5 Most Popular Social Media Platforms in 2021

In this article we discuss the 5 most popular social media platforms in 2021. If you want to read our detailed analysis of the social media industry, go directly to the 21 Most Popular Social Media Platforms in 2021.

5. Instagram, Owned by Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB)

Monthly Active Users: 1.22 billion in 2020 via Statista

Another popular social media platform for 2021 is Instagram. It is one of the most used apps with 1.2 billion active users. The photo-sharing app was acquired by Facebook for $715 million in 2012 and now generates almost a quarter of the company’s revenue. In 2019, Instagram brought in about $20 billion in advertising revenue alone. Instagram users spend an average of 30 minutes per day on the platform as of 2020 as reported by eMarketer. Instagram is also being used as an important business tool especially for marketing and information purposes. Around 36% of B2B decision makers, use the platform to research new products or services. Countries where this social media app is the most popular include USA, India, Brazil, Russia, and Indonesia. Instagram ranks 5th on the list of most popular social media platforms in 2021.

4. Facebook Messenger, Owned by Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB)

Monthly Active Users: 1.3 billion in 2020 via Statista

Amongst the hundreds of messaging apps available today, Facebook Messenger has made a mark in the social media industry, particularly in the US. Around the world, 1.3 billion people use Messenger. This number is expected to grow to 2.4 billion by the end of 2021. More than 20 billion messages are exchanged through this platform. Messenger also allows companies to create their chat bots for marketing purpose and as of 2020, there are 300,000 active chat bots on the platform. With over 2 million monthly downloads in the app store, Messenger has become the leading mobile messaging app in the US and across the world. Messenger ranks 4th on the list of most popular social media platforms in 2021.

3. WhatsApp, Owned by Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB)

Monthly Active Users: 2 billion in 2020 via Statista

WhatsApp is a cross-platform instant-messaging platform developed for smartphones. The platform was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $19 billion. It has become the world’s most popular messaging app with over 2 billion monthly active users.  In the United States, WhatsApp users amounted to 68.1 million users in 2019 and is set to grow to 85.8 million users in 2023 according to Statista. The app is used in over 180 countries worldwide generating a revenue of over $5 billion in 2020 as reported by Investopedia. A 100 billion messages are sent across the platform every day. The platform also offers the service of WhatsApp Business in which companies can create their business accounts to directly interact with their customers. It is estimated that around 3 million firms are already using this service. The app’s user engagement was further accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic when people started to spend a combined total of 15 billion minutes on WhatsApp calls daily. WhatsApp ranks 3rd on the list of most popular social media platforms in 2021.

2. YouTube, Owned by Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)

Monthly Active Users: 2 billion in in 2020 via Statista

Since it was launched in 2005 and acquired by Google, YouTube has grown immensely from being a repository of amateur videos to becoming one of the biggest online video platforms in the world. YouTube is ranked as the second-most visited website, right after its parent company Google. According to PEW Research, 500 hours of content is uploaded to the website every minute and more than a billion hours of videos are watched by users every day. In USA, YouTube is the most popular social media platform and the number of American users are projected to increase to 228 million by 2024. Its popularity has also made it an attractive platform for advertising. In 2020, the platform reported $6.89 billion of advertising revenues. With over 100 million subscribers, there is no doubt that YouTube is among the most popular social media platforms in 2021.

1. Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB)

Monthly Active Users: 2.7 billion in 2020 via Statista

Topping the list of the most popular social media platforms in 2021 is Facebook, the first social networking platform to surpass a billion registered accounts. It has become the world’s biggest and most popular social media platform since it was first launched in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg who was at the time, a student at Harvard University. Currently, Facebook has more than 2.7 billion monthly active users. Facebook has continued to reign strong as the king of social media as 2 out of 3 active social media users are Facebook users. It is also the platform on which users spend the most time. On average, users spend 58 minutes per day on Facebook according to PEW Research. The company’s market valuation currently stands at $793.61 billion. Not only is it a social network which allows users to connect with each other, Facebook has also emerged as an important platform for businesses and organizations that want to connect to more people. Current trends show that the platform will maintain its position with constant new updates and features being rolled out to keep its users coming back for more.

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