As of July 2024, cloud-based mobile messaging app Telegram reported 950 million monthly active users worldwide. Telegram is a chat app launched in 2013 by the brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov. The pair had previously founded the Russian social network VK, which they left when it was taken over by the Mail.ru Group. Telegram In 2023, the majority of Telegram’s global audience, was comprised by users aged between 25 and 34 years. Among the reasons to use Telegram, 80 percent of the platform’s users reported to “learn the majority of the news from Telegram.” After the announcement that WhatsApp was going to release a new privacy policy update was met with criticism in 2021, Telegram's audience and popularity spiked, bringing global downloads to 167 million. Telegram security criticism Despite claiming to be more secure than other mainstream messengers such as LINE or WhatsApp, Telegram has been frequently criticized by industry experts such as German consumer organization Stiftung Warentest or the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). One of the key points of criticism is Telegram’s failure to provide automatic end-to-end encryption (WhatsApp and LINE messenger have end-to-end encryption set up by default).

As of January 2025, monthly active users of Telegram accounted for over 11 percent of the global population, marking an increase from the previous year. In total, 950 million people used Telegram on average per month.

India was the leading market of Telegram by app downloads. Throughout 2024, Indian users installed the messaging app approximately 100 million times. Russia ranked second, with over 38.4 million downloads over the observed period, while U.S. users installed the app 38.2 million times. Brazil recorded the largest number of downloads among Latin American countries. France and Germany were the leading markets in Western Europe. Telegram usage in India Telegram had the fourth-highest penetration rate among social media platforms in India, following WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook. In the third quarter of 2023, more than 58 percent of Indian active social media users reported having used Telegram over the past month. However, user engagement on Telegram in India was significantly lower than on other major networks. On average, Indian users spent 2.3 hours per month on the platform in 2021, which was 10 times shorter than on WhatsApp. Growing popularity of Telegram As of July 2024, Telegram had 950 million active users around the globe, having multiplied its audience tenfold since December 2014. Telegram recorded a sharp increase in global downloads in the first quarter of 2021, when WhatsApp, its competitor owned by Meta, updated its privacy policy. In March 2022, Telegram further increased its popularity in Russia after Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram were banned in the country. The number of daily active users (DAU) of Telegram nationwide grew by 15 percent between January and March 2022.

India was Telegram's largest market as of 2022. Between January and April of that year, the average number of monthly active users of that messaging app in India stood at nearly 87 million. Furthermore, nearly 16 million people in Brazil used Telegram on average per month. MAU of Telegram in the United States was close to 11 million over the course of 2022.

During the third quarter of 2024, Telegram was downloaded approximately 760,000 times through the Apple App Store and almost 1.3 million times on the Google Play Store by users in France. Telegram experienced a peak in downloads from both Android and iOS devices in January 2021, due to users' negative reception of the WhatsApp privacy policy update released globally during that month. During the second quarter of 2022 Telegram users increased to 700 million monthly active worldwide, as the platform launched its first direct monetization program.

In the spring of 2024, users worldwide spent an average of over four hours per month using the messenger app Telegram. Users in Russia spent almost 13 hours on average using the popular social and communication app, while users in Singapore spent around four hours monthly on the app.

In 2024, the largest number of VK app downloads was recorded in Russia, at over 11 million. Thailand was the second-leading market of the social media app, with more than 2.2 million downloads over the same period. VK is strongly present in Russian-speaking regions and neighboring countries. The app offers a social network, known in Russian as VKontakte, a messenger, music streaming, and other services of the VK company. VK in the Russian social media landscape VK has solidified its position as a major social network in Russia, used by over 70 percent of the population aged 16 to 64 each month. Only the messengers WhatsApp and Telegram recorded a higher reach. VK's monthly active user base in the country reached nearly 88 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, demonstrating consistent growth. Moreover, over 54 million Russians used the platform via mobile devices daily. The platform's growth has been particularly notable since 2022 following the exit of several major Western social networks from the Russian market. VKontakte user demographics Women represent the largest share of VK users in Russia, at nearly 63 percent as of October 2024. The social media platform attracts a diverse age range, with the biggest portion of users aged 35 to 44, followed closely by the 25-34 age group.

The most popular messenger application in Russia in August 2021 was WhatsApp, with an audience of nearly 77 million. Telegram, which was unblocked by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media of Russia (Roskomnadzor) in June 2020, ranked second with around 38 million users visiting it at least once a month. Viber was placed third with approximately 34.8 million users.

In 2022, WhatsApp was the chat and communication app most used on daily basis among Android users, with 1.35 billion monthly active users (MAU). Facebook messenger ranked second, with over 763 million MAU, while Telegram counted 412 million users active on monthly basis. Chat and VoIP communication app Line saw 65 million monthly active users mainly in its Asian market.

