Different Types Of Social Media You Need To Know More About Them

Social media are computer-mediated technologies that allow individuals, companies, NGOs, governments, and other organizations to view, create and share information, ideas, career interests, and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks.
Social media use web-based and mobile technologies on smartphones and tablet computers to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals, communities and organizations can share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content or pre-made content posted online. They introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communication between businesses, organizations, communities, and individuals. Social media changes the way individuals and large organizations communicate. These changes are the focus of the emerging field of techno self studies.
Social media differ from paper-based or traditional electronic media such as TV broadcasting in many ways, including quality, reach, frequency, usability, immediacy, and permanence. Social media operate in a dialogic transmission system (many sources to many receivers). This is in contrast to traditional media that operates under a monologic transmission model (one source to many receivers), such as a paper newspaper which is delivered to many subscribers. Some of the most popular social media websites are Facebook (and its associated Facebook Messenger), WhatsApp, Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, Baidu Tieba, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Gab, Google+, YouTube, Viber and Snapchat. These social media websites have more than 100,000,000 registered users.
                                                          

 HERE ARE MOST POPULAR AND BASED SOCIAL MEDIA

 
Facebook is a for-profit corporation and online social media and social networking service based in Menlo Park, California, United States. The Facebook website was launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg, along with fellow Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes.

The founders had initially limited the website's membership to Harvard students; however, later they expanded it to higher education institutions in the Boston area, the Ivy League schools, and Stanford University. Facebook gradually added support for students at various other universities, and eventually to high school students as well. Since 2006, anyone age 13 and older has been allowed to become a registered user of Facebook, though variations exist in the minimum age requirement, depending on applicable local laws. The Facebook name comes from the face book directories often given to United States university students.
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Messenger is Facebook’s intuitive messaging app with over a billion users worldwide. It’s a quick way to connect with your Facebook friends, as well as contacts on your phone book. With it, you can initiate group chats and share photos and videos taken right from the app or from your phone’s media storage. It also has a smart way for you to keep up with your conversations while you use other apps called Chat heads. Free voice and video calls are available on Messenger even with people in other countries. A recent addition means that messenger can now help you send money to your contacts.


Twitter  is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read short 140-character messages called "tweets". Registered users can read and post tweets, but those who are unregistered can only read them. Users access Twitter through the website interface, SMS or mobile device app. Twitter Inc. is based in San Francisco and has more than 25 offices around the world.

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Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone, and Noah Glass and launched in July 2006. The service rapidly gained worldwide popularity, with more than 100 million users posting 340 million tweets a day in 2012. The service also handled 1.6 billion search queries per day. In 2013, it was one of the ten most-visited websites and has been described as "the SMS of the Internet". As of March 2016, Twitter has more than 310 million monthly active users.

WhatsApp Messenger is a proprietary, cross-platform, encrypted instant messaging client for smartphones. It uses the Internet to send text messages, documents, images, video, user location and audio messages to other users using standard cellular mobile numbers.
As of February 2016, WhatsApp had a user base of one billion, making it the most popular messaging application.

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WhatsApp Inc., based in Mountain View, California, United States, was acquired by Facebook Inc. on February 19, 2014, for approximately US$19.3 billion.
 The WhatsApp concept is simple: send text-style messages to anyone else using the platform, but without paying data charges. That straightforward idea has already gathered more than 700 million fans, making the app the world’s most popular messaging platform.
Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing, and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, and share them either publicly or privately on the app, as well as through a variety of other social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr. Originally, a distinctive feature was that it confined photos to a square shape, similar to Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid SX-70 images, in contrast to the 4:3 aspect ratio typically used by mobile device cameras. In August 2015, version 7.5 was released, allowing users to upload media captured in any aspect ratio. Users can also apply digital filters to their images. Videos on Instagram debuted with a 640x640 fixed resolution and maximum 15-second limit in June 2013; resolutions now include up to 1080p since July 2015 and length is now up to 60 seconds since January 2016.

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Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, and launched in October 2010 as a free mobile app. The service rapidly gained popularity, with over 100 million active users as of April 2012 and over 300 million as of December 2014. Instagram is distributed through the Apple App Store and Google Play. Support for the app is available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android handsets, while third-party Instagram apps are available for BlackBerry 10 and Nokia-Symbian Devices.
The service was acquired by Facebook in April 2012 for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock. In 2013, Instagram grew by 23%, while Facebook, as the parent company, only grew by 3%.

