The 6 Biggest, Baddest, Most Popular Social Media Platforms of 2022 (+How to Wield Their Power)

This is me, skipping the generic intro with stats about how many people use social media today.

This is also me, skipping the “mystery” intro as I’m 99% sure you can already guess the most popular social media sites in 2022.

By Wordstream

…No, this isn’t your average roundup of demographic stats for each platform (don’t worry, you’ll still get your fix). You’ll find unobvious intel in here like…

• Office supplies in the top three for Instagram engagement? 😮
• Twitter’s statistically dark side.
• LinkedIn’s inner Instagram.

Most popular social media platforms of 2022—table of contents

For each of the social media sites in this list, I’ll be covering:

• 2022 stats, demographics, and trends
• The best content types, emotions, strategies, and industries
• Creative ideas and actionable tips

Jump to…

• Most popular social media platforms in the world
• Most popular social media platforms in the US
• Most popular social media platforms for marketing
• Facebook facts
• Instagram intel
• LinkedIn low-down
• Twitter tidbits
• Snapchat savvy
• TikTok tidings

Click to see full-size chart

Let’s get those more common statistics out of the way first.

What are the most popular social media platforms in 2022?

The answer to this question depends on many variables, like:

• In the U.S. or worldwide? The top five in these two categories are very different from one another.
• How you define social media: Do you consider YouTube to be a social media platform?
• Data source: Some conclusions are drawn from platform data like monthly active users, while others are drawn from answers to survey questions, like “Have you ever used [platform]?”
• Use case: Some social media sites are not meant for businesses at all.

So with that, we’re going to cover the most popular social media platforms worldwide, in the US, and for businesses.

The most popular social media platforms worldwide in 2022

If we look at Statista’s data as of October 2021, the most popular social media platforms worldwide are:

1. Facebook
2. YouTube
3. WhatsApp
4. Instagram
5. Facebook Messenger
6. TikTok
7. QQ (Chinese instant messaging software)
8. Douyin
9. Telegram
10. Sina Weibo (Chinese microblogging website)
11. Snapchat
12. Kuaishou
13. Pinterest
14. Reddit
15. Twitter
16. Quora

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