As of February 2025, two billion users were accessing the WhatsApp messenger on a monthly basis. The app’s reach in usage penetration is particularly strong in markets outside the United States, and it is one of the most popular mobile social apps worldwide. WeChat amassed over 1.38 billion users, and Facebook Messenger amassed around 947 million users worldwide. Instant messaging is a type of online chat which offers real-time text transmission via internet. Since the appearance of the smartphone and the subsequent explosion of mobile apps, low-cost or free chat and social messaging apps have proven themselves as a cheap alternative to operator-based text messaging via SMS. Many messenger apps offer features such as group chats, the exchange of graphics, video and even audio messages as well as stickers or emoticons.

Online messaging app Telegram has increased in popularity in recent years surpassing Twitter and Snapchat by the number of active monthly users in late 2020. The messenger has also been crucial to protest movements in several countries in 2019-2020, including Belarus, Russia and Hong Kong. Yet, to date only few studies examined online activities on Telegram and none have analyzed the platform with regard to the protest mobilization. In the present study, we address the existing gap by examining Telegram-based activities related to the 2019 protests in Hong Kong. With this paper we aim to provide an example of methodological tools that can be used to study protest mobilization and coordination on Telegram. We also contribute to the research on computational text analysis in Cantonese - one of the low-resource Asian languages, - as well as to the scholarship on Hong Kong protests and research on social media-based protest mobilization in general. For that, we rely on the data collected through Telegram’s API and a combination of network analysis and computational text analysis. We find that the Telegram-based network was cohesive ensuring efficient spread of protest-related information. Content spread through Telegram predominantly concerned discussions of future actions and protest-related on-site information (i.e., police presence in certain areas). We find that the Telegram network was dominated by different actors each month of the observation suggesting the absence of one single leader. Further, traditional protest leaders - those prominent during the 2014 Umbrella Movement, - such as media and civic organisations were less prominent in the network than local communities. Finally, we observe a cooldown in the level of Telegram activity after the enactment of the harsh National Security Law in July 2020. Further investigation is necessary to assess the persistence of this effect in a long-term perspective.

The messenger app Telegram had around five million paying users around the world as of January 2024, one million more than in the previous month. Telegram introduced a freemium model with paid subscriptions in June 2022.

Top words per topic cluster.

During a 2023 survey fielded in Brazil, 67 percent of Telegram monthly active users said the solution was suitable to contact brands and companies through the mobile app to ask them questions and receive special offers. About 62 of the respondents stated that Telegram was fitting for getting technical support in or through the platform.

Market leader Facebook was the first social network to surpass one billion registered accounts and currently sits at more than three billion monthly active users. Meta Platforms owns four of the biggest social media platforms, all with more than one billion monthly active users each: Facebook (core platform), WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram. In the third quarter of 2023, Facebook reported around four billion monthly core Family product users. The United States and China account for the most high-profile social platforms Most top ranked social networks with more than 100 million users originated in the United States, but services like Chinese social networks WeChat, QQ or video sharing app Douyin have also garnered mainstream appeal in their respective regions due to local context and content. Douyin’s popularity has led to the platform releasing an international version of its network: a little app called TikTok. How many people use social media? The leading social networks are usually available in multiple languages and enable users to connect with friends or people across geographical, political, or economic borders. In 2022, Social networking sites are estimated to reach 3.96 billion users and these figures are still expected to grow as mobile device usage and mobile social networks increasingly gain traction in previously underserved markets.

As of the third of 2023, Nigeria saw approximately 95.1 percent of the country's digital population engaging with mobile social messaging platform WhatsApp on a monthly basis. Approximately 93.9 percent of internet users in South Africa reported using WhatsApp every month, while Brazil saw 93.4 percent of its internet users engaging with the platform. By comparison, 63.7 internet users in France reported using the messaging app, while Denmark had the lowest WhatsApp usage rate among the examined markets. WhatsApp usage worldwide As of July 2021, WhatsApp counted roughly two billion global monthly active users. The Facebook-owned mobile messaging service is particularly popular in mobile-first countries, with more than 18 million downloads during the first quarter of 2021 in India alone. However, after the app’s 2021 controversial privacy update, 36 percent of users in the country have intended to drastically reduce their WhatsApp usage and start using other communication channels, like SMS, e-mails, or migrate to WhatsApp competitors Telegram and Signal. WhatsApp privacy update woes WhatsApp’s latest major privacy policy update, which was announced on January 4, 2021, was not well received by users worldwide. The most controversial aspect of the update saw WhatsApp requesting users to give permission to share data like mobile phone numbers and locations with its parent company Facebook or stop using the app altogether. As a result, WhatsApp is facing a 267 million U.S. dollars fine from the Data Protection Commission for not respecting Europe’s GDPR, as well as a 197,000 euros fine in Turkey for privacy rules violations.Subsequently, many users chose to migrate towards competing messaging platforms like Telegram and Signal. During the first quarter of 2021, Telegram downloads worldwide spiked, reaching 64.24 million downloads in the Asia-Pacific region. Similarly, Signal reached 51 million installs in January 2021, up by more than 4100 percent compared to the previous month.

