DAU Comparison Among Facebook, Twitter, Snap And Weibo

Social media companies. Flickr Image.

The daily active users or DAUs are one of the most used and important metrics for social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Snap, and Weibo.

The purpose of the DAU metric is to measure users’ engagement and activities on social media platforms.

As most social media companies depend on advertising revenue, the higher the DAU figure, the more revenue they will make.

For this reason, most investors will follow closely the DAU figures of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Snap, and Weibo.

A decline in the DAU figure on a consistent basis will almost always spell disaster for these companies and hence, the stock prices.

Therefore, in this article, we are going to examine and compare the DAU metrics of Facebook, Snap, Twitter and Weibo.

For your information, Pinterest does not specifically publish a DAU figure.

Instead, Pinterest publishes an MAU or monthly active user metric which is shown in this article: Pinterest’s MAU comparison with that of Facebook and Weibo.

That said, only Facebook, Twitter, Snap, and Weibo publish a DAU figure during their earnings calls.

So, let’s start with the topics below.

Wordwide or Global DAU

Worldwide or global DAU

The worldwide or global DAU includes users from all geographical locations.

At first look, it is very clear that Facebook has been the social media powerhouse all these years given the exceptional DAU figure which has been among the highest compared to other social media platforms.

As of 2022 Q4, Facebook has 2.0 billion daily active users on its platforms on a global basis, a year-over-year increase of 4%.

While Facebook has long existed before other platforms have come into the scene, its worldwide DAU is still on the rise.

Facebook’s DAU figure is at the extreme given that it already has captured 2 billion active users globally, about one-third of the world’s total population.

In contrast, other social media platforms seem to have been lagging far behind Facebook in terms of daily active users (DAU).

For example, Snapchat has less than 400 million daily active users as of Q4 2022, only about one-fifth of Facebook’s number.

The DAU figures were even smaller for Twitter and Weibo.

Snap, Twitter And Weibo’s Worldwide Or Global DAU

Twitter, Snap And Weibo’s DAU

The previous chart may not clearly capture the global or worldwide DAU figures for Snap, Twitter and Weibo as they are too small to be shown clearly.

Therefore, I have created another chart that explicitly shows Snapchat, Twitter, and Weibo’s global or worldwide DAU.

As shown in the chart above, Snapchat’s DAU leads both Twitter and Weibo’s DAU all these years.

As of fiscal 2022 Q4, Snapchat’s global DAU topped 375 million users while both Twitter and Weibo’s worldwide DAU came in at only 238 million and 253 million respectively.

Snapchat’s DAU grew 18% in fiscal Q4 2022 on a year-over-year basis.

North America DAU

North America DAU

Again, with nearly 200 million daily active users, Facebook is the largest social media platform by active users in North America.

Snapchat came in 2nd at about 100 million active users in the North American region.

Despite having a DAU that is only half of that of Facebook, Snap Inc.’s 100 million active users are still a formidable figure.

Twitter has only about 42 million monetizable active daily users in North America as of Q2 2022.

Of all social media companies, Facebook was probably the lowest in terms of DAU growth rates in North America.

For example, Facebook’s North America DAU grew only 2% in 4Q 2022 from a year ago.

On the other hand, Snapchat’s North America DAU grew 3% year-over-year in fiscal Q4 2022 while Twitter’s North America DAU grew 13.5% in Q2 2022 from a year ago.

In fiscal Q2 2022, Twitter added as many as 5 million users to its U.S. social media platforms while Snap added 4 million daily active users in the North American region as of Q4 2022.

Facebook’s slowing DAU growth in North America is most likely due to the maturity of the company and the vast user base that the company has garnered in this region.

For perspective, the North American region has a population of around 600 million, and Facebook’s daily active users in this region alone constitute about one-third of the region’s total population.

Europe DAU

Europe DAU

In terms of daily active users in Europe, Facebook has garnered even more users from this region than in North America.

With more than 300 million daily active users, Facebook is once again the leading social media platform in Europe.

This is followed by Snap which has a DAU figure of 92 million reported in fiscal 4Q 2022.

Twitter and Weibo do not break down their Europe DAU figures.

Instead, Twitter lumps the data together with users categorized under the international region.

While Snap’s daily active users in Europe have been significantly lower than that of Facebook, it has been growing at healthier growth rates than Facebook.

For example, Facebook’s daily active user growth in Europe declined by 2% in fiscal 4Q 2022 compared to Snap’s year-on-year growth rate of 12% or 10 million active users added to its platform in the same quarter.

In short, Facebook’s Europe DAU growth has most likely reached a plateau in 2021 and has since been on a decline.

On a side note, Facebook has existed far longer than Snapchat and is a very mature social media platform.

While Snapchat has existed for more than a decade, it was only listed as of March 2017.

Moreover, Facebook’s 300 million daily active users comprise roughly half of the population of Europe.

Therefore, this trend probably explains the slowing growth of Facebook’s DAUs in Europe.

Asia Pacific DAU

Asia Pacific DAU

Snap, Twitter, and Weibo do not break down their DAUs figures for the Asia Pacific region.

Instead, Snap and Twitter lumped the data under the International region.

Therefore, I am assuming that the Asia Pacific DAUs for Twitter, Weibo, and Snap may not be substantially material.

