Infographic: Visualizing the Social Media Universe in 2020
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Visualizing the Social Media Universe in 2020

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Visualizing the Social Media Universe in 2020

Social media has seeped into virtually all aspects of modern life. The vast social media universe collectively now holds 3.8 billion users, representing roughly 50% of the global population.

With an additional billion internet users projected to come online in the coming years, it’s possible that the social media universe could expand even further.

How the Networks Stack Up

To begin, let’s take a look at how social networks compare in terms of monthly active users (MAUs)โ€”an industry metric widely used to gauge the success of these platforms.

RankSocial NetworkMAUs In MillionsCountry of Origin
#1Facebook2,603๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ U.S.
#2WhatsApp2,000๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ U.S.
#3YouTube2,000๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ U.S.
#4Messenger1,300๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ U.S.
#5WeChat1,203๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#6Instagram1,082๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ U.S.
#7TikTok800๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#8QQ694๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#9Weibo550๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#10Qzone517๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#11Reddit430 ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ U.S.
#12Telegram400 ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ Russia
#13Snapchat397 ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ U.S.
#14Pinterest367 ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ U.S.
#15Twitter326 ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ U.S.
#16LinkedIn310 ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ U.S.
#17Viber260๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต Japan
#18Line187๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต Japan
#19YY157๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#20Twitch140 ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ U.S.
#21Vkontakte100 ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ Russia

Here’s a closer look at individual social platforms, and their trials and tribulations:

Facebook

To put it mildly, Facebook has had its hands full. A flurry of companies are boycotting Facebookโ€™s ads, while the platform struggles to fend off the spread of misinformation.

Yet, its stock price continues to advance to new highs while the traditional economy faces less than rosy forecasts. Facebook still possesses the largest cohort of users, inching closer to the 3 billion MAU markโ€”a breakthrough yet to be achieved by any company.

Snapchat

Snapchat and founder Evan Spiegel have had a bumpy road since their IPO in 2017. The stock price reached its nadir near $4 in 2018, reflecting investor concerns tied to the introduction of Instagram Stories. In recent times, the stock has advanced past the $20 mark, although there is still long-term unclarity around monetization and profitability.

YouTube

YouTube competes head on against traditional television and streaming programs for eyeballs. The platform raked in revenues of $15.1 billion in 2019, nearly double their figures in 2017.

Parent company Alphabet has invested in YouTube with new rollouts like YouTube Music (merged with what was once Google Music) and YouTube Premiumโ€”a bundled subscription-based platform providing music, ad-free content, and YouTube Originals. By the looks of it, the future of YouTube will be much more than just videos.

WeChat

The biggest social platform in China, WeChat has flourished, now holding a whopping 1.2 billion MAUs. As part of the Tencent Holdings conglomerate, they belong to the BATX group that is seen to lock horns with America’s Big Tech.

Reddit

There have been whispers of a Reddit IPO on Wall Street for some time now. While such an event has not yet materialized, Redditโ€™s success certainly has. With 430 million MAUs relative to 330 million in 2018, the company continues to attract a larger audience. The notion of community has taken on a different meaning in the digital age, and Reddit represents this transition with their ever-growing network of users.

Instagram

Instagram has been vital to Facebookโ€™s success, since its $1 billion acquisition in 2012. The platform attracts a younger audience compared to Facebook and it has demonstrated an ability to remain versatile, specifically by implementing Instagram Stories and Reels.

Twitter

Busy schedules donโ€™t seem to faze Jack Dorsey who has not one, but two CEO jobs in Twitter and Square. Twitter has been able to achieve profitability in the last two years, reporting net income figures of $1.2 and $1.5 billion in 2018 and 2019 respectively. They no doubt have their work cut out for them as they continue to combat fake news and similar controversies on their platform.

TikTok

If any publicity is good publicity, then 2020 has been TikTok’s year. Headlines include privacy breaches with alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party, a banning of the app by India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and now, talks of a partial U.S. acquisition. Potential acquirers include leaders Microsoft, Twitter, and Oracle.

Social Media Under Trial?

Despite the list of headwinds social media has faced, about half of the world is now on itโ€”and there seems to be no end in sight for future growth.

How have companies with exposure to the social media universe fared in 2020 so far?

Companies With Exposure To Social MediaYTD Price Returns
Pinterest83%
Tencent Holdings43%
Snapchat32%
Facebook30%
Twitter22%
Alphabet17%

Widespread participation in social media comes with its fair set of problems. Some companies such as Facebook have found themselves in the crosshairs on both sides of the political spectrum. As concerns grow around privacy and data, social media will be front and center in shaping the future of government, business, and politics.

Only time will tell just how high user counts will reach. The long-term trajectory suggests there’s more room left in the engine. There are still parts of the world that are just beginning to possess the technological infrastructure for social media to be a possibility. Itโ€™s plausible future growth will come from that avenue.

If stock prices of companies linked to social media are of relevance, their performance this year paired with the fact that they are trading near all-time highs supports such a growth thesis.

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Ranked: The Top 50 Most Visited Websites in the World

In this visualization, we rank the top 50 websites that receive the most internet traffic, from Google to CNN.

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Ranked: The Top 50 Most Visited Websites in the World

Estimates vary, but there are upwards of two billion websites in existence in 2023.

If we were to rank all of these websites according to their traffic numbers, we would see a classic power law distribution. At the low end, the vast majority of these websites would be inactive, receiving little to no traffic. On the upper end of the ranking though, a handful of websites receive the lion’s share of internet traffic.

