100+ Niche Social Networks by the numbers

Written By Jordan Allen

This is testament to

  • The viability of focused, community-driven platforms.

  • The social media landscape is more diverse than it might seem

  • The success of niche platforms suggests there’s still room for innovation and growth in social media, especially for platforms that address specific needs or values that aren’t getting met by current platforms

20 Platforms with 1-5 Million Monthly Active Users

  1. Citizen (local safety): ~5 million MAU

  2. AllTrails: (hiking) ~4 million MAU

  3. VRChat (VR): ~ 4 million MAU

  4. Peanut (moms): ~ 3.5 million MAU

  5. Letterboxd: (film enthusiasts) ~3 million MAU

  6. Bandcamp: (music) ~3-4 million MAU

  7. iNaturalist: (nature observation) ~3 million MAU

  8. Geocaching.com (geocaching): ~3 million MAU

  9. Mastodon: (decentralized social networking) ~2.5 million MAU

  10. Ravelry: (knitting) ~2 million MAU

  11. Tripoto: (travel) ~2 million MAU

  12. Fitocracy: (fitness) ~1-2 million/mo (estimate, exact numbers not disclosed)

  13. ResearchGate: (academic research) ~ 2-10 MAU from 20 million total users

  14. Untappd: (beer enthusiasts) ~1.5 million MAU

  15. VolunteerMatch (volunteering): 1.3 million MAU

  16. Couchsurfing: (travel networking) ~ 1.2 - 6 MAU 12 million total users

  17. Skillshare: ~1-12 million MAU

  18. BlueSky (decentralized): 1.3 million MAU

  19. Tandem (language): ~1 million MAU

  20. Truth Social (alt?): ~1 million MAU



15 Platforms with 5-25 Million MAU

  1. Behance: (creative portfolios) ~25 million MAU

  2. BeReal: (authentic social media) ~21.6 million MAU

  3. Last.fm: (music scrobbling) ~20 million MAU

  4. HelloTalk (language): ~13 million MAU

  5. MyAnimeList (anime/manga): ~13 million MAU

  6. Blind (anonymous professional network): ~12 million MAU

  7. Yummly (Food): ~11 million MAU

  8. Clubhouse: ~10 million MAU

  9. Patreon: (creators) ~8 million MAU

  10.  StockTwits (finance): ~8 million MAU

  11. Fishbrain (fishing): ~6-7 million MAU

  12. Dribbble (design portfolios): ~5 million MAU

  13. Depop (fashion resale): ~4-5 million MAU

  14. Komoot (route planning): 4-10 MAU estimate from 40 million total users

  15. Day One (journaling): 1-5 million MAU 

21 Big Niche Social Platforms (< 180 million MAU)

  1. Yelp: ~178 MAU

  2. Soundcloud: (music sharing) ~175 million/mo

  3. Discord: (community chat) ~150 million/mo

  4. Twitch: (gaming) ~140 million/mo

  5. Tumblr: (microblogging) ~135 million/mo

  6. Cookpad (Food): ~100 million MAU

  7. Wattpad (storytelling): ~90 million MAU

  8. Etsy: (handmade and vintage items) ~90 million active buyers

  9. Nextdoor: (neighborhoods) ~69 million verified users

  10. Flickr: (photo sharing) ~60 million/mo

  11. Stack Overflow: (programming Q&A) ~50 million/mo

  12. Foursquare: ~50 million MAU

  13. DeviantArt: (art sharing) ~45-50 million/mo

  14. Houzz: (home design) ~40 million/mo

  15. Duolingo (language learning): ~40 million MAU

  16. Meetup: (local community groups) ~35 million total users

  17. Whisper (anonymous): ~30 million MAU

  18. Tinybeans (family photo sharing): ~28 million MAU

  19. Fandom: (fan communities) ~ 30 - 175 MAU estimate from 315 million total users

  20. Strava: (fitness tracking) ~ 10-50 MAU estimate from 100 million total users

