the United States, around 47% of TikTok users are between the ages of 10 and 29. So if your target audience is young, TikTok is an excellent social media platform to boost the visibility of your business.
9- LinkedIn
LinkedIn has grown from being just a job search engine and CV submission site to a professional platform where experts from all industries around the world share content, build their network and give visibility to their brand.
It has also become a professional social network where companies can display their leadership and attract the best talent.
LinkedIn (300 million monthly active users) also offers advertising opportunities, including the ability to send personalized ads to users’ inboxes.
10- Sina Weibo
In Chinese, Weibo means “micro-blog”. Launched by the Chinese technology company Sina Corporation in 2009, Sina Weibo, or simply Weibo, is therefore a microblogging platform that resembles Twitter and Instagram.
Thanks to Weibo, users can publish images, videos and stories, but also view trending topics, use hashtags in their publications and use the platform as an instant messenger.
Compared to WeChat, Sina Weibo targets a younger audience and offers trendier content.
Weibo also allows businesses to create official, verified accounts to communicate with their followers and deploy paid advertising campaigns.
If you want your brand to go “viral” in China, Weibo is the go-to social network.
11- QQ
QQ was launched in China in 1999 by the company Tencent. Before the release of WeChat, QQ was considered the number 1 messaging app in China.
Apart from its instant messaging features, QQ also allows users to beautify their avatars, watch movies, play online games, stream music, shop online, blog and payments.
While WeChat has become the market leader in China, QQ is still popular with young users. It is also used in 80 countries and is available in many other languages.
One of the benefits of QQ is that you don’t need a phone number to sign up.
Today, QQ is popular as a desktop messenger for businesses, thanks to its ease of use and ability to transfer files larger than 25MB, which WeChat cannot.
12- Telegram
Telegram is a free messaging app that has 550 million monthly active users and works on multiple types of devices.
The well-known and appreciated feature of Telegram is its high-performance encryption that protects all your activities, including chats and media shared between group participants.
This strength in security has attracted more and more customers to Telegram, especially since WhatsApp announced changes to its privacy policy that allow it to share information with its parent company Meta.
Brands can use Telegram in several ways, in addition to providing personalized customer support. For example, you can include chatbots on the Telegram platform or use the power of this tool to broadcast messages to up to 200,000 people at once.
13- Skype
Skype is a video, audio and text communication mobile and web application, which enables over 300 million monthly active users to make and receive free video calls and send instant messages to other Skype users worldwide. Skype started as an independent company in 2013, but was acquired by giant Microsoft.
Skype for Business has all the features offered by Skype, plus advanced features ideal for VSEs and SMEs. For example, Skype for Business lets you add up to 250 people to your online meetings, gives you an advanced level of security, and lets you manage your employees’ accounts.
Another advantage of this Social Media tool is that it has several integrations compatible with Microsoft Office applications.
14- Snapchat
Snapchat is a social network with over 500 million monthly active users that focuses on sharing photos and short videos (called “snaps”) with friends.
It was this social media that made the vertical video format popular, a format that was later taken up on other platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
But the recent boom in Instagram Stories seems to have slowed down Snapchat’s growth, and there’s been a decrease in marketer interest in Snapchat right now.
Nevertheless, still a lot of teenagers claim to use Snapchat, so if your target audience is mostly young people, you should consider including this app in your marketing strategy.
15- Kuaishou
Kuaishou is TikTok’s Chinese rival. Like its competitors, Kuaishou allows users to overlay text and stickers on images or videos and add sound clips. Users can also live stream content to their followers on the platform or record longer videos.
Compared to TikTok, Kuaishou is more popular with older audiences, especially in rural parts of China. The app, which has more than 500 million monthly active users, also relies more on e-commerce revenue than advertising revenue.
16- Qzone
Qzone is another social network launched in China by Tencent, which mixes social media and blogging. Users can upload media, keep a diary, write blog posts, play video games, and stream music.
Similar to Facebook, Qzone users can easily connect with their friends, view news feeds, comment, share or react to posts and update their profile pictures.
Qzone boasts over 510 million monthly active users.
17- Pinterest
Pinterest is a unique social network for discovering new trends and new products.
On Pinterest, users “pin” photos that link to websites, product pages, blog posts and other content on the internet.
It really is a great platform for driving traffic to your website, and data shows that Pinterest users are 7x more likely to buy products they’ve pinned.
Some of the most popular topics and themes on the social platform include fashion, beauty, home, garden and DIY.
So, if your business operates in any of these industries, you should strongly consider utilizing the opportunities Pinterest marketing offers to market your business to a pool of users that exceeds 440 million each month.
18- Reddit
Reddit is a popular social network in North America (430 million monthly active users) known for its voting function, and which many Internet users refer to as the “front page of the net”, thanks to its mixture of news, events of all kinds, politics, and even in-depth discussions on niche topics.
