Instant messaging apps are growing faster than social networking sites

Instant messaging apps and social networks, which product takes up more of your time? A few years ago, choosing social networks would be the mainstream, but this situation is changing.

BI Intelligence, a research institute under the foreign technology website BI, selected the four major instant messaging applications (WhatsApp, Line, WeChat, Messenger) and the four major social networks ( Facebook , Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram) and compared the number of monthly active users in the past three years:

As can be seen from the chart, the monthly active users of these four instant messaging applications have experienced crazy growth in the past few years, especially this year, and the growth rate is significantly higher than that of social networks. From the current perspective, the number of monthly active users of instant messaging applications is very close to that of social networks, and may surpass it next year.

Why are instant messaging apps becoming more and more popular? One of the important reasons is that they are building their own platforms and becoming an important entry point for users to do many things in their daily lives. They not only help users send text messages, but also share photos, video chat, play games, shop, and even transfer funds.

Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is also aware of this phenomenon. At the second quarter analyst meeting this year, Zuckerberg said that there is always a limit to the number of photos people share with each other on social networks, but the demand for communicating in more ways is unlimited. "I think messaging apps are interesting because there are only so many photos you want to share with your friends, but there are more people you want to contact."

Investment bank Macquarie also predicts that instant messaging applications will experience explosive growth in the next few years, with global instant messaging application annual revenue expected to reach $25 billion by 2017, a 25-fold increase from 2013.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.