Social media messaging is taking on SMS and RCS as usage numbers in developing markets start to surge. According to the latest data from Juniper Research, some 4.3 billion users globally will use social media messaging by 2027; an increase of 95 million users over a one-year term.
This growth, says the analyst, is being driven by rising smartphone adoption and improved network infrastructure across emerging markets, which are essential for social media apps to function.
An extract from the report, Mobile Messaging Market 2026-2030, is available as a free download
This growing reach is strengthening the appeal of social media messaging as part of enterprise communications’ strategies, with social media messaging offering more robust security measures and broader opportunities for user engagement, compared to rival mobile messaging channels.
“Social media messaging allows users to independently verify an enterprise’s identity by reviewing its account profile. This prevents enterprises from being spoofed and, in turn, protects users, which will be compelling to enterprises in a high-fraud environment,” explains Ardit Ballhysa, Senior Research Analyst at Juniper Research.
Lack of standard restricting growth?
The research identifies a lack of support for social media channels from mobile messaging vendors as limiting growth in social media messaging. This is due to a lack of standardised messaging application programming interfaces (APIs) from social media platforms, which is restricting the value enterprises gain from social media messaging.
“Despite fraud prevention and user engagement benefits, there is a clear lack of support for social media channels across mobile messaging vendors. These vendors must incorporate social media channels into their omnichannel offerings, especially as agentic AI begins to proliferate – further boosting the channel’s appeal amongst enterprises,” Ballhysa concludes.
