World’s Favourite Social Media Platforms 2025 | Top Global Platforms

Global Social Media Platforms 2025

In 2025, social media continues to be a central part of everyday life for billions of people around the world. With more than 5.24 billion social media users globally—equating to over 63% of the world’s population—social platforms are now essential spaces for communication, entertainment, education, shopping, and brand engagement. Their influence spans across demographics and geographies, shaping how individuals interact with content, businesses, and each other in real time.

This year’s leading platforms include both long-established giants and fast-growing challengers. YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok remain among the most widely used apps globally, while others like Snapchat, Telegram, X (formerly Twitter), Messenger, and Pinterest maintain strong user bases in specific regions and age groups. As users increasingly adopt multiple platforms, often using six or more each month, the social media landscape in 2025 reflects both depth and diversity in digital behavior.

Top Global Social Media Platforms by Active Users in 2025

In 2025, YouTube maintains its dominance as the most used social media platform globally, serving as the reference point with an active user index of 100.0. This ranking, derived from Android activity data (primarily November 2024), reflects how widely the platform is used for everything from content consumption to community interaction. WhatsApp follows closely with an estimated index of 86.2, making its user base around 86% the size of YouTube’s. This is significant, especially considering WhatsApp is primarily a messaging app, suggesting its integration into daily communication habits globally.

Facebook holds the third spot with an index of 82.2, just behind WhatsApp, reaffirming its large, active base despite shifting preferences among younger users. Instagram, another Meta-owned platform, ranks fourth with an index of 72.3, indicating that while it remains a highly engaging visual platform, it doesn’t quite match the all-encompassing utility of YouTube or the communication power of WhatsApp.

Beyond the big four, TikTok comes in with an index of 48.3, revealing that despite its viral presence, its Android user activity is less than half that of YouTube. Meta’s Messenger sits just below TikTok at 47.8, showing sustained relevance as a standalone chat platform despite Meta’s push to merge messaging services across apps. Telegram follows with an index of 32.9, underlining its popularity among privacy-conscious users and those in markets with lower trust in mainstream platforms.

Further down the list, Snapchat (24.5), X (formerly Twitter) at 21.5, and Pinterest (19.7) show smaller but still notable active user bases. While they don’t compete at the same scale as the top-tier platforms, each serves distinct purposes: Snapchat for ephemeral sharing among youth, X for real-time updates and conversations, and Pinterest for discovery and visual search. These figures also reveal how social media usage diversifies across interests and demographics—even within a mobile-first ecosystem.

World’s Favourite Social Platform in 2025

In 2025, Instagram continues to dominate global user preferences, with 16.6% of adult social media users naming it their favourite platform. WhatsApp closely follows at 16.0%, reflecting its indispensable role in daily communication across both developed and emerging markets. Facebook, despite being a veteran platform, still holds a strong foothold in third place with 13.1%. WeChat is ranked fourth at 12.0%, primarily due to its massive popularity within China, while TikTok rounds out the top five at 8.1%, reflecting its ongoing influence in short-form video content globally.

Beyond the top five, Douyin—TikTok’s Chinese counterpart—claims a notable 7.3% preference rate, underscoring the strength of ByteDance’s ecosystem in China. X (formerly Twitter) follows at 3.2%, showing limited but steady loyalty. Telegram and Messenger are almost equally favoured, at 2.6% and 2.4% respectively, particularly among users prioritizing messaging and private communication. Meanwhile, LINE (1.8%) remains a favourite in select Asian markets like Japan and Taiwan, and Pinterest closes the list with 1.5%, popular among niche audiences who favour visual discovery and planning. These figures showcase a fragmented landscape where preferences vary widely based on geography, use case, and platform features.

Global Social Media Platform Preferences by Gender and Age in 2025

In 2025, Instagram emerges as the top choice for women aged 16 to 44, with its visually engaging content and influencer-driven ecosystem continuing to resonate strongly. Among younger women aged 16–24, TikTok takes second place, reflecting its strong cultural appeal through trends and short-form video. However, TikTok’s popularity among women declines rapidly with age—falling to sixth place among those aged 35 and above. From age 45 onward, WhatsApp becomes the most favored platform for women, indicating a shift towards communication-based utility over content consumption.

For men, Instagram holds the top position in the 16–24 age group, but starting from age 25, WhatsApp overtakes as the leading platform, suggesting growing reliance on private messaging and group interactions. Facebook also gains traction among men by the age of 25, overtaking TikTok in preference, which sees significantly lower favourability among men across all age brackets. By age 35, both men and women consolidate around WhatsApp and Facebook as their go-to platforms, emphasizing a clear generational divide in platform use and purpose.

Global Social Platforms by Total Time Spent – 2025

In 2025, YouTube dominates the global rankings for total time spent on social platforms, according to data.ai (Sensor Tower). As a benchmark, YouTube captures 100% of the reference index, meaning it retains the highest share of time users dedicate to any single social media app. What’s striking is that TikTok, often considered the most addictive platform, still only accounts for approximately 52% of the time users spend on YouTube. This highlights the persistent appeal and long-form engagement patterns of video content on YouTube, especially for tutorials, entertainment, education, and streaming.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp and Facebook closely follow, each capturing roughly 41–42% of YouTube’s monthly total user time, showcasing the continued utility of messaging and traditional networking apps. Instagram, despite its popularity, lags a bit behind the top contenders in this specific metric, with only 42.5% of YouTube’s total user time. These patterns suggest that while many platforms are widely used, YouTube is where people actually spend the most time, making it a highly valuable asset for advertisers and content creators alike in 2025.

Disclaimer: The data research report we present here is based on information found from various sources. We are not liable for any financial loss, errors, or damages of any kind that may result from the use of the information herein. We acknowledge that though we try to report accurately, we cannot verify the absolute facts of everything that has been represented.