10 Facts About The Top Of Each Social Media Platform That You Should Know

We know that each social media platform is different and that audiences vary wildly between them, but one assumption that I think we all have is that the top 1% of celebrities (meaning music, film and TV, sports, politics, and influencers) have equally huge followings on them all.

That’s far from the case, according to Axios Research, who found that each platform is actually its own universe with very little overlap between them. The company did a thorough analysis of the top 50 most-followed accounts on each social media platform, and this is what it found.

• “The top five most-followed accounts on TikTok — Charli D’Amelio, Khaby Lame, Addison Rae, Bella Poarch and Zach King — do not rank in the top 50 of any other social media network.

• Collectively, those five stars have 480 million followers on TikTok, but less than half of that amount of followers across Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook combined.

• Top TikTok personalities have been able to land massive Hollywood deals across film, TV and podcasts, without building audiences on other platforms.

• TikTok favors individual creators that built their presence on the platform, rather than heavily resourced entertainment organizations. Outsized success of dancing and lip-syncing accounts stems from its origin as Musical.ly.

• On YouTube, the top accounts are bigger music and entertainment operations, often international. Among the 20 most-followed accounts: six are from India, four from the U.S., three from South Korea, two from Russia.

• Facebook gives an edge to brands thanks to its design, which encourages users to ‘like’ any type of page, whether or not it produces content. Chinese news organizations are four of the 21 biggest accounts, and accounts from China don’t appear on the top 50 list of any of the other platforms.

• Instagram is the place to be a celebrity — it offers the opportunity to show off your lifestyle and be a tastemaker. The followings on Instagram are higher than any other platform.

• Twitter also rewards celebrity, but on a smaller scale than Instagram. People known for their ideas can also build a following. It’s the only platform with politicians and business leaders in the top 50.

• Sports stars and actors shine on Facebook and Instagram, while musicians do better on YouTube and TikTok, naturally.

• The only accounts to appear in the top 10 of more than one platform are Cristiano Ronaldo (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), Ariana Grande (Instagram, Twitter) and Will Smith (Facebook, TikTok).”

What do these 10 points tell you? You can try to be on many platforms at once, but even with a social media team to help you, you’re better off concentrating on the one that your audience uses.

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