The 10 most popular social networks in 2022

The most popular social networks are becoming a means of dissemination that favors the development of interpersonal relationships online. They serve for those who interact with us to share news, interests, or activities, becoming great means of communication.

Since the use and access to social networks have become widespread, coverage of significant events can be known in a matter of seconds. Technology advances, and we must add to social networks the access to electronic devices that have cameras, allowing information to be shared with images.

In this way, other recent networks have joined the “pioneering” networks, such as Fotolog, also called "the first great social network." These networks have contributed to many couples meeting, formalizing their relationships, and eventually forming beautiful homes, but they have also destroyed families and friendships.

It is not an easy matter to understand when this technology allows people to act in the shadow of anonymity or by assuming stolen identities on the same social networks. But like everything, there are always those who manage to make appropriate use of these “windows” by locating the most suitable network that meets their expectations.

Highlighting the most popular social networks from an increasingly varied range is a matter that depends on personal taste. For example, there are those who are “lovers” of discussions and find justification in any topic to start a debate that can become “heated.”

This type of user prefers the use of Twitter, where “hashtags” are quite common to identify tweets with controversial opinions. But if you are the type who loves tranquility on a network, seeing and showing photographs of perfect people or exotic animals, you will use Instagram.

Certainly, there is a good number of social networks that could be considered “infinite,” like the infinite tastes in millions and millions of beings, something really complex. Fortunately, the classification and rating of social networks and their use are not defined by the type of people who use them.

Similarly, we must make a differentiation of social networks regarding the specific use they are given, namely:

The most used, simply.
Those with the most users.
Professional social networks.
Messaging networks.
The most used for dating.
Networks for finding jobs.
The most used by photographers.
Networks for musicians.
The most used by food and beverage places.
The truly international ones.

This classification may be limited, but it encompasses the vast majority of networks that exist on the planet today. But let’s add another, the “most popular social networks,” which could fall within the first ones we mentioned above or be a subdivision.

When referring to the most used social networks, the reason for that use must also be specified, that is, are they more used by women than by men? There may be a subtle difference between “more used” and “more popular,” so thin that the terms can eventually be confused.

But let’s make a list, prepared by specialized firms that conduct measurements, analyze comparative charts, configure graphs, and track that information. Thus, after searching the Web, we have the following information.

Currently, social networks are widely used tools around the world, especially after the pandemic declared in 2020. The fact that we found ourselves “locked at home” due to a global quarantine led to a significant increase in the use of this tremendous tool.

Working from home, children's classes, online courses, and the very tracking of news generated due to this event. So many things have made social networks a source of distraction and a route of escape to relieve the pressure generated by isolation.

How many online courses have we taken as a result of having to stay at home for so long? How many online courses have you taught since the pandemic was declared? Both sides of the same coin have a common element: this “social tool.”

Thanks to social networks, the market has increased, positioned in the already known “consumer era,” fully consolidated and with constant growth. This is a stage that was developing step by step, but definitely, the pandemic served as fuel to propel it.

It is consumers who decide the future of a brand, and this time has served to increase tastes and demands. In any of the social networks that come to mind right now, it can already be considered relevant to social life.

An easy exercise to estimate how much this tool has marked is simply to ask your family and acquaintances. Do you interact on any social network? You will see that a good percentage of your respondents will answer affirmatively.

The point is that those “little windows” for interacting, for dating, for learning, or for teaching have become the favorites of brands, some with greater preference than others. Brands with the ability to use the tools and make the interaction more entertaining or more professional, but with the same apparent goal: to bring people closer.

Thus, the user aspires to receive broader and more personalized content, faster services, and have better user experiences, turning them into trends. Here, marketing plays a predominant role, turning the most popular social networks into favorites of brands.

How many of us are connected?

Social network users worldwide continue to grow at a rate of nearly 10% in just one year. Recent Hootsuite and We Are Social published some conclusions from their January 2022 report, which were quite interesting.

The report indicates that the total number of people using social networks on the planet now exceeds 4.6 billion users, something truly incredible. This translates to over 59% of all human beings, noting that its growth percentage may be lower than that of 2021.

A year ago, there was just over a 13% increase, motivated especially by the pandemic caused by the Coronavirus and the lockdown. At this point, it is clear that growth is registering a double-digit percentage, corroborating the calculations.

We have selected the ten most popular social networks in the world, according to specialized firms dedicated to tracking these, which are expected to continue growing.

Facebook:

Facebook is the social platform developed to connect, post and share audiovisual content with friends and family, information, and news, with 2.7 billion people. It is the largest and most popular platform today, used by people of all ages, but it is not far from generating controversy.

This network was born in 2004, by “initiative” of Mark Zuckerberg and some fellow Harvard students, Andrew McCollum, Eduardo Saverin, Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz. The original idea belongs to the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra, also from Harvard, who hired Zuckerberg to create a directory to connect fraternities.

Mark was working simultaneously, on the Winklevoss and Narenda commission, and on his own project called “The Facebook,” which had a more than evident similarity. When Mark launched his idea, the Winklevoss and Narenda claimed he had plagiarized the idea, and they sued him.

