Facebook Messenger logo (Photo : Facebook)
Facebook Messenger has passed YouTube to become the second-most popular smartphone app in the United States, based on a market report by a digital media analytics company. The social network remains the top-ranked mobile app in the country, earning almost three-fourths of the app audience.
Facebook reaches 73.3 percent of smartphone app users, according to BGR. The analytics firm comScore, a global digital media specialist, reported that it is followed by Facebook Messenger (59.5 percent), YouTube (59.3 percent), and Google Search (52 percent).
Facebook has recently revamped Messenger. It added features such as video calling, automatic video sharing, and a personal assistant named M, according to The Verge.
comScore reported that many Android or iOS smartphone owners use Messenger at least once monthly. The figure is almost 60 percent.
Instagram ranked ninth on the list. It helped Facebook to earned one-fifth of the top-ranking mobile apps in the U.S.
Social media giant Twitter is at number 13, with Apple Music at the next spot. Although instant messaging tool WhatsApp has hit 900 million monthly users, it did not make the "Top 15" list.
Apple was the number one original equipment manufacturer (OEM), collecting 44.2 percent market share. Meanwhile, Google Android was the top smartphone platform, earning 51.4, followed by Samsung (27.3 percent).
Other tech giants were included in the list of mobile platforms with high-ranking market shares. They include LG (8.7 percent), and Motorola (4.9 percent).
Findings showed that almost 192 million people owned smartphones in the U.S. That was during the three months that ended in July 2015.
