10 SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IN 2017

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 140), 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.

Number of active users per month: 320 million approximately.

 9 – GOOGLE+

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.