There are “subreddits” (i.e. specialized forums) that cover just about every topic imaginable.
These subreddits show widely varying levels of engagement. So you will have to look for popular subreddits that your brand may be a part of.
It should be noted, however, that most subreddits do not allow self-promotion.
The objective, on this American social network platform, is to engage with members of the respective subreddits by asking questions and providing answers, but also by sharing advice and resources and through thematic discussions.
In addition to submitting your content to Reddit and participating in discussions, you can also find ideas for creating your new content and advertising.
19- Quora
Quora is a community-based Q&A website and app where people can find information on a wide variety of topics. Questions and answers are ranked by users based on the number of views, votes, reviews, and shares.
As a brand, you can create a Quora page for your business or use your employees as ambassadors to answer questions that relate to your products or services, or your industry.
Quora also has an advertising platform that you can use to promote your business.
As 63% of Quora users (300 million monthly active users) are looking for shopping opportunities online, it’s a great platform to reach customers who are actively looking for a product or service.
20- Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a collaboration and video conferencing platform that allows users to communicate via text chat, voice chat, or video call. It integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft 365 services and products, such as OneDrive and PowerPoint.
Microsoft Teams is more suitable for large companies than its main competitor, Skype, because this platform offers an optimal level of security for your company, allows groups of up to 10,000 people to meet and collaborate, Internet users to share large files (up to 1TB per user) and offers a larger list of features and collaboration options than Skype for Business.
Microsoft Teams now has 300 million monthly active users.
21- Tumblr
Owned by Yahoo since 2013, Tumblr is a social media and microblogging platform that can be used to find and follow topics and topics you love. You can also use it to post articles on any subject, including multimedia content on a blog.
In addition, Tumblr offers many customization possibilities.
This social network has around 555 million monthly active users.
22- Viber
This social networking platform available in over 30 languages is known for its instant text messaging and voicemail capabilities.
But with Viber, you can also share photos, videos, and audio messages with ease.
This tool which has around 249 million active users even offers you the option to call non-Viber users through a feature named Viber Out.
23- Line
Line is a social network with more than 210 million active users, which specializes in messaging. Available worldwide, it allows sharing photos, videos, text messages and even messages or audio files.
In addition, thanks to Line, you will be able to make voice and video calls at any time of the day.
24- Foursquare
It’s a search and discovery-based local social media platform that lets you find the perfect places (based on your location) to go with your friends and loved ones. Foursquare also provides proper search results for the best restaurants, nightlife spots, and other types of things to do in your area. This tool also offers social networking functionality, available in a separate app called Swarm.
25- Flixster
Here is an American social network intended above all for people who love movies and who want to share their passion with people who have the same sensitivity, for example by rating movies and submitting reviews.
It is the ideal platform for movie lovers who wish to obtain information on new films and enrich their cinematographic culture.
26- Upstream
Upstream is a new social network for professionals that comes in the form of a mobile application.
This platform, which was developed by the same team that created SocialRank, looks a lot like LinkedIn, and could soon compete with the number 1 professional social network.
Thanks to Upstream, you will be able to build a professional network around a community of friends and professionals, who will be there to help you when you need it.
27- Picsart
Picsart is a Miami, Florida-based technology company that developed the “Picsart” suite of online photo and video editing applications.
This platform allows users to take and edit photos and videos, make drawings with layers and share images not only on Picsart but also on other social networks.
It’s one of the most popular mobile apps in the world, with over a billion downloads in 180 countries.
28- Flickr
Flickr is another very popular photo sharing website. It basically serves as a platform to upload high-quality photographs, often taken by professional photographers or photo enthusiasts.
It is also an effective service for managing and sharing photos online, forums, which gives it a usefulness similar to that of a social network.
29- Tribe
Tribe is a cloud-based platform that allows consumers to discuss their favorite brands. It’s a great social network for businesses because it allows them to connect directly with their brand’s fans. Businesses can get product feedback, answer questions, and interact with their supporters.
As a user, you can also connect with other people who love the brand, ask questions, start polls and participate in broader discussions, all focused on the brands you love.
30- Discord
Discord is one of the most popular social media platforms right now with over 250 million users per month, and that number keeps growing. Initially designed for communities of video game players, its use has diversified over time, and it is possible to organize group discussions.
This tool is 100% free, secure and works on both your desktop and your phone.
It’s a great free alternative to premium services like TeamSpeak.
31- WT Social
WT Social was launched by Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales (WT stands for “WikiTribune”).
It’s a new social network that positions itself as a real alternative to major commercial platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
WT Social is an ad-free social network funded by user donations. WT Social’s goal is to allow members to choose their own content choices.
32- Trill
With over 23 million downloads in the last few months, Triller is becoming the hot new app, and a real competitor for TikTok.
