Top 10 Twitter Competitors & Alternatives

Twitter is a networking and microblogging platform established in 2006 by former Odeo employees Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Evan Williams, and Isaac Stone. It was incorporated in 2007 and attracted over 30 million users by 2010. Twitter users interact by posting ‘tweets’ and sending ‘Direct Messages.’

The San Francisco-based social networking giant employs 4,900 people and is available worldwide except in a few countries like China, Iran, and North Korea. As of May 2021, Twitter had over 330 million monthly active users (MAU) and 199 million monetizable daily active users (mDAU) globally. [1]

Over the years, Twitter has transformed into the go-to platform for breaking stories direct from the source. It employs different strategies to guarantee the credibility of tweets. In January 2021, Twitter suspended Donald Trump’s account for violating its Glorification of Violence Policy. It also introduced a fact-checking feature that pops up on tweets with false or unproven claims. [2]

In 2020, Twitter generated $3.7 billion in revenues, an 8.8% increase year on year. Advertising services make up 86% of its revenue and 14% from data licensing. Although Twitter stands out from the crowd, it is not immune to stiff competition. [3]

Table of Contents

Here is an in-depth analysis of Twitter’s 10 competitors and alternatives:

1. Facebook

Year founded: 2004
Headquarter: Menlo Park, California

Facebook is a social media platform that allows users to interact and build relationships virtually. The platform has evolved over the years with new features like videos, virtual rooms, Messager, and stories. It is the world’s largest social network, with more than 2.4 billion active users.

In 2020, Facebook generated $86 billion in revenue, up from $70.7 billion in 2019. Like Twitter, Facebook’s primary source of income is advertising. Its ad revenue was around $84.2 billion in 2020. Facebook is the leading platform for social media advertising. It is the perfect Twitter alternative for marketers and its top competitor. [4]

2. Snapchat

Year founded: 2011
Headquarter: Santa Monica Park, California

Snapchat is a multimedia messaging app offered by Snap Inc. and allows users to send photos and videos to friends. It has added several features over the years, including ‘Stories’ with a 24-hour live feed. In 2020, Snapchat generated $2.5 billion in revenues, a 47% increase y-o-y.

The company’s stock value increased by over 350% from 2020 to 2021. It has more than 280 million users who send around four billion photos on average every day. Snapchat allows users to send ad-supported ‘Stories,’ making it a worthy Twitter competitor and alternative. [5]

Image credit Thought Catalog on Unsplash

3. LinkedIn

Year founded: 2003
Headquarter: Sunnyvale, California

LinkedIn is a networking platform that connects professionals from all sectors. It offers marketing solutions, talent acquisition channels, and premium subscription products. In 2016, Microsoft acquired LinkedIn, increasing its financial advantage over Twitter. As of May 2021, LinkedIn has over 756 million active members globally. The company generated $8.05 billion in revenues in 2020, an increase of 19% year-on-year. Did you know that all Fortune 500 executives have a LinkedIn profile? LinkedIn is Twitter’s top competitor for many reasons. [6]

Image credit inlytics | LinkedIn Analytics Tool on Unsplash

4. Reddit

Year founded: 2005
Headquarter: San Francisco, California

Reddit is a social platform that aggregates news, enables discussions, and allows users to rate web content. It is one of the top 20 news sites globally, with over 430 million users and 130,000 communities. In 2020, Reddit generated $170 million in revenues and attracted around 50 million users daily. Like Twitter, Reddit seeks to eliminate toxic interactions and banned the r/The_Donald community for violating its content policy. [7]

In 2021, Reddit users made history by rallying GameStop stock shares prices up nearly 800%. They acquired a huge chunk of GameStop’s 3.5 million shares worth $551 million. Reddit’s real-world impact and growing ad business make it Twitter’s fiercest competitor. [8]

5. Pinterest

Year founded: 2010
Headquarter: San Francisco, California

Pinterest is a social media marketing application that enables users to find information online. The company generated $1.69 billion in 2020, a 48% year-over-year increase. In the first three months of 2021, Pinterest’s revenue increased by 78% y-o-y to reach $485 million. With 367 million users, Pinterest is slightly ahead of Twitter and attracts more users than Twitter. In the second half of 2020, the platform added 92 million monthly active users. Pinterest’s ever-growing revenues and users make it a formidable Twitter competitor. [9]

6. Tumblr

Year founded: 2007
Headquarter: New York City, N.Y.

Tumblr is a social networking and microblogging platform owned by Automattic. It attracted 75,000 users within only two weeks after launching and reached 568 million visitors by 2018. However, Tumblr lost 369.6 million visitors in December 2018 after it banned adult content.

As of January 2021, Tumblr had 327 million unique visitors worldwide, down from 347.5 million in 2020. Although Tumblr has not recovered from the 2018 decision, it still has a large customer base and can poach some users from Twitter. [10]

7. Instagram

Year founded: 2010
Headquarter: Menlo Park, California

Instagram is a social networking platform that allows users to share photos and videos. It attracted 1 million registered users within two months and was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion a year after its launch. In 2021, Instagram has 1.08 billion monthly active users globally and attracts 500 million users daily.

The photo-sharing platform generates around $6.84 billion in revenues annually. However, it is struggling to contain the number of fake accounts and bots. In 2019 alone, fake bots on Instagram cost brands $1.3 billion. But Instagram is ideal for marketing with visual content, making it one of Twitter’s top competitors. [11]

8. TikTok

Year founded: 2012
Headquarter: Beijing, China

TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the world. It comes with filters and robust features that allow users to create and share short videos. TikTok is a subsidiary of Chinese IT giant ByteDance and popular among Gen-Z. As of January 2021, the platform had 689 million monthly active users globally and more than double Twitter’s users. It is the seventh-largest social media platform in the world and available in 155 countries and 75 languages.

TikTok holds the record of the most downloaded app in Apple’s App Store in a single quarter, with over 33 million downloads. TikTok’s parent company generates around $20 billion annually. The platform is also attracting adults. TikTok is one of Twitter’s fiercest competitors. [12]

9. WhatsApp

Year founded: 2009
Headquarter: Menlo Park, California

WhatsApp is an instant messaging app with an end to end encryption for secure communication. It was founded to provide an alternative to SMS but has since expanded to include voice calls and multimedia sharing. In 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp and made it one of the largest social media platforms globally. Currently, WhatsApp has more than 2 billion active users and conveys around 60 billion texts daily. With estimated annual revenue of $5 billion, WhatsApp is a worthy top Twitter competitor. [13]

Image credit Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

10. Weibo

Year founded: 2009
Headquarter: Beijing, China

Weibo is a microblogging platform offered by WeChat, one of China’s largest tech companies. Like Twitter, Weibo allows users to follow other users, tweet, retweet, and browse trending topics in real-time. But it steers clear of politics and has more users than its American cousin.

Weibo has 530 million monthly active users and attracted an average of 241 million daily users more than Twitter. Like Twitter, advertising accounts for nearly 90% of Weibo’s revenue. Weibo is the perfect Twitter alternative. Its expansion globally is Twitter’s biggest nightmare. [14]

References & more information