  21. Goodreads: (books) ~ 9-45 MAU est from 90 million total users


13 Religious Community-Focused Platforms

  1. YouVersion: (Christian) ~40-50 million/mo

  2. Patheos: (Interfaith) ~10-15 million/mo

  3. IslamicFinder: (Muslim) ~10-12 million/mo

  4. Pray.com: (Christian) ~5-7 million/mo (estimate)

  5. Aleteia: (Catholic) ~20 million monthly visits

  6. Catholic.net: (Catholic) ~3-5 million/mo (estimate)

  7. Al-Muslimeen: (Muslim) ~2-3 million/mo (estimate)

  8. Torah.org: (Jewish) ~1-2 million/mo (estimate)

  9. Mi Yodeya: (Jewish) ~500,000-1 million/mo (estimate)

  10. Mindar: (Buddhist) ~500,000-1 million/mo (estimate)

  11. DharmaMatch: (Buddhist/Spiritual) ~100,000-300,000/mo (estimate)

  12. Sikh Sangat: (Sikh) ~100,000-300,000/mo (estimate)

  13. Hindu2Hindu: (Hindu) ~100,000-300,000/mo (estimate)



4 Growth Examples:

  1. BeReal: Grew from 10,000 users in 2020 to 25 million daily active users in 2022.

  2. Discord: Grew from 56 million MAU in 2019 to 150 million MAU in 2023.

  3. Twitch: Increased from 55 million MAU in 2019 to 140 million MAU in 2023.

  4. Pinterest: Grew from 335 million MAU in Q4 2019 to 450 million MAU in Q4 2022.


< 1 million 

  1. Gaia: (yoga and meditation) ~500,000/mo (estimate)

  2. Trust Cafe (wiki social): ~ 450,000 MAU

  3. Minds (open source): ~. 3 million MAU

  4. Diaspora (open source): ~.2 million MAU

  5. Farcaster.xzy (crypto): 80,000 DAU

  6. Steemit (blockchain): 1 million users?



20 Giants (Major Social Media Platforms)

  1. Facebook: 2.9 billion 

  2. YouTube: 2.5 billion

  3. WhatsApp: 2 billion

  4. Instagram: 1.5 billion

  5. WeChat: 1.3 billion

  6. TikTok: 1.1 billion, Includes Douyin (Chinese version)

  7. FB Messenger: 988 million

  8. Weibo: 584 million, Chinese microblogging platform

  9. QQ: 574 million, Chinese instant messaging platform

  10. Telegram: 550 million, Messaging app with a focus on privacy

  11. Snapchat: 535 million

  12. Kuaishou: 518 million, Chinese video-sharing platform

  13. X (Twitter): ~400 million, Estimate after Musk acquisition

  14. Pinterest: 450 million

  15. Reddit: 430 million

  16. Onlyfans: 420 million

  17. LinkedIn: 310 million

  18. Quora: 300 million

  19. Medium: 100 million

  20. Substack: 20 million paid subscribers

Regional:

China (not listed above)

  1. Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book): 200 million MAU

  2. Zhihu: 100 million MAU (Q&A platform similar to Quora)


Japan

  1. LINE: 167 million MAU (messaging app)

  2. Mixi: 10 million MAU (social networking)


South Korea

  1. KakaoTalk: 52 million MAU (messaging app)

  2. Naver: 30 million daily users (search portal with social features)


India

  1. ShareChat: 180 million MAU

  2. Koo: 50 million downloads (microblogging platform)

  3. Moj: 160 million MAU (short video platform)


Indonesia

  1. Gojek: 190 million downloads (super app with social features)


Russia and Eastern Europe

  1. VKontakte (VK): 100 million MAU

  2. Odnoklassniki: 70 million MAU


Middle East

  1. Mawdoo3: 50 million MAU (Arabic content platform)


Africa

  1. Ayoba: 20 million MAU (messaging and content platform)


Latin America

  1. Taringa!: 30 million registered users (Argentina-based social network)

Jordan Allen
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