This network was developed to connect Harvard students, but everything expanded, and students from Boston ended up joining, gradually opening up to other universities. Shortly after, Sean Parker, founder of Napster, realized the enormous potential of the project, and it went public in 2012.

It was conceived to connect people, but Facebook's popularity has crossed any border, and all companies have their own Facebook page.

The most common personal use is:

Detailing moods or what you are thinking at a given moment.
Uploading photographs or albums to share with your contacts.
Posting interesting news.
Posting videos to share with any user.

YouTube:

YouTube is a platform where you can “hang” videos to share with others whenever you want; basically, it is what could be called an on-demand television channel. Rated as one of the most popular social networks, where you can upload professional topics if you wish, and everyone can register on it, offering their videos.

Today, you can live stream any online event, and it could be a way to monetize your content. And what is YouTube for, how does it work? As we mentioned, it is mainly used to upload and watch videos, which is not far from a basic explanation.

But it is also a platform for creation because you can showcase audiovisual works, which is why many people use YouTube to search for specific content. An example includes music videos, funny videos, and, to a greater extent, tutorials on any topic.

Some reports rank YouTube as the third most visited Web on the Internet; in fact, its records exceed those of Netflix. This network is visited about 1.9 billion times in a month, with about five million video views per day.

But, what can you do on YouTube?

YouTube has an almost infinite number of different functionalities, among others, we can mention the following:

You can create your own channel:

By creating a channel to upload your own content, you can customize it to give it a marketing look of your own, thus improving your brand image. This is the type of special functionality for a professional channel, for companies, or for content creators.

Know about the activity of other “YouTubers”:

This platform allows you to subscribe to other channels and be notified when the user uploads a new video, serving as inspiration for other themes.

Interact with your followers:

You can comment on the videos you watch and express your opinion using likes or dislikes, something that fosters community growth.

Organize a variety of events:

It allows for the live streaming of videos to later leave them on the platform if you wish, being an excellent promotional and training tool.

Monetize your creations:

In addition to what has been mentioned, YouTube also allows you to make money with an account where you can add advertising to generate occasional income. There are professionals dedicated to uploading videos to generate money, serving to create informative content.

These are the well-known “YouTubers”, who have made this activity a highly sought-after profession in the most popular social networks.

WhatsApp:

WhatsApp ranks third in our Top 10, with over 1.6 billion users; it is a free App created especially for small businesses. You can create a digital catalog to showcase your products or services, with easy connection to your customers through its tools to organize your responses.

WhatsApp is a platform for smartphones that has become essential in society for keeping in touch with others. You can send text and multimedia messages, make video calls, and interact as if it were a social network.

You can communicate with anyone wherever they are, a quality that many compare to Messenger from some time ago. Add the contacts you have in your phone list, you can send voice notes, and you know if your message has been read by the blue check marks.

Its evolution has transformed it into a social network, posting in “statuses,” sharing photographs, videos, and advertising some good or service. You can create groups, adding anyone you have in your WhatsApp contact list, and designating administrators, allowing you to send chains or messages to several people at the same time.

Advantages:

It is easy to use and flows quickly.
You can synchronize it with Google.
It has a large number of servers worldwide.
It is a versatile App.
It takes up very little space in memory.
It is compatible with Android and iOS.

Disadvantages:

If you are very active on social networks, you will need a phone with a lot of memory.
Photographs and videos lose resolution when sent.
Privacy settings apply inversely.
Constant updates prevent low-end mobiles from being able to access this service.

History:

WhatsApp was born in 2009, and the intention was to have an agenda where you could know what your contacts were doing and see if they were “online” to talk. Its birth coincided with the decline of other messaging platforms, like Messenger; many saw it as an alternative to email or other messaging platforms.

Facebook bought WhatsApp with the presumed intention of uniting users from both platforms, and with this alliance, greater connection was achieved. This negotiation and the constant updates and implementations of new functionalities have made WhatsApp one of the largest and most valuable firms.

Facebook Messenger

With about 1.3 billion users, Facebook Messenger is a messaging App separate from Facebook and one of the most popular social networks. Due to its constant updates, Facebook ended up separating this function, and now each user can download Facebook Messenger without having to download Facebook.

It has certain tools to send voice notes, images, photographs, videos, and even make video calls with your contacts, individually or in groups, enhancing the experience. It works like any instant messaging tool, using your Facebook contacts or searching for them on the platform without sending them any request.

You can use it without having to register; just with a phone number and a name, you will enjoy the freedom of communication. It is available on Android, iOS, and Windows Phone, and if you need support for your brand, look for experts in the field.

