These Numbers Show Facebook Is Trailing Social Messaging Apps Globally

There is a race underway to be the global leader in over-the-top social messaging, and one of the latest surveys suggests Facebook, while still dominant in the U.S., is falling behind the upstart mobile players in the rest of the world.

WhatsApp is tipped as the most popular social messaging service, followed by Facebook Messenger and WeChat according to a survey of 3,759 Android and iOS smartphone users carried out by OnDevice Research, a mobile market research company. The survey questioned people who use smartphones in five key countries, U.S., Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia and China, and found that 44% used WhatsApp at least once a week, while 35% used Facebook Messenger, and 28% used WeChat. 19% used Twitter. (The data was collected between Oct. 5 and Nov. 10, 2013.) Facebook could not be reached for comment.