Last year's top social media platform might surprise you
Do you consider YouTube to be a social media platform? Lifesight.io, a marketing research company, puts YouTube in that category and calls it the top social media platform based on the number of visits. Last year, the streaming video provider hosted 1.35 trillion visits, up 80.49% from the 263.3 billion that came to the platform in 2019. At 67%, the majority of YouTube visitors are male and nearly 70% are viewing YouTube videos on their mobile devices.
One of the now iconic ads that Apple released for the original iPhone in 2007 was all about the YouTube app that was pre-installed on iOS until iOS 6. Apple even took a moment in the advertisement to point out how unusual it was for a phone to have a YouTube app. As the commercial showed a skateboarding bulldog, the voice-over announcer said, "Maybe the biggest surprise is finding YouTube on your phone."
While YouTube attracted the largest number of visitors to a social media platform in 2023, one of the biggest growth rates in the genre over the five years from 2019-2023 belonged to TikTok. With a growth rate during the five years reaching a stunning 6015%, the controversial social media player saw the number of visits rise from .7 billion in 2019 to 41.8 billion last year. TikTok is a "mobile-centric" site that is just as popular with men as women.
The number of visitors to TikTok soared over 60 times from 2019 to 2023
Overall social media visits rose 70.56% worldwide during the five years from 2019 to 2023 as the number of visits rose to 1.98 billion from 582.9 billion. The top three countries to host visitors to social media platforms last year were the U.S. (436.1 billion visitors), India (171.8 billion), and Brazil (123 billion). At 68.65%, most visitors to social media sites were male (leaving 31.35% for females). 59.10% preferred to visit these sites using their mobile devices.
The top ten social media platforms of 2023 include:
YouTube-streaming video site hosted a leading 1.35 trillion visitors in 2023.
Facebook-with 216.4 billion visitors last year, Facebook had a very modest five year growth rate of 15.33% and lost its spot at number one.
X (formerly Twitter)-male-dominated platform had 112.9 billion visits last year, up from 41.6 billion in 2019. Over 77% of visitors view X on their mobile devices.
Instagram-another mobile-centric platform with a majority of male users, Instagram counted 87.3 billion visits in 2023, a 62.40% increase from 2019.
Reddit-yet another male-dominated mobile-centric platform that features community-driven content.
TikTok-controversial platform saw the number of visits rise over 60 times between 2019 and 2023.
What'sApp-Large number of desktop users as What'sApp is used for cross-platform communications.
LinkedIn-professional networking platform had 20.5 billion visits last year.
Twitch-live streaming gaming platform counted 20 billion visitors in 2023, predominantly male and mobile.
Quora-19 billion visits last year as the platform shares knowledge and passes along information.
How many of the top-ten social media sites do you frequently visit?
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