TOP 35 Chinese Social media Platforms in 2024 + Statistics!
Have you ever wondered what the most popular Chinese social media platforms are? Here are the Top 35 major social media platforms in China for 2024!
This article is updated every year with new popular social media platforms and apps in China. It includes a ranking of apps based on their primary uses, recent demographic data regarding the audience of each platform. Also, depending on the applications, it includes explanations of their main functionalities and advice on how companies can use them.
Every second in China, 486 articles are published on WeChat, 166 rooms are booked on Qunar, 115,740 questions are answered on Zhihu, and 3,472 orders are placed on Ele.me, and more than 62% of people check the WeChat app more than 10 times a day.
The role of social media in China is enormous, as it not only entertains, but also influences food, lifestyle and fashion choices, provides makeup and lifestyle reviews, and gives advice on vacation spots. It therefore takes up a large part of the working time of white-collar citizens.
FAQ About Social Media in China
What Platforms Do Chinese People Spend Their Time On?
WeChat continues to dominate the social media sphere in China, with its huge user base of over a billion people and its integration into daily life’s basic functions. For businesses, it is simply essential. As of the end of 2023, 87.3% of the population in China uses WeChat.
Douyin – the Chinese TikTok, is used by 78.4% of the Chinese population. Douyin has all the functions of TikTok, but also many others and much more in-depth. The Chinese spend on average more than 2 hours per day watching its short videos.
NB: China recommends that children under 14 limit their use of Douyin to 40 minutes per day.
The instant messaging platform Tencent QQ and the search engine Baidu Tieba are neck and neck with 59.8% and 58.8% Chinese users respectively on their sites.
With a meteoric rise since its creation in 2021, Xiaohongshu has attracted 51.2%of the Chinese population to its app in just 2 years! (App created in June 2021, statistics from September 2023).
And finally, Sina Weibo remains relevant, although its audience has decreased, the app still has 46.8%of the Chinese population as active users!
A Typical Day in the Life of a Daily User in China
A dive into the digital life of a Chinese person
The first thing most of us do when we wake up is check our phone.
The infographic below shows a typical day for an online user in China. Here are the main social media platforms used, at what time and for what purpose.
People tend to check messages and social media first, on WeChat and Weibo, then listen to music on QQ Music Or Netease while getting ready.
They will use WeChat or Alipay to pay for their breakfast, order a taxi via Didi, and may use the Starbucks or LuckinCoffee apps to order a coffee.
On desktop computers, QQ, WeChat And WeCom are used to chat with colleagues and exchange professionally.
At noon, Eleme or Meituan are used to order lunch from mobile phones.
During lunch and dinner, people often watch TV or short videos on platforms iQiyi and Youku and check their finances on Alipay.
In the evening, it is time to check WeChat Moments, make some purchases on Taobao or JD.com, or watch a movie, booked via Maoyan.
Interesting fact:
Due to previous scandals involving fake production and imports (some of which ended in fatalities), consumers do not trust official advertising in China as much as they once did. Instead, they prefer to follow what other consumers say and do.
Therefore, the idea of providing online advice and recommendations to others has become a well-paid service. It is known as influencer marketing through KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders). Even more importantly than in the West, China is now one of the most popular countries for brands to collaborate with influencers as a marketing medium to reach Chinese audiences.
Top Chinese Social Media Sites and Apps in 2024
With a population of more than 1.4 billion, China remains one of the most “connected” countries in the world, with 79% of its population being active users of social media platforms (compared to 71% last year) and spending on average 5 to 6 hours on the internet per day. 89% of its people watch videos, 71% watch streaming, 53% play live video games and 74% make online purchases using their mobile phones.
In this context, it is not surprising to see that the Chinese app ecosystem is highly segmented and each platform or app has its own well-defined place.
Online commerce plays an important role in the country’s economy and occupies a large part of the digital ecosystem. However, the current trend is that video is now the second largest segment based on the number of regularly used video apps and platforms.
Discover our selection! ⬇️
The TOP 8 Most Used Social Media Platforms in China
#1 WECHAT – ALL IN ONE: THE TOP 1 APP IN CHINA!
Q: What kind of app is WeChat?
A: WeChat is a messaging app, a social media platform, an online bank – it’s basically a super app with every feature imaginable.
Q: How many users does WeChat have?
A: As of 2023, WeChat had over 1.36 billion registered users.
Q: Who are the main users of WeChat?
A: Chinese people; the main age group of active users is between 16 and 64 years old (78% of users).