Based on a survey conducted in 2020, the following statistic depicts the creation of social networking profiles among internet users in the United Kingdom (UK), by age group. It was found that 88 percent of respondents aged 16 to 24 years reported having a profile on social media sites or apps, accounting for the largest demographic across all surveyed age groups.

Decline of Facebook as a platform
While most of the main social networking sites have been growing in popularity, the use of Facebook has been in decline. Launched in 2004, the social media site was used often by 86 percent of UK respondents in 2013. This had fallen to 57 percent by 2020, relative to the growing use of WhatsApp and to a lesser extent Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat, all of which offer a tailored social media experience compared to Facebook’s multi-function approach. This however, does not undermine Facebook’s dominance as the number of its product users worldwide (including that of Instagram and WhatsApp) has been growing steadily, reaching nearly 3.45 billion by the first quarter of 2021.

The rise of alternative messenger apps As consumer concern over data sharing and privacy continues to rise, an increasing number of social messenger users are leaving Facebook-owned WhatsApp for alternatives such as Telegram, Signal, and Threema. WeChat, the most popular alternative to WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger had 1,2 billion monthly active users as of April 2021 and was the fifth most popular messaging app globally.

In China’s fast-moving technological industry, only those who respond promptly to market changes survive the trials of time. Tencent released QQ in 1999, five years prior to Facebook was a successful app that managed to attract about 554 million monthly active smart device users as of the end of 2023, more than that of Telegram. 

The penguin’s secrets  

As the first product developed by the tech giant Tencent, QQ was a simple instant messenger with an adorable penguin logo that shadowed the Israeli app ICQ. The major success of QQ was based on its user ID which had numbers and not alphabets. Most of the Chinese users found numbers easier to remember and share without being embarrassed with their accent. Another convenient feature of QQ is the integration function, where customers can integrate other services and platforms such as social networks, emails, and other entertainment websites under one user ID. With these features, QQ became the best instant messenger in China killing ICQ and MSN messenger. Its monthly user number grew from 233 million to a peak of 899 million in 2016. 

The fading glow  

In 2011, Tencent launched another messaging app WeChat which became the leading mobile app in China. As an upgraded mobile version of the desktop native QQ, WeChat included a multitude of new features that are more favorable to users like the QR code mobile payment function. Additionally, QQ took measures to integrate innovative and engaging entertainment elements. Although its monthly active user number dropped to 804 million, which was around 270 million fewer than its sibling WeChat as of the end of 2023, it remained the second most popular instant messenger. Tencent also reported an increase in the time spent on QQ after the introduction of Kandian, the algorithm-driven entertainment news feed within QQ. 

How many people use social media? Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities. In 2024, over five billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to over six billion in 2028.

Who uses social media? Social networking is one of the most popular digital activities worldwide and it is no surprise that social networking penetration across all regions is constantly increasing. As of January 2023, the global social media usage rate stood at 59 percent. This figure is anticipated to grow as lesser developed digital markets catch up with other regions when it comes to infrastructure development and the availability of cheap mobile devices. In fact, most of social media’s global growth is driven by the increasing usage of mobile devices. Mobile-first market Eastern Asia topped the global ranking of mobile social networking penetration, followed by established digital powerhouses such as the Americas and Northern Europe.

How much time do people spend on social media? Social media is an integral part of daily internet usage. On average, internet users spend 151 minutes per day on social media and messaging apps, an increase of 40 minutes since 2015. On average, internet users in Latin America had the highest average time spent per day on social media.

What are the most popular social media platforms? Market leader Facebook was the first social network to surpass one billion registered accounts and currently boasts approximately 2.9 billion monthly active users, making it the most popular social network worldwide. In June 2023, the top social media apps in the Apple App Store included mobile messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram Messenger, as well as the ever-popular app version of Facebook.

This statistic shows information on the revenue per monthly active users of selected mobile messaging apps in 2015 and a forecast for 2020. According to the source, the mobile messaging app WhatsApp generated a revenue of six cents per monthly active user in 2015. The revenue is projected to grow up to three U.S. dollars in 2020.