Main features of Facebook Messenger

Receive and send private messages.
You can talk to several contacts at the same time using group chats.
It allows you to split each conversation into independent windows that you can minimize into bubbles that remain on the main screen.
You can start group conversations with different contacts, regardless of whether they are in your contact list.
It has encrypted messages for private conversations.
Messages will disappear whenever you prefer, as they have a validity period.
You can make free phone calls and video calls, but you need the Internet, which does have a cost.
You can exchange files, photographs, and videos.
It has a space for “stories” where you can save photographs, videos, or images, with 24 hours for viewing.
You can exchange money, only if you are a resident of the United States.
It has various games, such as chess, tetris, UNO, and solitaire.

Access all of this just by downloading the Messenger application, easily and quickly from your smartphone, regardless of the operating system you use.

WeChat:

WeChat ranks fifth with about 1.2 billion users, described as the "Chinese super app" or the "app for everything." With a huge range of functionalities, it is an app that any digital marketing or social media professional should know.

If you are passionate about these tasks and do not know it, don’t worry, because it is an app for the Chinese market. WeChat, known as Weixin in China, created by Tencent, launched in 2011, is already listed as one of the most popular social networks.

Its creation aimed to become a reference messaging application in the Asian market, as many foreign platforms had been banned. This led to a rapid degree of adoption, as there were no alternatives to meet the need for instant messaging among Asians.

WeChat has become an app that goes beyond a simple messaging platform, as it allows for payments or calling a taxi. It is essential in the daily lives of millions of people because it offers a variety of different services, what they call an application of applications.

Instagram:

Instagram has over 1 billion users; it is a social network primarily for uploading and designing visual content, with “touch-ups” and excellent photographic filters. It is a pioneer and trendsetter for being a photography and social tool, a great combination for professionally creating any content and sharing it, making oneself known.

It is fun and has enormous connectivity among its users, who showcase their favorite brands or people, but also to make friends with similar hobbies and tastes. INSTA-GRAM, formed by two words: “INSTA,” from instant, honoring the first instant cameras, and “GRAM,” from telegram, honoring the first ways of sharing on paper.

Created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in October 2010, it achieved resounding success because by April 2012 it had 100 million users. Success due to the incorporation of advanced photographic filters for retouching and “hanging” images, being the first social network to do so.

The touch-ups help create content strategies, with better color, warmth control, brightness increase or decrease, contrast intensification, lighting, etc. This increases the quality of images, and by sharing them on your profile, you show a better appearance, hence its success.

TikTok:

Social network with over 800 million users, Asian, created to share musical videos, achieving incredible results in recent months. It surpassed Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat in the number of downloads, categorized as the surprise of the year.

Its original name was Douyin, something like "shake the music" in Chinese, but outside of China, it was called TikTok, available for iOS and Android. Launched in September 2016, it took only 200 days for its development and spectacular growth, which, by February 2018, recorded about 65 million users.

It allows for the creation, editing, and uploading of one-minute musical “videoselfies,” with effects and the possibility of adding a musical background. It has AI or Artificial Intelligence functions, with special effects, some filters, and augmented reality functionalities.

QQ:

With about 800 million users, QQ, of Chinese origin, a region that accounts for more than 50% of people who regularly access social networks. Owned by the Chinese Tencent, which owns WeChat, it was launched in 1999, originally named OICQ, and its intention was to serve as an instant messaging platform.

It began to grow rapidly and offered the platform for one of the most popular social networks, Pengyou, recognized by the logo of a penguin. With users in over 75 countries, it enables video calls, voice chats, and text messages, including a translator.

Douyin & TikTok was the most downloaded application in 2018; in China, it is known as Douyin, but the rest of us know it as the TikTok network. Its launch was in 2016, and it is owned by Bytedance, a firm that has “collided” with Chinese regulators for publishing "inappropriate content" in some videos.

QZone:

With about 517 million users, it is an instant messaging platform created in 2005 by Tencent, with Chinese, Russian, and Kazakh users. The initial goal was to be a blog, but it eventually became a space where you can customize your blogs, post photographs, listen to music, keep a diary, etc.

It has a customizable interface where users can modify their background and apply accessories, resembling MSN and Myspace, but the customization tools are paid. The most frequent audience is teenagers, being more used in rural areas.

Sina Weibo:

Finally, with about 499 million users, it was launched in 2010 and is the flagship platform of Sina, a Chinese firm focused on technology. Basically, it is a social platform that started as a Chinese copy of Twitter.

It imitated Twitter but evolved, becoming a kind of “cross” between Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, an aspect that attracts its users. Thus, it became one of the most popular social networks, fascinating and important in China, alongside WeChat, a network we have already discussed.

Its services are only in Chinese, which does not pose an obstacle for navigation, because if the idea is to move within, you can use Google Translate. 29% of Chinese citizens are registered with their active account on Sina Weibo, because it is sufficient to have a profile on Facebook, registering with that application.

The Weibo platform is a microblogging site to keep up with all events in Asia in real-time and post short content. Fashion, travelers, technology, sports, and what media outlets publish are among the topics you can add and see.

We have already talked about different social networks. However, not all are suitable for your brand. Different characteristics and objectives must be considered to develop a digital marketing strategy. We are experts in managing social platforms, brands, and positioning; if you need help, consult us.

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