It is an AI-powered music video app that allows users to take professional-looking videos in seconds, with similar features and functionality as TikTok. Users can create fun music videos, including lip-syncing, which they can then share with their followers.
33- Houseparty
Initially launched in 2016, HouseParty is a network intended for “Face to face” communication.
The principle behind Houseparty is simple: members can create digital “rooms” to video chat with up to eight different people at once.
Whenever friends open the app and join a room, users get notifications to connect instantly. There’s no limit to the number of rooms users can create, so people can jump from one video chat to another while staying connected.
The Houseparty platform has grown in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic and is growing rapidly.
34- Twitch
Twitch is one of the latest massive social media hits, so much so that the platform is becoming a social media heavyweight.
It is simply a live streaming platform that has around 140 million daily active users in 2022.
Twitch is mainly used by gamers, and the platform has launched the careers of many professional eSports players, but today Twitch users can stream or download all kinds of content covering a wide range of topics and of styles.
35- CaringBridge
CaringBridge is a unique social network that has been around since 1997 and offers a very valuable service.
CaringBridge’s goal is to help those facing long treatment or serious medical procedures stay in touch with loved ones.
Users/patients can create individual sites that chronicle their life and experience at the hospital, post updates and send messages to family members.
On the other side, relatives can find out more about what is really going on using a secure platform.
It is the only social network of this type in the world.
36- Soundcloud
Soundcloud is a social network that demonstrates that it is not necessary to sign a contract with a record company to create a fanbase.
This music sharing platform launched in 2008 has continued to develop and it is today where the musical talents of tomorrow meet.
Creators can upload the original tracks of their songs which can be listened to and shared by all Soundcloud users, in an attempt to build their fanbase.
It is of course possible to follow your favorite creators and know when they release a new track.
37- CouchSurfing
Launched in 2004, CouchSurfing is a social network that aims to connect travelers with people around the world, in a spirit of sharing. With CouchSurfing, users who like to go on an adventure can find people who offer to welcome them into their home for a night or more, for free.
It’s also a tool to meet other travelers and explore your vacation destination together.
38- Renren
Renren is one of the largest social networks in China, which is very popular with young people due to its similarity to Facebook. This Social Media allows Internet users to easily connect and communicate with each other, quickly share content and messages, and even update their current mood.
39- Tagged
Tagged is a great social media site based on friendship and dating that acquired another social media platform called Hi5 in 2011.
Tagged lets you make friends with people from all walks of life, through games, common interests, and more.
40-Italki
If you want to learn a foreign language online, italki is a social network to consider.
Launched in 2007, this platform connects you with teachers and other learners, and offers a multitude of languages.
You can even learn for free thanks to the Italki community.
41- Vimeo
Vimeo is a video sharing platform similar to industry heavyweights like YouTube.
But, this tool is more feature-rich and more dedicated to video creation professionals
Vimeo is a paid platform that offers several levels of membership, offering different features.
For example, the premium option gives you the ability to host live events with audience chat, polls, charts, and more.
42- Influenza
Influenster is a social network, which is dedicated to discovering new products. You can find products for a wide range of consumers, and users can leave reviews, discuss brands, and more.
What is interesting with Influenster is that the application uses social media analysis methods to measure the level of influence of its users. Those with a good following on social media can even participate in marketing campaigns and events.
43- Badoo
This social network specializing in meetings and dating is used by more than 20 million active users per month in more than 200 countries.
Badoo gives you details about people who live near you, in your area, and even people you might have met in real life.
44- Like
Likee is a mobile application for creating and sharing short videos available for iOS and Android operating systems. It belongs to the Singaporean company BIGO Technology.
Inside this social network, you will find a ton of features, such as visual effects, as well as video shooting and editing tools.
45- DeviantArt
DeviantArt is considered the largest online community for art lovers and artists. This social network simply allows its users to take photos and share them with their community.
46- Myspace
Myspace is a music-focused social networking platform with around 20 million monthly active users.
Thanks to Myspace, you will be able to create a personal profile, an interactive network of friends and take advantage of blogs, groups, photos, videos, etc.
47-Skyrock
Skyrock is not just a radio station. It is also a French social network that offers its users a free and personal web space to create and publish blog articles, add profiles and exchange messages. It is available in 7 languages, including French and English.
48- Meet Me
Formerly known as “MyYearbook”, MeetMe is a social network for people who want to find new friends and chat with them.
It is a very popular platform with teenagers and young people.
49- Spreely
The name “Spreely” is made up of “Speak” and “Freely”, which gives an indication of the objectives of this censorship-free social media platform.
Spreely indeed promotes freedom of expression for all its users.
50- Ears
Taringa is one of the largest social networking platforms available in South America, and it allows its users to share their experiences, content and much more.
