25+ Social Media

Updated 5th June 2019

Human nature by default has been programmed to be socially active to a certain extent. Some people are more active, while others are less so!

However, people have always been looking for ways to connect and network with each other. And, in this age of digitisation, people have found ways to be socially active on the internet, which is possible with the advent of the numerous social networking platforms and apps.

Now, even relationships begin, grow and end on social media. People no longer need a personal handshake or face-to-face meeting.

Social media sites have also grown in numbers by leaps and bounds. As per the statistics revealed on Statista, approximately 2 billion users used social networking sites and apps in 2015. And, with the increased use of mobile devices, this number is likely to cross the 2.6 billion mark by 2018.

So, in this article, we discuss some of the most popular social media sites that are being explored by the world today. You can find out if your favourite social media platform is a part of this list and even learn about some really good online social platforms that you can start using today.

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Learn More About These Popular Social Media Sites

1 – Facebook

This is easily the largest social networking site in the world and one of the most widely used. And, Facebook was perhaps the first that surpassed the landmark of 1 billion user accounts.

Apart from the ability to network with friends and relatives, you can also access different Facebook apps to sell online and you can even market or promote your business, brand and products by using paid Facebook ads.

Recently Facebook has lost the trust of millions of its users by allowing 3rd parties to access over 87 million users’ personal data. This is a massive breech of trust and has created a feeling of unrest amongst the social media platform’s audience. So much so that there is now a #deletefacebook campaign where people are completely removing themselves from Facebook and using other networks instead. If you’re concerned about what Facebook is doing with your data, then why not check out my guide on alternatives to Facebook, and see if there’s a better place for you to interact with family and friends.

Number of active users per month: 1.59 billion approximately

2 – WhatsApp

Despite having been acquired by Facebook in 2014, this instant messaging platform exists as an independent entity.

It arrived on the scene much later than Facebook, but has been able to capture the imagination of millions of people across the world by giving them the ability to communicate and share instantly with individuals and groups. The WhatsApp call feature is just the icing on the cake!

Number of active users per month: 1 billion approximately

3- QQ

Tencent QQ (more popularly known as QQ) is an instant messaging (chat-based) social media platform. It became international (with more than 80 countries using it), after it was launched in China.

It can be used to stay in touch with friends through texts, video calls and voice chats. It even has a built-in translator to translate your chats. To find out more, head over to our Chinese Social Media stats page.

Number of active users per month: 853 million approximately

4 – WeChat

This is an all-in-one communications app for messaging and calling (similar to WhatsApp) that enables you to connect with the people of your choice. It was also developed by Tencent in China and can easily work alongside QQ. As per the BI intelligence report, the number of WeChat users are fast catching up with the number of WhatsApp users.

Related article: WeChat keyboard shortcuts

Number of active users per month: 697 million approximately

5 – QZone

Like QQ and WeChat, QZone is yet another social networking service developed by Tencent. It enables you to share photos, watch videos, listen to songs, write blogs, maintain diaries and so on. It also empowers you to choose the accessories and customize the look and feel of your QZone webpages.

Number of active users per month: 640 million approximately

6 – Tumblr

Having been owned by Yahoo since 2013, Tumblr serves as a social media cum micro blogging platform that can be used to find and follow things that you like. You can also use it to post anything, including multimedia, to a short-form blog. Moreover, it gives you the flexibility to customize almost everything.

Number of active users per month: 555 million approximately

7 – Instagram

Instagram was launched as a unique social networking platform that was completely based on sharing photos and videos. This photo sharing social networking app thus enables you to capture the best moments of your life, with your phone’s camera or any other camera, and convert them into works of art.

This is possible because Instagram allows you to apply multiple filters to your photos and you can easily post them to other popular social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. It is now part of the Facebook empire. Learn how to grow your Instagram audience.

Read more on Instagram Tools to help you increase social engagement and audience numbers.

Number of active users per month: 400 million approximately

8 – Twitter

This social networking site enables you to post short text messages (called tweets), containing a limited number of characters (up to 280), to convey your message to the world. With the growing craze for online shopping, Twitter also makes it possible to promote your businesses and even shop directly through tweets. Learn how to create the perfect Twitter profile.

Number of active users per month: 320 million approximately

9 – Google+ ( No Longer Available )

Owned by the tech giant Alphabet (Google), this interest-based social networking platform enables you to stay in touch with people by sharing messages, photos, videos, useful links to sites and so on. It also extends support for video conferencing through Hangouts and allows businesses to promote their brands and products through Google+ business pages.

Number of active users: 300 million approximately

10 – Baidu Tieba

Offered by Baidu of China, a search engine company, Baidu Tieba (known as Postbar internationally) is a social forum network based on the keyword searches in the Baidu search engine. This discussion forum works on the unique concept of allowing you to create a social network group for a specific topic, using the search, or even to join an existing online social group.

Number of active users per month: 300 million approximately

11 – Skype

Skype, owned by Microsoft, is one of the most popular communication-based social networking platforms. It allows you to connect with people through voice calls, video calls (using a webcam) and text messaging. You can even conduct group conference calls. And, the best part is that Skype-to-Skype calls are free and can be used to communicate with anyone, located in any part of the world, over the internet.

Number of active users per month: 300 million approximately

12 – Viber

This multi-lingual social platform, which is available in more than 30 languages, is known for its instant text messaging and voice messaging capabilities. You can also share photos and videos and audio messages, using Viber. It offers you the ability to call non-Viber users through a feature named Viber Out.

Number of active users per month: 249 million approximately

13 – Sina Weibo

This is a highly popular microblogging social platform in China that is known for its hybrid mix of Twitter’s and Facebook’s features.

Number of active users per month: 222 million approximately

14 – LINE

LINE is a globally available messaging social network that enables you to share photos, videos, text messages and even audio messages or files. In addition, it allows you to make voice and video calls at any time of the day.

Number of active users per month: 215 million approximately

15 – Snapchat

This is an image messaging social platform that enables you to chat with friends by using pictures. It allows you to explore news and even check out live stories that are happening around the world.

Number of active users per month: 200 million approximately

16 – YY

YY is a major video-based social networking platform in China that enables group video chats. In such chats, more than 100,000 members can watch a single person doing an activity. Such an activity can be anything from giving a tutorial video to singing karaoke, which helps the users earn virtual currency that they can later convert into cash.

Number of active users per month: 122 million approximately

17 – VKontakte (VK)

VK is one of the largest social networking platforms in Russia and has quite similar features to Facebook.