Most popular social networks
The following list of the leading social networks shows the number of active users as of July 2018.- 1 Facebook (2 billion, 270 million)
- 2 YouTube (1 billion, 900 million)
- 3 WhatsApp (1 billion, 500 million)
- 4 Facebook Messenger (1 billion, 300 million)
- 5 WeChat (1 billion, 040 million)
- 6 Instagram (1 billion)
- 7 QQ (806 million)
- 8 QZone (563 million)
- 9 Tik Tok (500 million)
- 10 Sina Weibo (411 million)
- 11 Twitter (336 million)
- 12 Reddit (330 million)
- 13 Baidu Tiba (300 million)
- 14 Skype (300 million)
- 15 LinkedIn (294 million)
- 16 Viber (260 million)
- 17 Snapchat (255 million)
- 18 Line (203 million)
- 19 Pinterest (200 million)
- 20 Telegram (200 million)
- 21 Tinder (100 million)
Accessing Social Media
Anyone who has access to the internet can also be a social media person. Users engage with social media via computer, tablet or smartphone via web-based software or web application, often utilizing it for messaging.
Social media originated as a tool that people used to interact with friends and family but was later adopted by businesses that wanted to take advantage of a popular new communication method to reach out to customers. The power of social media is the ability to connect and share information with anyone on Earth (or multitudes of people) as long as they also use social media.
Forms and usage of Social Media
- photo sharing
- blogging
- social gaming
- social networks
- video sharing
- business networks
- virtual worlds
- reviews.
Advantages of Social Media
For individuals, social media is used to keep in touch with friends and extended family, network for career opportunities, find people from all over the globe who share a common interest, share content and more. Social media also helps in promoting products and services, as it enables the distribution of focused, timely and exclusive sales and coupons to would-be customers. Social media also makes one an internet celebrity. And it can assist in relationship building, such as through loyalty programs linked to social media.
Disadvantages of Social Media
Overuse of social media has been likened to addiction and contributes to inattentiveness, stress and jealousy. Social media has damaged a whole lot of relationships. Heavy social media use has been linked to depression. Social media as a conduit for misleading information and falsehoods has been well documented, such as in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Such a phenomenon leverages the power of social media, allowing anyone to reach an audience of millions with content that lacks oversight or fact checking.