Top 10 most popular social media platforms worldwide in 2025: 2 Chinese apps on list

List of popular Social Media Platforms in 2025: Regardless of the fact that the number of social media users is constantly on the increase all over the world, recent statistics indicate that since this time a year ago, there has been a certain rise of 259 million new user identities on numerous such platforms, which has just been disclosed by an online publication of digital data and trends DataReportal.

It has become one of the pillars of the contemporary information society and as of October 2025, the number of individuals using it is approximately 5.66 billion or 68.7 per cent of the global population.

Due to increasing availability of digital technologies in everyday life, newer social media options are being introduced and, as a result, the number of users has reached billions.

First on the list, Facebook has always managed to stay the most popular and used social media with a total of 3.07 billion monthly active users as of the early 2025.

Although the best-charts social platforms with over 100 million users were all founded in the United States, Chinese social networks such as WeChat and Douyin also have a huge number of active users.

Meta Platforms headquartered in California, which owns four of the largest social media sites with over 1 billion monthly active users, ranks Facebook (core platform) at the first place and then Instagram (3 billion users), WhatsApp (3 billion) and Messenger (942 million) in the second, third and eighth position respectively.

Top 10 Most Popular Social Media Platforms Worldwide in 2025 (By Monthly Active Users)

Also, the Tik Tok, created in China, and having its parent company, ByteDance, takes the fifth place in the list with 1.9 billion users.

The application has already become a widely used video-sharing application in the world, and the popularity of the Chinese social media platform Douyin instantly suggested ByteDance to launch a version of the popular platform on the international level, the Tik Tok.

Watching an increase in the number of active monthly users, Reddit made the list of the top 10 in the given year.

What are the most important Features and Functions of WeChat as a Brand?

WeChat is much more than a messaging service it is a full-applied digital ecosystem that connects communication, content, e-commerce and customer management into one platform. It is the cornerstone of Chinese social media marketing and allows companies to create communities of loyal people, establish sales, and sustain close interaction with consumers.

Businesses will be able to share branded content, engage followers and make traffic measurable through WeChat Official Accounts. Notifications, livestreams, built-in payment functionality, analytics dashboards, and more WeChat provides the important functionality that every brand would want to connect, engage, and develop in the digital environment in China.

To the businesses running an account in WeChat as the official account, the platform offers a one-stop solution to interact, engage, and turn the Chinese audiences into converts.
The main characteristics that ensure that WeChat is the key tool of any brand marketing in China include:

Send Direct Notifications: Get your audience up to date and engaged by sending push notifications to followers as soon as a new piece of content or an offer is released to ensure complete engagement.

Advertising in WeChat: Advertise within the platform of WeChat. The use of Official Accounts can help promote posts in user feeds, Moments, and mini-programs to encourage visibility, traffic, and conversions.

Create and Nurture Community: WeChat helps to create private-traffic a marketing where a brand can provide consistent contact with its followers to develop an audience of loyal consumers through personal messages, programs and exclusive content.

Drive Traffic to your E-commerce Stores: by attaching your WeChat page with your online stores or mini-program, you will be able to facilitate the easy shopping experience and allow direct product purchase.

Create and Configure a WeChat Account: To unlock the possibilities of more advanced business and analytics tools and advertising functionality for Chinese consumers, create and verify your Official Account.

Video publishing and streaming: Host livestreams, or uploaded videos on-demand and in-app. These aspects put WeChat at par with Douyin when it comes to combining entertainment and commerce to tell the brand story.

Set of Metrics and Dashboard Visualization: Use the analytics of Access WeChat to monitor the performance of the posts and the demographics of the audience, engagement and ROI of the campaign to optimize the strategy with real time data.

What Is the Rationale of using WeChat to engage Chinese Brands?

A messaging application, WeChat is much more than this, it is the foundation of the Chinese digital ecosystem and a place every brand which intends to establish a long-lasting relationship with Chinese customers is required to be. Having more than 1.3 billion active users every month, WeChat incorporates social communication features, content publishing, e-commerce, and payment services in a single platform.

To brands, it serves as a full customer-engagement platform – they can communicate with their customers at the level of personalization by using the Official Accounts, integrate loyalty initiatives via Mini Programs, and facilitate the conversion process via WeChat Pay.

The following sections discuss the ability of these WeChat extensions to combine in boosting brand recognition, trust and sales in the connected consumer pathway in China.

China-specific Social Media Marketing Strategies

Made for China is the slogan in the dynamic and diverse sphere of Chinese social media marketing. Gone is a time when general campaign serves. Brands are going dirty and know the local culture, detailed aspects and what the Chinese audience likes. And those that get it right? It is not dominating them, but they are dominating.

In China customization is paramount. The brands have to be involved in quick adaptation to the constantly changing online landscape. Here’s a breakdown:

Localized Content Creation

Language Adaptation: 9 Go beyond translation; make sure the content is culturally appealing.
Visual Elements: Employ images and designs which are in line with the Chinese aesthetics and cultural symbols.
Blogging: Prepare tales that are compliant to Chinese norms, customs, and modern trends.

Make use of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and Influencers

Cooperation with the Right Faces: Cooperation with those influencers that resonate with your brand image and values.
Livestreaming: Livestreaming sessions should be conducted by using popular KOLs, which is a huge trend within Chinese e-commerce.
Run Influencer Takeovers: Ask them to take over your brand social media account on a day to gain their followers.

QR Codes Everywhere

Convenient Incorporation: Incorporate QR codes in advertising content to direct people to websites or product pages, or WeChat official accounts.
Offline to Online: Applying QR code in the physical outlets or occasion is an option to redirect traffic on the digital platform.

The Drive of WeChat Mini-Programs

Multifunctionality: You can create mini-programs Gaming to e-commerce: create mini-programs based on what you offer as a brand.
User Engagement: Develop interactive uses to retain the users in the WeChat ecosystem.

Engage in Social Commerce

Platform-based Campaigns: Find ads that are aimed at a specific platform such as Xiaohongshu or Douyin, where e-commerce is intrinsically social.
UGC (User Generated Content): Invite people to express their experience with the product, and build organic recommendations.

Stay Ahead of Digital Trends

AR and VR: Develop experiences of shopping or a brand in the real world.
AI-powered Personalization: Feed customers on-site with personalization through machine learning or get their machine learning-based product recommendations.

Big Data Precision Marketing

Audience Segmentation: Segment and target specific users using platforms such as Alibaba Alimama or Tencent advert platforms.
Retargeting: Retarget potential customers by using data analytics to retarget the potential customer based on online activity.

Assure Digital Reputation Management

Monitor and Engage: Monitor frequently on blogs such as Zhihu or Weibo and take an active participation.
Solve Problems In Sight: Chinese consumers consider brand responsiveness in terms of promptness and effectiveness of a response to feedback.

Change to Local Digital Ecosystem

Search Engine Optimization: concentration on the Baidu the most popular Chinese search engine to be visible to the brands.
Mobile-first Approach: Since most of them use mobile to access the internet, sites and campaigns should be mobile-friendly.

Festive Campaigns and Cultural Sensitivity

Event-based Campaigns: Run campaigns during major holidays such as the Chinese New Year, Golden Week, Singles Day or the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Avoid Cultural Taboos: Make sure that adverts or campaigns do not unintentionally insult the local sensibilities.

Brands should think like learners in order to enter the Chinese market. Although the global brand value may give a first time competitive advantage, a thorough knowledge on the local consumer behavior coupled with the aforementioned strategies will give longevity to the success in the dynamic digital China.

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