Social Media Universe: What Were The Largest Social Media Platforms in 2020?
Size does matter whether we’d like to admit it or not. While I’m not the greatest fan of many of these networks, as I view my interactions – the largest platforms are where I spend my most time. Popularity drives participation, and when I want to reach my existing social network it’s the popular platforms where I can reach them.
Notice that I said existing.
I would never advise a client or person to ignore the smallest or newest social media platforms. Often, a smaller network can afford you the opportunity to rise through the ranks and built quite a following quickly. Smaller networks don’t have as much competition! The risk, of course, is that the network could ultimately fail – but even then you can push your new following to another network or drive them to subscribe via email.
As well, I would never advise a client or person to ignore niche social media platforms. LinkedIn, for example, is still a leading generator of leads and information for me since I market to businesses. As platforms like Facebook downplay organic business content and move to a pay to play approach for revenue, LinkedIn is ramping up its networking and content capabilities.
Social media has seeped into virtually all aspects of modern life. The vast social media universe collectively now holds 3.8 billion users, representing roughly 50% of the global population. With an additional billion internet users projected to come online in the coming years, it’s possible that the social media universe could expand even further.
Nick Routley, Visual Capitalist
That said, it’s always great to keep tabs on what’s happening in the social media universe! This infographic from Visual Capitalist, Social Media Universe 202, provides a great perspective on the leading social media platforms on the planet. And here they are:
| Rank | Social Network | MAUs In Millions | Country of Origin |
| #1 | U.S. | ||
| #2 | 2,000 | U.S. | |
| #3 | YouTube | 2,000 | U.S. |
| #4 | Messenger | 1,300 | U.S. |
| #5 | 1,203 | China | |
| #6 | 1,082 | U.S. | |
| #7 | TikTok | 800 | China |
| #8 | 694 | China | |
| #9 | 550 | China | |
| #10 | Qzone | 517 | China |
| #11 | 430 | U.S. | |
| #12 | Telegram | 400 | Russia |
| #13 | Snapchat | 397 | U.S. |
| #14 | 367 | U.S. | |
| #15 | 326 | U.S. | |
| #16 | 310 | U.S. | |
| #17 | Viber | 260 | Japan |
| #18 | Line | 187 | Japan |
| #19 | YY | 157 | China |
| #20 | Twitch | 140 | U.S. |
| #21 | Vkontakte | 100 | Russia |
It’s also important to note that a monthly active user is not an individual person. Many of these platforms have active accounts that push content to them programmatically. In my opinion, this has really hampered the quality of interactions of some platforms. Twitter, IMO, has been impacted the worst and is finally realizing how bad it’s been and is deleting bot accounts on a continuous basis. As well, Facebook has begun purging controversial pages from its platform to improve the quality of conversations as well as reduce the likelihood of fake news being shared and promoted.
