As social media continues to take a forefront role in our daily lives, it’s understandable that some of this activity blends over into the workplace. Whether it be in the form of an employee using the same device to access personal social media accounts and work accounts or employers that use chat and messaging collaboration apps to connect remote teams, it’s hard to ignore the importance of social media in eDiscovery. 

For many of us, a few common names come to mind when we think of social media. Yet, there are countless social media and messaging apps out there and they come in a variety of forms.  

This post is an overview look at some of the most common social media and messaging apps to help provide a snapshot of the current space.  

Ranked by Monthly Annual Users (MAUs), from Instagram and LinkedIn to TikTok and Reddit, here are the top social media and messaging apps by the numbers. 

Popular Social Media Sites Ranked by Monthly Annual Users (MAUs) 

  • Facebook – 2.96 billion 
  • YouTube – 2 billion 
  • WhatsApp – 2 billion 
  • Instagram – 2 billion 
  • WeChat – 1.26 billion 
  • Tik Tok – 1 billion 
  • Messenger – 1 billion 
  • LinkedIn – 822 million 
  • Telegram – 700 million 
  • QQ – 574 million 
  • Snapchat – 557 million 
  • Telegram – 550 million 
  • Twitter – 450 million 
  • Reddit – 430 million 

Other notable sites with heavily active monthly users include Discord, Signal, Skype, and a handful of others that are growing at unprecedented paces. Given these sheer numbers, social media is not an area to be overlooked when evaluating and identifying potential data sources for discovery. 

Effective eDiscovery within modern litigation requires data mapping and information governance plans to ensure no data is left behind. TERIS specializes in the full spectrum of legal discovery from data collection and processing to document hosting for review and production. 


References: 

Facebook 
https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2022/Meta-Reports-Third-Quarter-2022-Results/default.aspx  

YouTube 
https://blog.youtube/press/  

Snapchat | WeChat | WhatsApp | Telegram | QQ 
https://www.statista.com/statistics/258749/most-popular-global-mobile-messenger-apps/#statisticContainer  

Reddit 
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/reddit-statistics/  

Facebook Messenger 
https://www.facebook.com/messengerfacts  

Instagram 
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-26/meta-s-instagram-users-reach-2-billion-closing-in-on-facebook  

TikTok 
https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/1-billion-people-on-tiktok 

Telegram 
https://www.statista.com/statistics/234038/telegram-messenger-mau-users/#statisticContainer  

Twitter 
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/twitter-statistics/ 

LinkedIn 
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/linkedin-statistics/  

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