That said, Facebook’s DAUs in the Asia Pacific is even more impressive compared to North America and Europe.

In Q4 2022, Facebook reported a DAU figure of 854 million, up 6% from a year ago.

While Facebook’s DAU growth in other regions may have slowed down, it’s not the case in the Asia Pacific.

On average, Facebook’s DAUs growth rate in the Asia Pacific totaled about 15% between fiscal 2016 and 2022.

Despite having an average growth rate of 16% in the last 6 years, Facebook’s Asia Pacific DAU also experience a significant slowdown as of 2022.

With a DAU growth rate of only 6% in Q4 2022, Facebook’s DAU growth in the Asia Pacific has significantly slowed since fiscal 2016.

For perspective, Facebook’s 854 million daily active users in the Asia Pacific represent less than 20% of the total population in this area.

This ratio is much smaller than that of North America and Europe.

As such, Facebook has a lot of headroom to grow in terms of DAU in the Asia Pacific region.

International DAU

International DAU

Internationally, Facebook is again the leading social media company with daily active users topping 1.8 billion as of fiscal 4Q 2022.

On the other hand, Snap and Twitter’s international DAUs came to about 275 million and 196 million, respectively, in 4Q and 2Q 2022.

Facebook’s international DAU is much higher, roughly 7X higher than that of Snap and about 9X higher than that of Twitter.

Most social media companies recorded double-digit growth rates for international DAU, with Snap Inc reporting the best result at 24% YoY growth in fiscal Q4 2022.

On the other hand, Twitter’s international DAU was up 16% in fiscal Q2 2022 from a year ago while Facebook’s international growth rate came in at only 4% in the latest quarter, the lowest among the 3 companies.

In short, Facebook, Snap Inc, and Twitter are still seeing exceptional user growth outside of the U.S. and Canada.

Facebook DAU Growth Rates By Region

Facebook DAU Growth Rates By Region

As shown in the chart above, Facebook’s DAU growth rates in all regions have been on a decline.

For example, Facebook used to have up to 31% of DAU growth rates in the Asia Pacific region. But this figure was down to only 6% as of Q4 2022.

Similarly, Facebook’s DAU growth rates in Europe totaled 7.5% in 2017. This figure tumbled to -1.6% as of 4Q 2022, illustrating a decline in DAU in Europe.

Facebook’s DAU growth rates in North America have been the lowest among all regions.

As of Q4 2022, this figure declined to only 2.1% from the 4.6% reported in Q2 2017.

Snap DAU Growth Rates By Region

Snap Inc DAU Growth Rates By Region

Snapchat’s DAU growth rates in all regions performed much better than that of Facebook.

As shown in the chart above, North America has been the only place that shows a decline in DAU growth rates for Snap Inc.

Snap’s Europe DAU growth rates have slightly increased since 2019 and reached 12% as of Q4 2022.

On a global basis, Snap’s DAU growth rates remained roughly flat between 2019 and 2022, reportedly at about 17%.

Twitter DAU Growth Rates By Region

Twitter DAU Growth Rates By Region

Similarly, Twitter’s DAU growth rates in all regions also have been doing better than that of Facebook.

For instance, Twitter’s International DAU growth rates grew 3 ppts from 13% reported in 2017 to 16% reported as of Q2 2022.

Twitter’s North America DAU growth rates also have been a rise, growing from 9% reported in 2017 to a massive 13.5% reported in Q2 2022.

Weibo DAU Growth Rates By Region

Weibo DAU Growth Rates By Region

As mentioned, Weibo does not break down its DAU figures by region.

Therefore, there is only one region to show which is on a global basis.

As seen in the chart, Weibo’s DAU growth rates also have been on a decline, logging in at only 2.4% as of Q2 2022, down from a massive 26% reported in 2017.

Summary

Based on the daily active users metric, Facebook is the king of social media, having DAU figures that are way above other social media companies such as Twitter, Snap, and Weibo.

For example, on a global basis, Facebook’s DAU is 7X higher than that of Snap and 9X higher than that of Twitter based on the 2Q 2022 result.

In North America and Europe, Facebook’s DAU is also multiple times higher than Snap and Twitter.

While Facebook leads in terms of DAU numbers, its DAU growth rates have been on a decline across all regions in the world, particularly in North America and Europe.

For example, Facebook’s DAU growth rates in North America averages only 2% since 2016 and have declined from 4.6% to only 2.1% as of 2022.

Similarly, Facebook’s DAU growth rates in Europe averaged only 3% since fiscal 2016 and have declined from 7.5% to -1.6% as of 2022.

In contrast, other social media companies such as Twitter, Snap, and Weibo’s DAUs are growing at a much higher rate than Facebook in North America and Europe, notably with at least a 10% growth rate.

While Facebook’s DAU growth rates in North America and Europe have been on a decline, it still has a healthy growth rate in the Asia Pacific region.

Facebook’s Asia Pacific DAUs still grew healthily at a YoY growth rate of 6% as of Q4 2022.

References and Credits

1. DAU figures for all companies discussed in this article were obtained and referenced from their respective financial statements which can be obtained from the following links:

a) Facebook Investor Relations
b) Snap Investor Relations
c) Twitter Investor Relations
d) Weibo Investor Relations

2. Featured images in this article are used under Creative Common Licenses and obtained from jclark and Jason Howie.

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