TikTok, everyone knows it. Just about everyone uses it. As far as short-form video sharing social media platforms go, none are as popular as TikTok. However, does that make the platform the most popular social media platform in the world?
The answer is complicated. According to various sources, TikTok is neither the world nor Australia’s, most popular social media platform based on the total number of users.
From a global perspective, TikTok has the fifth-highest number of active monthly users (1.582 billion). By comparison, Facebook, the most popular social media platform on Earth, has double the amount of active monthly users.
The same can be said about Australian social media usage trends. According to Meltwaters’s 2024 Global Digital Report, approximately 78.2% of Australian social media users report using Facebook each month. This is more than double the 40% of Australians who report using TikTok each month.
However, when analysing the monthly average time spent by consumers on social media platforms both globally and within Australia, TikTok stands tall as the most popular social media platform.
According to Meltwater, the average amount of hours global users spend on TikTok each month sits at 34 hours or just under one-and-a-half days. YouTube, this metric’s second platform, sees users spend around 28 hours per month on their platform, while users spend roughly 15 hours each month on Instagram.
In Australia, social media users between 16 and 64 spend 42 hours and 13 minutes, or the best part of two days each month, scrolling TikTok.
Surprisingly, despite Aussies spending more time each month on TikTok than on any other platform, only 12% nominated the platform as their favourite social media service, with Facebook (24.2%) and Instagram (19%) outranking the video sharing app.
With the platform expected to hit 2.2 billion active monthly users in the coming years, will TikTok soon become Australia and the world’s most popular app?