This visualization, using data from SimilarWeb, takes a look at the 50 websites that currently sit at the top of the ranking.

Which Websites Get the Most Traffic?

Topping the list of most-visited websites in the world is, of course, Google. With over 3.5 billion searches per day, Google has cemented its position as the go-to source for information on the internet. But Google’s dominance doesn’t stop there. The company also owns YouTube, the second-most popular website in the world. Together, Google and YouTube have more traffic than the next 48 websites combined.

The power of YouTube, in particular, is sometimes not fully understood. The video platform is the second largest search engine in the world after Google. As well, YouTube has the second highest duration-of-visit numbers in this top 50 ranking. (First place goes to the Chinese video sharing website, Bilibili.)

But Google and YouTube aren’t the only big players on the internet. Other websites in the top 50 ranking include social media giants Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. In particular, TikTok has seen a surge in popularity in recent years and is now one of the most popular social media platforms in the world.

Here’s the full top 50 ranking table form:

RankWebsiteMonthly TrafficCategoryCountry
#1google.com85.1BSearch Engines๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#2youtube.com33.0BStreaming & Online TV๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#3facebook.com17.8BSocial Media Networks๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#4twitter.com6.8BSocial Media Networks๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#5instagram.com6.1BSocial Media Networks๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#6baidu.com5.0BSearch Engines๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#7wikipedia.org4.8BDictionaries & Encyclopedias๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#8yandex.ru3.4BSearch Engines๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ Russia
#9yahoo.com3.3BNews & Media Publishers๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#10whatsapp.com2.9BSocial Media Networks๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#11xvideo.com2.8BAdult๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Czechia
#12amazon.com2.6BMarketplace๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#13pornhub.com2.5BAdult๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Canada
#14xnxx.com2.3BAdult๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท France
#15live.com2.1BEmail๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#16yahoo.co.jp2.1BNews & Media Publishers๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต Japan
#17netflix.com2.0BStreaming & Online TV๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#18tiktok.com1.8BSocial Media Networks๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#19docomo.ne.jp1.8BTelecommunications๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต Japan
#20reddit.com1.7BSocial Media Networks๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#21office.com1.6BProg. & Developer Software๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#22linkedin.com1.6BSocial Media Networks๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#23dzen.ru1.4BFaith & Beliefs๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ Russia
#24samsung.com1.4BConsumer Electronics๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท S. Korea
#25vk.com1.4BSocial Media Networks๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ Russia
#26xhamster.com1.3BAdult๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡พ Cyprus
#27turbopages.org1.3BNews & Media Publishers๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ Russia
#28mail.ru1.2BEmail๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ Russia
#29naver.com1.2BNews & Media Publishers๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท S. Korea
#30bing.com1.2BSearch Engines๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#31microsoftonline.com1.1BProg. & Developer Software๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#32discord.com1.1BSocial Media Networks๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#33twitch.tv1.1BGaming & Accessories๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#34bilibili.com1.0BAnimations & Comics๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#35pinterest.com1.0BSocial Media Networks๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#36zoom.us985.9MComputers Electronics & Tech๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#37weather.com985.7MWeather๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#38qq.com907.1MNews & Media Publishers๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#39microsoft.com902.3MProg. & Developer Software๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#40msn.com870.8MNews & Media Publishers๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#41globo.com840.1MNews & Media Publishers๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท Brazil
#42duckduckgo.com839.0MSearch Engines๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#43roblox.com795.7MGaming & Accessories๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#44quora.com775.9MDictionaries & Encyclopedias๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#45news.yahoo.co.jp749.1MNews & Media Publishers๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต Japan
#46ebay.com728.0MMarketplace๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#47aajtak.in724.1MNews & Media Publishers๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ India
#48nytimes.com702.2MNews & Media Publishers๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#49realsrv.com688.0MAdult๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.
#50cnn.com684.9MNews & Media Publishers๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.

Notable companies that have fallen out of the top 50 since our last version of this visualization are Walmart and PayPal. Notable entrants into the top 50 are Samsung and the New York Times.

The Geography of the 50 Most-Visited Websites

The United States is still home base for many of the world’s biggest websites, taking up 30 spots on this ranking. Of these 30 websites, half are operated by Big Tech companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Netflix.

Russia, China, Japan, and South Korea round out the top five.

Top 50 Websites by country
View static image

Things get interesting in the “other” category, which includes six websites. Two spots are taken up by Aaj Tak and Globo, which are large media publications in India and Brazil, respectively.

The remaining four websitesโ€”XVideos, PornHub, XHamster, and XNXXโ€”specialize in adult content, and are located in a variety of countries. These are often referred to as “tube sites” since they are built on the YouTube model.

Realsrv, the only adult-oriented site in the top 50 located in the U.S., is interesting to delve into as well, since it’s far from a household name. The website essentially supports advertising efforts by redirecting users away from the content they were viewing over to another page (generally premium adult content). This is one of the key ways that adult websites earn revenue.

Where does this data come from?

Source: SimilarWeb

Notes: Websites listed include “all meaningful subdomains”, and categories in the graphic follow SimilarWeb’s categorization system. This is the third version of this graphic. As with previous versions, we aim to use data from November for the sake of consistency and to avoid seasonal fluctuations in traffic. One important detail to point out is that website traffic does not include app traffic, which is why popular platforms like WeChat don’t appear in this ranking.

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