5 Of The Most Popular Social Media Apps To Try Out In 2024

Gone are the days when being registered on social media was seen as a novelty. Stepping into 2024, these digital communities have become integral to everyone's lives. Beyond the conventional reasons like connecting, messaging, and sharing news or memes that people hop on social media apps for, there is a sea of opportunities for marketing prospects — especially among the most popular networking sites. 

With more than half of the world's population enjoying the allure of social media platforms, these networks offer forums to people for advocacy and collaboration. From the endlessly scrolling entertainment on TikTok to the benefits of instant messaging through apps like WhatsApp and iMessage, there is a healthy variety among the top contenders.

Whether you're a seasoned professional in the digital marketing space looking for your largest target audience or just someone excited to join a networking site with the biggest outreach to the masses, here is a list of the most populated social media apps to look out for in 2024 — ranked by the number of active users per month. 

Meta's quest for online dominance may not yet be at its peak, but with some of the world's most-used apps under its umbrella, it certainly is making significant strides toward that goal. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook is now home to 3.3 billion active users worldwide, with its biggest market being in India.

You can find a multitude of use cases for utilizing Facebook, be it for selling or buying items through its marketplace, advertising your agency using a page, interacting in communities with other people, or even cross-sharing your uploads from Instagram. This social media giant also remains everyone's default when sharing milestones in their careers, education, or life in general. 

It's no secret that the amount of data Meta loves to extract from its users is unforgivably astonishing; however, you can restrict the prying eyes by changing just a few Facebook privacy settings. Facebook's popularity is further expressed by the one billion people who use its dedicated texting app, Messenger. 

Most wouldn't see YouTube as a traditional social media platform. Still, with how many people it connects around the globe who share common interests, it ranks second with nearly 2.5 billion active users a month. The platform has become a hub for educational, entertainment, and promotional content due to nearly 500 hours worth of videos being uploaded to YouTube every passing minute.

Despite the lack of image or GIF support, the comments sections on YouTube videos have some of the highest interaction among fellow viewers. The introduction of community posts has further streamlined communication between creators and their subscribers. YouTubers can also choose to craft special content for subscribers who have joined their paid membership tiers as well. 

In classic Google fashion, YouTube doesn't shy away from playing around with experimental features. Although the recall of YouTube Stories was unfortunate, the launch of the TikTok-inspired Shorts feature was a massive success. YouTube also remains to be one of the most lucrative platforms for creators looking to monetize their work. In a digital era with shortened attention spans, YouTube persists as home to long-form and more immersive content. 

At its core, WhatsApp allows users to send and receive text messages, place audio and video calls, and share images, GIFs, and other documents — all while connecting over 2 billion people worldwide. In certain countries like India, Malaysia, and South Africa, it is the dominant instant messaging app of choice. With privacy-focused features and the ability to enable end-to-end encrypted cloud backups, WhatsApp is a go-to for family and work-related communications.

The introduction of WhatsApp Business has enabled a slew of useful features and tools for small and medium-sized brands to take advantage of. With the recent addition of the linked devices feature, you can now use the same WhatsApp account on multiple devices — ranging from the web to Android and iPhones.

Group chats on WhatsApp benefit from message reactions, poll creation, private replies, and granular admin controls to avoid spam. WhatsApp Payments is another serviceable addition, featuring a quick way to send and receive funds, just like how you can on iMessage. Despite its limited popularity in the U.S., WhatsApp is a household name in most Asian and European countries. 

Launched in 2010 as a mere photo-sharing platform with a handful of filter options, Instagram rose to unparalleled popularity among enthusiastic social media users. The billion-dollar acquisition by Facebook has catapulted Instagram into one of the most used digital platforms, amassing over 2 billion monthly users. 

Although not morally applaudable, Instagram's formula of borrowing features exclusive to other social media platforms worked in its favor. Instagram's version of stories, originally popularized by Snapchat, saw massive success and remains one of the most used features on the app to date. The implementation of reels, inspired by TikTok's short-form vertical content, has also become an integral part of the platform.

This is not to turn a blind eye to some of Instagram's unique features like broadcast groups, product-integrated posts, and powerful editing tools. The social network giant's algorithm is also impressive and highly adaptable to your interests. Messaging on Instagram through private DMs or groups is also a seamless experience with a bucketload of chat features, including polls, GIF support, disappearing photos and videos, and fancy message effects. 

Rivaling TikTok for the fifth most popular social network, WeChat is a name most people might not be familiar with. Its lack of availability in most of the Western world is thanks to Tencent's history of privacy issues, leading to many countries, including the U.S., banning WeChat and its services. Its dominance in China, however, is the reason behind the 1.3 billion active users every month.

Popular among all age groups, WeChat's usefulness extends beyond just being a messaging platform. It features a newsfeed similar to that of Facebook where users can share photos, videos, important life updates, or just connect with others. WeChat has a mini app store of its own, featuring add-ons like shopping, photo editing, and movie streaming apps. 

WeChat Pay, which is the company's digital wallet, is also acceptable throughout China and allows for quick and easy cashless transactions. The service is also available to registered users traveling to the U.K., Italy, South Africa, and other European countries.