Who are the Social Media Giants in 2025?
The social media landscape is a dynamic one, with new platforms, updated features, and technology affecting it. To run effective digital marketing campaigns, regular evaluation of the available social media platforms is important. This ensures that your business is on the right platform for your business growth into 2025.
Mighty Meta
Part of the Meta stable, Facebook remains the undisputed leader of social media platforms with over 3 billion monthly active users (MAU), which is about 37% of the world’s population. The majority of Facebook users in South Africa are 25-34 years old, and more likely to be female.
Facebook is a multifaceted tool for community engagement, business advertising, and entertainment through text, images and video content.
Sister platform, Instagram is a favourite for photo and video sharing, especially among younger audiences. It has 2.04 billion MAU and offers the unique opportunity to gain user-generated content from followers who often tag and share content.
Video Platforms
YouTube is firmly established as the go-to platform for video content, with over 2.5 billion MAU. It features everything from entertainment to education, live-streaming and influencer content.
YouTube is ideal for brands selling through video, and for those providing how to videos for customers, or users.
TikTok has transformed into a global cultural phenomenon, with over 1.5 billion MAU worldwide in 2025. Its algorithmic content feed and short-form video format have made it a favourite for entertainment, trends, and influencer-driven marketing.
With almost half its users aged between 10-29 years in the U.S., it is a good option for brands targeting a young demographic.
Snapchat appeals to younger generations, primarily teens and young adults, with 800 million MAU. It pioneered the vertical video format now popular on Instagram and TikTok.
Its innovations in augmented reality (AR) and its diverse range of filters and lenses have kept the platform fresh and engaging.
Customer Service
WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging app. With 2.78 billion MAU in over 180 countries, it offers both personal and business accounts.
It is most often used by businesses for customer service and support, and for sharing updates with customers.
WeChat is a multi-functional super app, particularly dominant in China and other parts of Asia, with 13.34 billion MAU. WeChat serves as a combination of social media, messaging, e-commerce, and even banking.
For brands looking to reach Chinese consumers, almost 80% of the population are active users.
A secure alternative to traditional messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram has 900 million MAU. Brands can use Telegram for one-on-one customer support, or to broadcast messages up to 200,000 people.
Its privacy features, encrypted messaging, ability to host large groups and channels, and share large files, makes it the go-to social media platform for niche communities and digital privacy advocates.
Part of the broader Facebook ecosystem, Facebook Messenger has carved out its own space in the messaging landscape. The app allows for text, video calls, and even shopping, making it a hub for both personal conversations and customer service.
Figures on MAU vary for X (formerly Twitter) and it is a platform largely used for news and other real-time information. Brands use X as an alternate customer service channel, with many requests (complaints?) posted publicly.
As new technologies and trends continue to emerge, the top social media platforms will keep evolving, to remain at the forefront of the digital revolution. Similarly, your brand’s digital strategy should evolve to stay ahead of the competition.
Embrace the digital revolution and grow your business with Yeet’s social media marketing and digital marketing strategies.