WeChat, Snapchat, messaging apps

For those of you who are interested in the “numbers” and want to see how your favorite calling and messaging apps faired this year, the folks at GlobalWebIndex have provided all the information we need to know which apps have done the best in 2014: Tencent’s WeChat and Snapchat.

Despite all of the privacy issues surrounding it that have been plaguing Snapchat since the start of the year, the app has proved to be resilient in its growth, keeping pace among the top apps thanks to teens, mostly residing in these five countries.

Snapchat’s growth is driven by heavy adoption rates among young users

Citizens in those same countries are also responsible for the app’s latest growth spurt in the earliest parts of this year. Between Q1 and Q3 2014, Snapchat’s audience rose by 56 percent, again being driven by heavy adoption rates among young users in their teens or early twenties. This growth shows that Snapchat can not only gain new users but also retain existing users even with the aforementioned security problems associated with it.

Snapchat rank, Snapchat popularity, Snapchat news

Of course, there were other winners here as well, including Facebook Messenger, whose audience grew by 52 percent, and LINE, which saw a 44 percent increase. Of course, in Facebook Messenger’s case, forcing users to adopt an app is hardly cause to celebrate any kind of growth.

Nearly a quarter of the world’s internet users (23 percent) aged 16-64 are now using WeChat

Then there’s WeChat. WeChat is enjoying a particularly high penetration rate within the APAC (Asia-Pacific) region. Nearly a quarter of the world’s internet users (23 percent) aged 16-64 are now using WeChat on a regular basis, with the figure just short of 40 percent (standing at 39 percent) in Asia Pacific alone. WeChat’s audience numbers rocketed by 500% in Singapore, by 1,200% in Malaysia and a whopping 2,350% in India. Close to a quarter of adult internet users in India are now using the app.

Messaging apps, Chat apps, Social software

Compared to Facebook Messenger or Facebook-owned WhatsApp, WeChat’s user base has a younger age profile – with a higher share of its users drawn from the key 16-24 group. Other top applications include Microsoft’s Skype and Rakuten’s Viber.

With the success of all these applications, messaging has never been a more popular industry, and that “messaging bubble” that so many had predicted doesn’t look to be on the verge of popping any time soon, if indeed it exists at all.

Which messaging app is your favorite? Share your answer with us in the comments below!

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By Josh Robert Nay

Josh Robert Nay is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TruTower. He has worked in the telecommunications industry since 2003 and specializes in GSM based technology. He also uses (too many) VoIP apps and is a long-time user of BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Phone. He adores anything having to do with space exploration and writing. In addition to the links below, he can be found on LinkedIn and can also be found on his website at http://www.joshrobertnay.com.