The biggest social media platforms in South Africa – with users giving Elon Musk’s X the boot

Facebook is still comfortably the largest social media site in South Africa – but Twitter/X has seen users flood off the platform in favour of fast-riser TikTok.

According to the Social Media Landscape Report by World Wide Worx and Ornico, Facebook remains the most popular site among respondents, increasing usage from 56.7% in 2022 to 59.6% in 2023, indicating that the social media platform still has a solid user base.

The report uses interviews with 24,000 respondents who are aged 15+ and live in urban areas with 8,000 or more inhabitants.

TikTok is in second place, with usage rising from 30.6% in 2022 to 34.0% in 2024.

“This growth reflects TikTok’s increasing popularity, likely due to its engaging short-form video content that continues to attract a wide audience,” said the report.

Instagram is still in the top three but saw a slight client in usage, dropping from 27.6% in 2022 to 26.9% in 2023.

“This suggests that while Instagram remains a key player in the social media landscape, its growth may be plateauing as it faces competition from other platforms.”

Elon Musk-owned Twitter/X also saw a notice drop in its user base, declining usage from 22.5% in 2022 to 18.8% in 2023.

“This drop could be attributed to various factors, including changes in user preferences and possibly
the impact of new features or policies on the platform.

LinkedIn also saw a drop in usage from 14.7% in 2022 to 12.2% in 2023 but remained in the top five.

“The decrease in LinkedIn usage might indicate a shift in how respondents are utilizing professional networking sites or the emergence of alternative platforms for professional connections.”

Outside, the top five, Telegram, Pinterest and 2GO, all have usage of 10%.

Dating sites Tinder and Grindr follow the 6% and 5% usage, respectively.

Several noteworthy trends emerged when examining the social media platforms with the highest percentage of highly active users between 2022 and 2023.

Facebook still has the highest percentage of active users, increasing from 44.6% in 2022 to 53.8% in 2023.

“This substantial growth indicates that not only does Facebook have a large user base, but a significant portion of its users are also highly active on the platform.”

TikTok is in second place, seeing an increase in highly active users from 20.5% in 2022 to 25.1% in 2023.

Instagram has also seen slight growth in its highly active users, rising from 18.1% in 2022 to 19.7% in 2023.

Despite not growing as quickly as Facebook and TikTok, the slight growth suggests that Instagram is still a key platform for active engagement among its users.

Twitter/X, however, saw a decline in the percentage of highly active users, declining from 12.9% in 2022 to 11.0% in 2023.

“This decrease may reflect changes in user engagement or competition from other platforms.”

Like Instagram, LinkedIn also saw an increase in highly active users despite the overall drop in usage.

LinkedIn’s highly active users increased from 6.4% in 2022 to 6.6% in 2023, indicating stable engagement levels among its users.

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