Comprehensive Overview of Social Media in China in 2023

This is the third entry in my series of country-based guides where I explore everything I find on the social media landscape in a given country. Today’s “target” is China, the ever-so-great China.

First, a couple of general social media stats from China, as of January 2023:

There are over 1.03 billion social media users in China
Approximately 72% of China’s population is using social media
On average, Chinese users will spend 1 hour and 59 minutes every day on social media
97.7% of all Chinese internet users are also social media users
77.2% of all 18+ people in China use social media
51.2% of all social media users in China are male and 48.8% are female
Chinese social media users use an average of 7.3 platforms every month
79.7% of all 16-64-aged Chinese social media users use any type of social media to find information about products and brands
WeChat is the most used social media platform, with 81.6% of all Chinese users having an account
Around 36.9% of 16-64-aged Chinese social media users are using social media to keep in touch with friends and family
Facebook is only used by 14.9% of all 16-64-aged Chinese social media users
The top 10 most used social media platforms in China are all made in China

Alright, that’s enough about the general stuff. We’re about to get into the nitty-gritty of the Chinese social media ecosystem.

Here’s what I’ll be discussing in this guide:

Total number of social media users and penetration rate in China between 2018 – 2027
Number of users for China’s top 15 most popular platforms and share of internet users who use them
The types of accounts that internet users in China follow on social media
A comparison between TikTok and Douyin

Without further ado, let’s get down to business!

Section I: Total Number of Social Media Users in China 2018-2027

In this first section, I’ll show you the gradual increase in social media users in China from 2018 to 2022, and then give you a reasonable forecast all the way until 2027. Thanks to Statista.

See the chart below:

Year	Number of Social Media Users	% Increase
2018	768.87 million
2019	828.48 million	7.75% increase from last year
2020	901.3 million	8.79% increase from last year
2021	961.02 million	6.62% increase from last year
2022	1.015 billion	5.64% increase from last year
2023	1.062 billion	4.69% increase from last year
2024	1.105 billion	3.91% increase from last year
2025	1.142 billion	3.40% increase from last year
2026	1.175 billion	2.91% increase from last year
2027	1.205 billion	2.47% increase from last year

As you can see, back in 2018, China had around 768.87 million social media users. By 2022, that number had already increased to 1.015 billion, which is a whole 32.01% increase.

By 2027, that number is estimated to reach 1.205 billion, which is a 56.72% increase from 2018, if these figures are true.

The penetration rate seems to have gone up considerably over the years. As I said in the beginning, the penetration rate in China was around 72% for 2023, and it’s expected to go up in the future.

But to truly understand how significant the market penetration for social media in China, I’ll have to dedicate an entire section to it.

Read below!

Section II: Penetration Rate of Social Media in China 2016-2027

Now that we’ve seen how many social media users are in China and its expected growth by 2027, we should take a look at the market penetration for the social media industry.

We’ll be working with a data chart from Statista (and this one) and I’ll give you my commentaries below. First, the chart:

Period	Social Media Penetration
2016	57%
2017	65%
2018	53.2%
2019	57.8%
2020	62.6%
2021	66.5%
2022	70.1%
2023	73.2%
2024*	76%
2025*	78.4%
2026*	80.5%
2027*	82.4%

China’s social media penetration has steadily increased over the years, with a notable decrease in 2017, most likely a cause of the Chinese government’s crackdown on free speech and censorship regulations. The usual, you know…

But ever since, social media platforms have been expanding their user base year after year, with around 73% of China’s entire population using social media in 2023. By 2027, that number is expected to reach 82.4% and beyond.

A likely contributor to the growing penetration rate of social media in Chinese society is the country’s growing economy. The higher standard of living makes social media appeal to a larger share of the population.

I can also see how technological advances may support the increasing adoption rate of social media in China. Some of these technologies could be 5G, new AI tools, the Metaverse, AR and VR, and so on. They have already proven quite appealing to the public.

Alright, now let’s look at the number of social media mobile users in China. Just below:

Section III: Number of Social Media Mobile Users in China 2016-2022

The reason why I wanted to talk about mobile social media users specifically is because Chinese society has a very tight relation to smartphones. One could say they’re inextricably linked.

