Meta Maintains Lead in Social Media Reach, Threads Gains on X

Meta remains the frontrunner in total social platform reach and usage, while Threads continues to narrow the gap with X, and Pinterest shows sustained growth. These findings come from the latest snapshot of overall user numbers, measured per app.

This data is significant not only for reach but also for understanding where user attention is shifting. It can guide brands and marketers in allocating promotional budgets and serves as a barometer for broader online trends.

As illustrated in the chart, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp have each reached 3 billion monthly active users, based on the platforms' own reporting.

While Meta no longer discloses platform-specific numbers in its quarterly performance updates, it does share milestone achievements. According to the company, Instagram is the most recent Meta-owned app to hit the 3 billion user milestone, which it did in September 2025. Meta announced that WhatsApp reached 3 billion users during its Q1 2025 earnings call, while Facebook achieved this mark in 2023.

However, Meta only reports its total family of apps usage, which is a combined count of unique users across all its platforms. In Q1 2026, Meta reported 3.56 billion total users, a slight decline from the previous quarter and the first drop in overall user count since the company began reporting these figures.

This could suggest that Meta's apps have lost some of their appeal. Even so, more than 3 billion people—nearly a third of the world's population—still log into one or more Meta apps each month.

Meta's Messenger app records 1.3 billion monthly actives, according to official reporting, and Threads reached 500 million actives just last month.

YouTube trails Meta, based on data from Business of Apps, which reports 2.7 billion monthly active users. YouTube is generally guarded about its official user counts, though it has reported significant increases in Shorts views, rising from about 30 billion daily views in 2022 to about 200 billion daily views in 2026.

TikTok stated it reached one billion monthly actives in 2021, although Business of Apps reported that the platform hit 1.6 billion MAU in 2023. It's worth noting that TikTok itself has not shared official usage data to confirm either figure.

TikTok has also faced restrictions in some regions, which may have potentially limited its growth.

Meanwhile, Snapchat is approaching its first billion, reaching 956 million in Q1 2026. The platform has seen significant growth in India, where it has become a key connector for young users.

Pinterest's ranking may surprise some, with the platform now at 631 million monthly actives.

X is nearly neck-and-neck with Threads, reporting 550 million MAU.

Reddit does not report monthly active user counts, but the company reported 126.8 million daily active users for Q1 2026, up from 121.4 million in Q4 2025. An estimated 500,000 weekly actives is extrapolated from that, though Reddit's actual monthly active figure may be higher.

LinkedIn also does not share active user numbers. Instead, it reports its full member count, currently at 1.3 billion. However, LinkedIn's EU reporting data indicates that around 32% of EU LinkedIn members actively use the app each month, suggesting LinkedIn currently serves around 416 million monthly active users.

Of course, total user counts are not especially meaningful in a broader context, because what truly matters is where the most relevant audience is for brand campaigns and messaging. With numerous niche discussions and groups, every platform may hold value for outreach and engagement.

But in terms of broader trends, it is interesting to observe platform positioning and which ones are leading in overall growth and presence.

It's also worth noting that while only some platforms share daily active user counts, the average conversion rate is around 2.05 times fewer than monthly counts, based on official reports.

That means if brands want to estimate daily active user counts for any social app, they would need to divide the monthly number by 2.05 to get an estimate of their likely audience. The only significant outlier is Reddit, which sees 3.8 times more weekly users than daily users.