It is no exaggeration to say that the super app WeChat simply makes life easier in China. It’s almost impossible to live there without it. It is interesting to note that 98.5% of smartphone users aged 50-80 use WeChat and that 61% of users over 60 years old devote more than half of their total mobile data consumption to it.
These figures are significantly lower than those of the younger population, who only devote around 14% of their mobile data to the platform. In addition, Users getting information via official WeChat accounts are mostly over 30 years old.
Overall, the distribution of WeChat users is about 48% female and 52% male. They spend about 1 hour and 20 minutes per day on the platform!
Main Functions of WeChat
WeChat is used to send voice messages, videos, pictures and texts over the Internet. It supports group chats and users mainly use it to communicate with their friends through SMS, MMS, GIFs, video calls, etc.
The WeChat app is completely free, you just need an internet or Wi-Fi connection to use it.
WeChat supports mini-programs directly integrated into its interface and designed separately by brands and companies. Like other apps, they aim to sell, engage or entertain.
WeChat’s integrated apps include everything you can think of: brands, utility payments, mobile phone top-ups, online ordering and more.
Adding Friends on WeChat and Privacy Feature
The most common ways to add friends on WeChat are searching by phone number, WeChat QR code scan of someone, adding from QQ friends list or mobile phone contact list.
There’s also a cool little feature that lets you “find people nearby” by shaking your phone!
The most common messaging functions are instant voice messages, video chats, and WeChat calls.
Your Own Photo/Video Timeline or Your Own “Moments”
WeChat offers its users the possibility of creating a “wall”, a space where you share the “Moments” of your life through photos, videos, messages, music, etc.
You can also choose which of your friends can see it, so it’s up to you to configure your WeChat according to your exposure to social media platforms!
Business Functions
WeChat is widely used for business promotion, as it enables business accounts to be created and promoted on the platform.
Many accounts have a specific purpose: offers, registrations, blogs, etc., while other accounts display general information about the business.
WeChat mini apps allow you to use partner services, such as calling a taxi, making a hospital appointment or paying bills.
WeChatPay
WeChat has been so successful in China because of its easy payment system. Simply scan a WeChat QR code to pay for items via your WeChatPay wallet (bank account integrated directly into the app wallet).
This is a boon for businesses because it pushes users to consume more easily and in particular via impulse shopping on all platforms available in China!
WECHAT STATISTICS IN 2024
Take a look at our guide here: 30 Marketing Tools on WeChat!
#2 WeChat Channels
Channels is a feature of the WeChat ecosystem that allows you to share and consume video content. Similar to Instagram’s “Reels” function, Youtube Shorts or Tiktok, it is a news feed containing popular videos (HOT), from our friends or from accounts we follow. Part of the powerful all-in-one WeChat messenger, it is very easy to share and send content from Channels, allowing the user to entertain themselves on the most used platform. With the addition of this feature, WeChat thus meets all the user’s needs, allowing them to do everything on a single application!
So Channels benefits from the enormous traffic from WeChat, making it a platform with a larger audience than Douyin and Kuaishou. This video format has the highest engagement time per user at 80% compared to photo sharing on WeChat Moments!
This platform is used by individuals and businesses alike and attracts many professionals with the advertising options it offers. With 813 million monthly active users, it is estimated that the audience of Channels is composed of 80% women and therefore 20% men. This audience spends on average 1 hour per day watching videos (up to 1 hour in length, but short videos are preferred) on Channels.
WECHAT CHANNELS STATISTICS IN 2024
#3 DOUYIN – THE CHINESE TIKTOK
Q: What kind of social media platform is Douyin?
A: Douyin is originally a short video sharing platform.
Q: How many users does the Douyin app have?
A: Douyin has over 1 billion registered users.
Q: Who are the main users of Douyin?
A: 48.7% of Douyin’s daily users in China are under 30.
Known internationally as TikTok, Douyin is the king of short videos. Its 755 million users come from third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities and spend more than 2 hours per day on the platform! Besides short videos, 90% users watch live broadcasts (live streaming).
Today, Douyin has also become one of the most popular e-commerce platforms on social media, attracting millions of influencers and customers. The shopping experience may remind us of the telemarketing that was so popular in the 90s. With a fresh approach and a hint of glamour, this new business model is boosting sales for many smaller brands looking to reach the middle class in China.
Advertising on Douyin is also a great way to make a brand popular in china. Douyin, which offers very competitive rates, wants to attract more international brands to the platform in China.
DOUYIN STATISTICS IN 2024
Want to learn more about advertising on Douyin? Check out our article here: Marketing on Douyin 2023: How to sell on Douyin