A quick overview of the number of mobile social media users in China should paint a clearer picture. Here’s the chart:

Year	Number of Social Media Users	% Increase
2016	666 million
2017	720 million	+8.10% from the previous year
2018	792 million	+10% from the previous year
2019	862 million	+8.83% from the previous year
2020	924 million	+7.19% from the previous year
2021	968 million	+4.76% from the previous year
2022	1.003 billion	+3.61% from the previous year

I have several hypotheses about the massive 50.6% increase in mobile social media users between 2016 and 2022 in China:

The affordability and accessibility of smartphones increase year after year. This way, more people gained access to smartphones and thus began using social media

More and more smartphone-centric social media platforms have appeared in China (WeChat is one of the main ones) which effectively forced users to get a smartphone

The mobile internet infrastructure has grown and improved over the years, offering more speed and consistency. With higher-quality bandwidth, smartphone adoption was sure to increase

Mobile-centric online services (like mobile payments and e-commerce) became very prevalent in China, which meant that smartphones became less of a choice and more of a necessity

I keep saying this but it’s true – Chinese society is a smartphone-centric society. Everything takes place on that little gadget in your pocket.

What we see in the chart above is how in 6 years, the number of mobile social media users has gone up by 50.6% in China. I fully expect that number to keep increasing in the coming years.

But what social media platforms do the Chinese people use? For that, you’ll have to read the next section 😀

Section IV: Percentage of Chinese Internet Users Who Use the Top 10 Social Media Platforms

In this section, I’ll be showing you the total number of users for each of China’s top 15 most popular platforms as well as the share of internet users who use these platforms.

You can find the chart below:

Platform	Monthly Active Users	Share of Internet Users Who Use The Platform
WeChat	1 billion	81.6%
Douyin	759.66 million	72.3%
QQ	750.29 million	61.6%
Baidu Tieba	503.69 million	57.6%
Xiaohongshu	163 million	49.5%
Sina Weibo	336.48 million	49.3%
Kuaishou	480.35 million	47.9%
Qzone	600 million	31.8%
Meipai	285 million	23%
Douyin Huoshan	Around 235.2 million*	22.4%
IMessage	Around 196.24 million*	18.6%
Facebook	3.4 million	14.9%
Inke	Around 145.95 million*	13.9%
Twitter	Blocked in China	13.5%
Line	Blocked in China	11%

Disclaimer – the entries marked with a * mean that I couldn’t find the official data online so I had to calculate based on the known total number of internet users in China in 2023 + the percentage user share of those apps.

What you have here is a chart showing hard-to-find information (you won’t believe how closely guarded some of these platforms are) with the estimated number of users for the top 15 social media apps in Q4 2022 and 2023.

As you’ll notice, the vast majority of these apps are Chinese-made and owned because of course. China has always tried to stay away from the West’s influence, and in their attempt to do this, they even made their own social media platforms.

Facebook has a measly 3.4 million users in the country, and it can’t begin to compete with WeChat or Douyin (China’s version of TikTok). The reason for this is that Facebook is actually banned in China. Officially, the Chinese government doesn’t allow its citizens to access Facebook.

The 3.4 million people using it are doing it illegally, most likely, by using VPNs or other similar tools. China’s censorship regime extends not only to Facebook but many other foreign websites and social media platforms.

Why does it do that? Well, I’ll touch on that topic in another article where I can fully delve into China’s reasonings. As for now, I’m left interpreting social media stats as objectively as possible.

In the next section, I’ll be talking about Chinese users’ preferences in terms of the social accounts that they follow. Keep reading!

Section V: Types of Accounts that Chinese Internet Users Follow on Social Media

Curious about Chinese people’s social media preferences and how they use social media? This chart should help you understand them better. Spoiler alert – there isn’t much you won’t see coming.

The chart is below, so let’s go through it:

Type of Account Followed	Share of Internet Users Who Follow an Account Type
Actors, performers, and comedians	30.9%
Restaurants, chefs, and foodies	23.4%
Bands, singers, and musicians	23.3%
TV channels and shows	23%
Work-related people	22.1%
Entertainment accounts	19.5%
Work-related companies	19.3%
Bands, singers and musicians	19.3%
Brands to purchase	18.2%
Brands to consider purchasing	18.1%
Gaming experts and studios	16.9%
Fitness experts and organizations	16.4%
Magazines and publications	15.4%
Journalists and news companies	15.2%
Sports people and teams	15%

It seems that 30.9% of all Chinese internet users are following the social media accounts of friends, family, and people they know. This answers the question of “Chinese people are just like us“. Just kidding, but yeah, they are.

