Over the past couple of decades, the internet has evolved exponentially, turning into the world’s go-to place for social gatherings, so we wanted to see what the 18 most popular social media apps in 2017 are, and whether Facebook should worry.
Nowadays, there are more and more social media sites out there, each looking to make it to the top, perhaps even to beat Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) at its own game. With over 2 billion users logging into Facebook every month, that’s a hard task to achieve, however.
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Out of the top 10 social media sites, none compare to what Facebook has managed to achieve in the past near-decade. Free social networking sites are popping up left and right, much like Facebook, HI5 and MySpace did many years ago, as they’ve all discovered that the world always seeks ways to connect, especially at no charge. Of course, the truth is that we do pay for our opportunity to use these services, we just don’t use money, we use our data, which is far more valuable.
New social media apps launched in 2017 have popped up in the app stores left and right, but they rarely get a following. People will try them out for a few minutes, a day or two, then forget all about them and uninstall the app. Why? Because we’re rapidly reaching a saturation of sorts, where the well-established names are there to stay and having our attention divided between even more of these social media tools isn’t something most of us are willing to allow. That means that the list of social media apps that are actually successful will likely stay the same for the foreseeable future.
Proof of this is that the list of the 17 top social media apps in 2016 was the same as it is this year, and likely will be the same next year, although the numbers will surely change, as they always do. The top 100 social media sites, however, doesn’t just include social media sites like Facebook, or VKontakte, but also social networking sites for adults where children are best to keep away, like ASN or Social 18.
In order to create our list today, we mixed up data from Statista and Dreamgrow, and ordered each by the number of monthly active users. Without any extra chatter, let’s see which are the 18 most popular social media apps in 2017, beginning on the next page.
18. LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD)
Monthly Active Users: 106 million
Founded in December 2002 and launched a few months later, LinkedIn has become, over the years, the go-to place for professionals. It’s not your regular social network, but a way to interact with others from your field of work, grow your reputation and even find jobs.
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17. Google+
Monthly Active Users: 111 million
Google+ may be a surprising addition to the list of the world’s most popular social media apps in 2017, and that’s mainly because it’s one of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s few failed projects (relatively speaking). Regardless, it seems that there are still some 111 million people worldwide who visit the platform at least once a month.
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16. Flickr
Monthly Active Users: 112 million
Flickr is up next on our list of the most popular social media apps in 2017. This, too, is a surprising presence on the list since it focuses on photography. However, over the years, it has turned into a real online community for those passionate about photography and has led to many connections between professionals in the industry.
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15. Ask.fm
Monthly Active Users: 160 million
Launched in June 2010, ASK.fm is a site that is visited by many who are looking to answer various questions from other people, especially anonymously. However, the site has been heavily criticized for the way the platform allows cyberbullying.
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14. Pinterest
Monthly Active Users: 175 million
One of the most visual platforms on our list, Pinterest encourages users to make boards of things they like, maybe plan the way they’d like their new home to look, or how their wedding favors should look, or perhaps search for cool new gift ideas.
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13. Reddit
Monthly Active Users: 250 million
Another popular social site on our list is Reddit, which mostly plays the role of social news aggregator. For the most part, however, the site allows members to discuss many topics among themselves, come up with opinions and debunk fake news where appropriate.
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12. Snapchat
Monthly Active Users: 255 million
Particularly popular among the younger generation, Snapchat is more than an image messaging and multimedia app, it’s a phenomenon. The thing that made Snapchat grow and grow is the concept of only allowing pictures and messages to be available for a short period of time before becoming inaccessible.
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11. Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)
Monthly Active Users: 328 million
Donald Trump’s go-to platform for communicating whatever raises his ire on a particular day, is up next on our list of the most popular social media apps in 2017. The site looks like it has reached its cap when it comes to the number of users on the platform, as its stats have barely changed over the past few years.
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10. Weibo
Monthly Active Users: 361 million
Over in China, platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are blocked. Therefore, Sina Weibo is one of the most popular social media sites in the region, providing a similar service as Twitter.
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9. Tumblr
Monthly Active Users: 368 million
Up next is blogging site Tumblr, which was one of Yahoo’s largest acquisitions under Marissa Mayer; it is now owned by Oath Inc, under Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ). Founded by David Karp in 2007, the site gives a voice not only to those who want to keep a blog, but also to those passionate about pop culture, books, and more.
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8. Qzone
Monthly Active Users: 606 million
Another social media site from China is Qzone, which was created by Tencent in 2005. It allows users to keep blogs, exchange photos, watch videos or listen to music, making for a mix of the platforms that are most common in the rest of the world.
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7. Instagram
Monthly Active Users: 700 million
Owned by Facebook, Instagram is by far one of the most popular social media apps in 2017. Launched in 2010 as a platform for photo sharing, it has turned into so much more, including a way to promote products online and as a successful marketing tool.
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6. Tencent QQ
Monthly Active Users: 850 million
Also known as QQ, this instant messaging tool is one of the most popular apps in China. The app also provides services like online social games, music, shopping, movies, voice chat, and more.
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5. WeChat
Monthly Active Users: 963 million
With tools such as WhatsApp blocked in China, WeChat is the most popular app of this kind in the region. Unfortunately, the company itself has sent users a note explaining that pretty much none of the messages you send with it are private and that the government may be looking into them.
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4. Messenger
Monthly Active Users: 1.2 billion
For many years, Facebook’s messenger was a built-in feature. Then, a few years ago, Mark Zuckerberg decided that it was best if Messenger became a separate tool. While heavily criticized at first, Messenger is now one the most used tools of its kind, with some 1.2 billion monthly users. The app allows users to send messages, photos, videos, and more, as well as to interact with bots. Video and voice calls are also available.
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3. WhatsApp
Monthly Active Users: 1.3 billion
WhatsApp has grown a lot over the years, but it is by far the most popular instant messaging app in the world. It has grown rapidly after it introduced end-to-end encryption, allowing users to have privacy by default.
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2. YouTube
Monthly Active Users: 1.5 billion
YouTube, Google’s own video platform, is the world leader by far. Every month, users watch over 6 billion hours of video, while about 400 hours worth of videos are uploaded every minute. These numbers will only continue to grow in the years to come.
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1. Facebook
Monthly Active Users: 2.06 billion
The world’s largest social network has long passed the 2 billion mark. This isn’t how many people have an account on the platform, but how many of them use it monthly. In fact, Facebook is so popular that it invented a new stat – the Daily Active Users. Even those numbers are impressive, with 1.32 billion using the platform every single day, easily putting Facebook at the top of the list of the 17 most popular social media apps in 2017.
It’s hard to believe that anything will turn the tide on Facebook in the years to come. It should also be mentioned that there are over 3 billion internet users in the world, with over 730 million living in China, who don’t have access to Facebook. That being said, to answer the question – Should Facebook worry? No. The company leads the list by far and even though YouTube is close, it’s still not the same type of service, even though it does provide a way for users to connect socially. As a social network, Facebook will continue to rule the scene for a long time to come.
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