The digital era’s most massive contribution to the modern world is undoubtedly the advent of social media in the wake of the IT revolution. Its wide-scale prevalence and ease of usage have helped in erasing boundaries and connecting people across geographical limits that has led to a ‘virtual reality’ for all online users. Different users and developers use this medium for varying purposes.
There is an extensive list of social media platforms that have emerged over the past decade or so. While some have lost their following, there are a few social media channels that have successfully managed to maintain their popularity ranking. Below are the ten most popular social media channels:
1. Facebook
The most popular social networking website to date, it has amassed a global following that spans across all ages, socioeconomic classes, interests and cultures. Over the years, it has expanded its portfolio from a medium for staying in touch with one’s loved ones is a corporate unit, where it is estimated that more than 1 million small or medium sized businesses advertise their businesses. Sources also claim that larger companies are spending as much as $100 million on Facebook advertising per year. Such heavy marketing expenditure being spent on Facebook pages and groups is a testament to the sheer volume of users that use this site.
2. Twitter
The iconic little blue birdie symbolizes the ‘world of tweets’ where users upload short messages regarding any topic under the sun. This site revolutionized social media as we knew it. Roughly 81% of Twitter’s advertising revenue comes from mobile users and there is a $200,000 cost estimated for a 24-Hour Promoted Trend on Twitter.
3. LinkedIn
The pioneer in professional social media, LinkedIn is the largest online business community connecting professionals from around the world. Today, it has more than 332 million users and each second adds two new members, all of which attracts marketers.
4. Google+
A social media forum launched by Team Google, this site has 300+ million active users (month-based estimate) and is used for relationship marketing. It is another popular advertising forum due to the heavy traffic it attracts.
5. YouTube
Averaging 6 billion hours of videos watched on a monthly basis, with over a billion videos, hits via mobile phones every day, this is one of the most popular video-sharing forums that connect users all around the world. It is expected to generate $5.6 billion in gross revenue in 2016.
6. Pinterest
This site gained massive popularity soon after its launch and currently boasts 70 million users – of which 80% are women and 20% are men. It also serves as a popular advertising tool for marketers.
7. Instagram
Online communication has gone beyond words. Visual sharing (images and videos) has caught the trend and with more than 300 million monthly active users, of which 75 million are daily active users, Instagram is also a popular channel for business marketing.
8. Tumblr
With the aim of providing constant entertainment, this micro-blogging platform is used for sharing pictures, videos, audio, quotes and text, with more than 420 million users and another popular marketing platform.
9. Flickr
With over 3.5 million images uploaded daily by users, this image and video hosting social network provides massive online photo storage.
10. Reddit
Reddit is not only social networking site, but used for entertainment purposes, where registered members share content and direct links. It has 174 million monthly unique visitors.
Author Bio:
Heather Wayne
After completing her Software Engineering degree, Heather worked with one of the top iPhone gaming app development companies in Singapore. She has recently been pursuing a degree in Business Marketing from NUST and is a freelance contributor at Best Essay Writing. She is passionate about the latest technology trends and enjoys hiking and rock climbing in his free time.
