Big Brother is watching: Mark Zuckerberg’s social media control 50% of all users

Social networking platforms owned by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg have access to about 6.98 billion users as of July, representing nearly half or 47.8% of the active users among the top 15 list of social networks, according to a survey.

Data gathered by Buy Shares indicates that Facebook users account for at least 34% of the world’s population, leading the way with 2.6 bln users.

The Zuckerberg flagship social network also ranks top globally. WhatsApp with about 2 billion active users ranks second under Zuckerberg’s networks and third overall.

On the other hand, Facebook Messenger, still under the Zuckerberg empire’s reach, has 1.3 billion users ranking fourth overall. Photo sharing platform, Instagram, controls about 1.08 billion active users around the world to occupy the sixth spot overall.

The Buy Shares report acknowledges that Zuckerberg-owned social networks continue to face stiff competition from emerging platforms like Tik Tok that have introduced new features.

According to the report, “TikTok gained huge popularity in video making due to its powerful camera tools like Pride, Face Filters, 3D Mask, AR. Zuckerberg might have an edge if US President Donald Trump goes ahead and bans TikTok and WeChat, which he declared national emergencies over alleged privacy breaches.”

Notably, Facebook has a reputation for copying features from emerging competitors and incorporating them into its existing social networks, the Buy Shares survey concluded.