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A study has revealed that social media platform WhatsApp recorded a 41% increase in users in the first quarter of 2022.
The study by MoneyTransfers.com also showed that the platform is ideal for families, friends, and colleagues to keep in touch locally in their own countries and also with family and friends across the globe.
It revealed that the 18 to 34-year-old age cohort had the most growth in WhatsApp platform usage, with increases also recorded in their use of Facebook and Instagram.
Other social platforms that have seen growth include Facebook and China’s WeChat and Weibo.
In quarter one of 2022, 55% of WhatsApp’s monthly average users were “power users” who used the app daily.
The Russia Ukraine war saw WhatsApp and Telegram increase in monthly average users engaging with respective apps daily.
Telegram had 15.5% of its monthly average users open the app every day during the first quarter, up 9% from Q1 2021.
Besides WhatsApp, LINE had the highest percentage of monthly active users at 45% in the first quarter of 2022 – a 10% increase from 35 percent in quarter one 2021.
Messenger ranked third, with 16.4 percent of MAUs using the app daily in 1Q22, up from over 12 percent.
According to MoneyTransfers.com, WhatsApp and Messenger are by far the most popular messaging apps in the United States, but the data shows that competitors have gained market share in the last two years.
Meta, the parent company and owner of WhatsApp, hopes to recoup any ground it has lost to opponents in past years.
In August 2021, there were 39 million app installations.
Most of these came through Google Play (29 million), with the App Store accounting for 10 million. After TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, WhatsApp was the fourth most downloaded app in September 2021.
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