The other categories are things you would expect. Entertainment, actors, singers, TV shows, brands to purchase or consider purchasing, and so on.

There’s nothing outside the norm here that I can talk about. Though, it seems that the Chinese government has also issued a few bans on public gluttony in real life or on social media.

Mukbang, the famous video content where a creator eats an incredible amount of food, seems to be banned in China. Gluttony is a bad thing and should be made illegal.

I mean… it clearly is a bad thing regarding one’s health but making it illegal is another thing altogether. Well, China doing what China does best I guess.

Other than that, Chinese internet users are following pretty much the same accounts that you and I follow. Nothing out of the ordinary about that.

So, moving on to the next section 😀

Section VI: Number of WeChat MAU Between Q2 2011 – Q4 2022

How about a quarter-by-quarter analysis of WeChat’s monthly active users from 2011 until the end of 2022? WeChat is the single largest social media platform in China, so this ought to be very interesting.

It’ll also give us a starting point to make some comparisons between WeChat’s penetration rate in its native country vs. other apps and their native countries.

But first, the main chart we’ll be working with:

Period	WeChat Monthly Active Users	% Increase
Q2 2011	2.8 million
Q3 2011	14 million	+400% from the previous quarter
Q4 2011	50 million	+257.14% from the previous quarter
Q1 2012	100 million	+100% from the previous quarter
Q2 2012	151 million	+51% from the previous quarter
Q3 2012	209.6 million	+38.75% from the previous quarter
Q4 2012	160.8 million	-23.31% from the previous quarter
Q1 2013	194.4 million	+20.88% from the previous quarter
Q2 2013	235.8 million	+21.32% from the previous quarter
Q3 2013	336 million	+42.51% from the previous quarter
Q4 2013	355 million	+5.65% from the previous quarter
Q1 2014	396 million	+11.55% from the previous quarter
Q2 2014	438 million	+10.61% from the previous quarter
Q3 2014	468 million	+6.85% from the previous quarter
Q4 2014	500 million	+6.84% from the previous quarter
Q1 2015	549 million	+9.80% from the previous quarter
Q2 2015	600 million	+9.29% from the previous quarter
Q3 2015	650 million	+8.33% from the previous quarter
Q4 2015	697 million	+7.23% from the previous quarter
Q1 2016	762 million	+9.32% from the previous quarter
Q2 2016	806 million	+5.77% from the previous quarter
Q3 2016	846 million	+4.96% from the previous quarter
Q4 2016	889 million	+5.09% from the previous quarter
Q1 2017	938 million	+5.51% from the previous quarter
Q2 2017	963 million	+2.66% from the previous quarter
Q3 2017	980 million	+1.77% from the previous quarter
Q4 2017	989 billion	+0.92% from the previous quarter
Q1 2018	1.04 billion	+5.15% from the previous quarter
Q2 2018	1.057 billion	+1.63% from the previous quarter
Q3 2018	1.082 billion	+2.36% from the previous quarter
Q4 2018	1.97 billion	+82.15%from the previous quarter
Q1 2019	1.11 billion	-43.64% from the previous quarter
Q2 2019	1.132 billion	+1.98% from the previous quarter
Q3 2019	1.151 billion	+1.68% from the previous quarter
Q4 2019	1.164 billion	+1.13% from the previous quarter
Q1 2020	1.2 billion	+3.08% from the previous quarter
Q2 2020	1.206 billion	+0.50% from the previous quarter
Q3 2020	1.213 billion	+0.58% from the previous quarter
Q4 2020	1.225 billion	+0.99% from the previous quarter
Q1 2021	1.241 billion	+1.31%from the previous quarter
Q2 2021	1.251 billion	+0.81% from the previous quarter
Q3 2021	1.262 billion	+0.88% from the previous quarter
Q4 2021	1.268 billion	+0.48% from the previous quarter
Q1 2022	1.288 billion	+1.58% from the previous quarter
Q2 2022	1.262 billion	-2.02% from the previous quarter
Q3 2022	1.308 billion	+3.64% from the previous quarter
Q4 2022	1.313 billion	+0.38% from the previous quarter

We can see that WeChat went through a 400% increase in its user base from Q2 2011 to Q3 2011. That bump is likely caused by the fact that WeChat was launched in Q1 2011, and early adoption of any platform is always impactful.

Here are several other factors that likely played a part in WeChat’s userbase growth rate throughout the years:

The growing adoption of smartphones that become more accessible and affordable to Chinese users. In fact, WeChat and smartphone technology are inextricably linked in Chinese society, as this article shows. QR codes are the alpha and the omega of WeChat’s interconnectedness to other apps in China, and smartphones are the key to all of them

New features are added to the platform constantly (mobile payments, video calling, and mini-programs with multiple uses) that attract a new host of users and increase engagement on the platform

WeChat integrated its services with other popular Chinese apps like Didi, Alipay, and Jd.com. All of these events propelled WeChat further into the social media stratosphere, garnering fresh adoption

WeChat’s expansion to international markets began in 2013 and reached all the way to Europe from Southeastern Asia. In 2023, there are people using WeChat everywhere in the world, including 1.48 million in the US

The Chinese government’s restrictive policies kept tightening the noose around social media usage. For instance, in 2017, the Chinese government issued new regulations on social media platforms which negatively impacted WeChat’s user growth (still positive but stunted). You can read more about China’s prohibitive regulations on social media on Wikipedia

The COVID-19 pandemic boosted WeChat’s growth rate as it did for most other social media platforms in the world. Isolation leads to a desire to seek any means of communication, and social media filled that void perfectly. It also helped that WeChat began using multiple state-run health code apps for its users (real-time information about the state of the pandemic, consultations, self-diagnosis, etc.)

The US-China trade war that resulted in Former President Donald Trump trying to ban WeChat from US app stores in 2020, stunting the app’s worldwide user growth and causing a massive loss in revenue (the block was later rescinded by a judge)

As you can see, there are countless social, cultural, geopolitical, and marketing factors that can affect a social media platform’s growth. WeChat is but one example of that, albeit a very good one.

To make a comparison, WeChat is the Chinese version of Facebook in terms of popularity and market penetration. It’s also consistently…expansive and versatile in what it can do. The app lets you buy things, talk to friends and family, write micro-blogs, play video games, open video conferences, and much more.

Sound familiar? Yeah, Facebook has an expansive set of features too. In a way, I might just call Facebook and WeChat two very similar and unique platforms. You see, their uniqueness stems from their non-specialized use.

While platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and TikTok specialize in a particular type of social media interaction, Facebook and WeChat have it all. Most importantly, almost all features are of high quality.

Enough about this, though. What about the financial stats of the social media industry in China? I have those too below.

Section VII: Social Media Ad Revenue from 2012 to 2023

With such a wildly popular social media industry in China, the financial spreadsheets should look amazing for these companies. Below, I have a chart showing the ad revenue per year from 2012 to 2023 for the social media industry. Check it out:

Year	Social Media Ad Revenue	Values in USD
2012	3.16 billion yuan	459 million
2013	4.7 billion yuan	683 million
2014	7.96 billion yuan	1.15 billion
2015	14.67 billion yuan	1.99 billion
2016	23.96 billion yuan	2.13 billion
2017	35.1 billion yuan	5.10 billion
2018	50.96 billion yuan	7.41 billion
2019	65.07 billion yuan	9.46 billion
2020	79 billion yuan	11.49 billion
2021	93 billion yuan	13.52 billion
2022	109 billion yuan	15.85 billion
2023	125 billion yuan	18.18 billion

Between 2012 and 2023, it’s estimated that the Chinese social media market will grow its ad revenue by 296%, from 459 million to 18.18 billion USD.

Clearly, the ad industry has become bigger and bigger over time. It can only expand further from this point on since social media is expected to grow at a rapid pace in the coming years.

But in any case, that’s about it with our comprehensive guide on the Chinese social media industry. I do hope you’ve caught a glimpse of how social media works in China at its true depth.

I’ll see you at the next one!