Snapchat is an image messaging and multimedia mobile application created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown when they were students at Stanford University. The app's marketed product name was originally used to form the company Snapchat, Inc., which was later renamed Snap Inc. The corporate headquarters are located in Venice, California. The prototype for Snapchat was started by Brown and Spiegel as a project for one of Spiegel's classes at Stanford, where Spiegel was a product design major. Beginning under the name "Picaboo", the idea was to create an app which allowed users to share images that were explicitly short-lived. When, in April 2011, Spiegel floated the product idea in front of his class as a final project, the classmates balked at the thought of temporary photos. Murphy was eventually brought into the project to write the source code for the application, and Picaboo first launched as an iOS-only app in July 2011 from Evan Spiegel's living room (who was still staying at home with his father when not away at school). The application was relaunched two months later under the name Snapchat.

 Downlaod Snapchat Here

This surprisingly-addictive app gives you the ability to take a picture, add art and text if you’d like, and then send it to recipients for a set amount of time (after which the photo will delete itself and be removed from the company’s servers). Lots of fun, and potentially a good way to stay in touch with friends. 

Social media’s big up-and-comer has really arrived over the past few years. By combining the best of Facebook and Twitter into one site – and backing it by the power of the world’s largest search engine, Google has given users a social site that has a little something for everyone. You can add new content, highlight topics with hashtags, and even separate contacts into circles. And, a G+ profile only takes a few minutes to get set up.

Google+ (pronounced and sometimes written as Google Plus) is an interest-based social network that is owned and operated by Google.

Download the app Here

The service, Google's fourth foray into social networking, experienced strong growth in its initial years, although usage statistics have varied, depending on how the service is defined. Three Google executives have overseen the service, which has undergone substantial changes leading to a redesign in November 2015.
Google+ is the company's fourth foray into social networking, following Google Buzz (launched 2010, retired in 2011), Google Friend Connect (launched 2008, retired by March 1, 2012), and Orkut (launched in 2004, as of 2013 operated entirely by subsidiary Google Brazil – retired in September 2014).
Google+ launched in June 2011. Features included the ability to post photos and status updates to the stream or interest based communities, group different types of relationships (rather than simply "friends") into Circles, a multi-person instant messaging, text and video chat called Hangouts, events, location tagging, and the ability to edit and upload photos to private cloud-based albums.

Pinterest is a web and mobile application company that operates a photo sharing website. Registration is required for use. The site was founded by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp.
Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann summarized the company as a "catalog of ideas," rather than as a social network, that inspires users to "go out and do that thing
Pinterest is a free website that requires registration to use. Users can upload, save, sort, and manage images—known as pins—and other media content (e.g., videos) through collections known as pinboards. Pinterest acts as a personalized media platform. Users can browse the content of others in their feed. Users can then save individual pins to one of their own boards using the "Pin It" button, with Pinboards typically organized by a central topic or theme. Users can personalize their experience with Pinterest by pinning items, creating boards, and interacting with other members. The end result is that the "pin feed" of each user displays unique, personalized results.

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Serving as a giant virtual idea and inspiration board, Pinterest has made a huge impact on social media in the last few years. Especially popular with women and the do-it-yourself crowd, it lets you share pictures, creative thoughts, or (especially) before-and-after pictures of projects that others can pin, save, or duplicate.

Disqus  is a worldwide blog comment hosting service for web sites and online communities that uses a networked platform. The company's platform includes various features, such as social integration, social networking, user profiles, spam and moderation tools, analytics, email notifications, and mobile commenting. It was founded in 2007 by Daniel Ha and Jason Yan as a Y Combinator startup.
In 2011, Disqus ranked #1 in Quantcast's U.S. networks with 144 million monthly unique U.S. visits. Disqus has been featured on many major publications, such as CNN, The Daily Telegraph, and IGN, and about 750,000 blogs and web sites.
Disqus was first developed in the summer of 2007 as a Y Combinator startup headed by Daniel Ha and Jason Yan, who were undergraduates at the University of California, Davis. Disqus was first incorporated and launched on October 30, 2007.

Disqus isn’t actually a social media platform so much as a social engagement platform, but it can definitely help you improve your social engagement. As a tool for commenting, managing feedback on your own website (or other Disqus-enabled websites), and managing spam/troll type messages, it’s invaluable. Advanced features allow for social monitoring and upvoting.  

Tumblr is a microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007, and owned by Yahoo! since 2013.The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog. Users can follow other users' blogs. Bloggers can also make their blogs private.For bloggers, many of the website's features are accessed from a "dashboard" interface.
As of September 1, 2016, Tumblr hosts over 312.2 million blogs. As of January 2016, the website had 555 million monthly visitors.

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This platform is different form many others in that it essentially hosts microblogs for its users. Individuals and companies, in turn, can fill their blogs with multimedia (like images and short video clips). The fast-paced nature of Tumblr makes it ideal for memes, GIF’s, and other forms of fun or viral content.  

YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States. The service was created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005. In November 2006, it was bought by Google for US$1.65 billion. YouTube now operates as one of Google's subsidiaries^. The site allows users to upload, view, rate, share, and comment on videos, and it makes use of WebM, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, and Adobe Flash Video technology to display a wide variety of user-generated and corporate media videos. Available content includes video clips, TV show clips, music videos, audio recordings, movie trailers, and other content such as video blogging, short original videos, and educational videos.

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Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals, but media corporations including CBS, the BBC, Vevo, Hulu, and other organizations offer some of their material via YouTube, as part of the YouTube partnership program. Unregistered users can watch videos, and registered users are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos and add comments to videos. Videos deemed potentially offensive are available only to registered users affirming themselves to be at least 18 years old. In July 2016, the website was ranked as the second most popular site by Alexa Internet, a web traffic analysis company.^[1]
YouTube earns advertising revenue from Google AdSense, a program which targets ads according to site content and audience. The vast majority of its videos are free to view, but there are exceptions, including subscription-based premium channels, film rentals, as well as YouTube Red, a subscription service offering ad-free access to the website and access to exclusive content made in partnership with existing users.

 As a video sharing service, YouTube has become so popular that its catalog of billions and billions of videos has become known as “the world’s second-largest search engine” in some circles. The site has everything from first-person product reviews to promotional clips and “how-two” instruction on virtually any topic or discipline. Users have the ability to share, rate, and comment on what they see.

WeChat is a cross-platform instant messaging service developed by Tencent in China, first released in January 2011. It is one of the largest standalone messaging apps by monthly active users. As of May 2016, WeChat has over a billion created accounts, 700 million active users; with more than 70 million outside of China (as of December 2015). Download Wechat Here
The app is available on Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Symbian phones. Web-based OS X and Windows clients also exist; these however require the user to have the app installed on a supported mobile phone for authentication, and neither message roaming nor 'Moments' are provided. 
Line  is a proprietary application for instant communications on electronic devices such as smartphones, tablet computers and personal computers. Line users exchange texts, images, video and audio, and conduct free VoIP conversations and video conferences. Line began in 2011 as the brainchild of engineers at NHN Japan, the Japanese arm of Naver Corporation (formerly NHN). Today the popular messaging service is operated by Line Corporation, a spinoff company headquartered in Japan, which still remains a subsidiary of Naver.
Line first launched in Japan in 2011, reaching 100 million users within eighteen months and 200 million users only six months later. Line became Japan's largest social network in 2013. In October 2014 Line announced that it had attracted 560 million users worldwide with 170 million active user accounts. In February 2015, it announced the 600 million users mark had been passed and 700 million were expected by the end of the year.
Line was originally developed as a mobile application for Android and iOS smartphones. The service has since expanded to BlackBerry OS (August 2012), Nokia Asha (Asia and Oceania, March 2013), Windows Phone (July 2013), Firefox OS (February 2014), iOS tablets (October 2014), and as a Chrome Browser Application (via the Chrome Web Store). At one point Line was available as a website (non-browser-app), but that has been discontinued. The application also exists in versions for laptop and desktop computers using the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS platforms.
Since 2013 the service is operated by Line Corporation, a spinoff company which remains a subsidiary of Naver DOWNLOAD D LINE HERE
LINE messenger is a strong competitor in the messaging app world. LINE, just like WhatsApp, makes use of your mobile number as identification, and you can make voice and video calls, send messages, with access to a limitless variety of exciting stickers to express yourself with, and so on. LINE also has other exciting side apps like the Line Pay and Line Foodie that will enrich your experience. Another interesting feature in LINE is ‘Video Snap’, which enables you to create a short 10 second video, add music to it, and share with your friends and family.

ALSO READ: How To Unlock Android Lock Screen By Sending SMS

Viber is a cross-platform instant messaging and Voice over IP (VoIP) app that was first developed and popularized by the Israeli company Viber Media. In addition to instant messaging, users can exchange images, video and audio media messages. The client software is available for Apple iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry OS, Nokia Series 40, Symbian, Bada, Mac OS, and Microsoft Windows. A 64-bit Linux version is available in both .deb (Debian and Ubuntu) and .rpm (Fedora and openSUSE) package formats. It first requires installation on a phone in order to work on a desktop operating system environment. As of February 2014, Viber had over 100 million monthly active users and 280 million registered users.
Viber is a very popular messenger with about 200 million users worldwide. It is easy to use and makes use of your mobile number as your ID. Viber also allows you to share photos & videos, add stickers, draw doodles, share locations, record audio messages or make voice calls and video. Other cool features include group chats, message retraction, multi-platform support (Android tablets, Android Wear, PC, Linux, Mac, iPads and Apple Watch), end-to-end encryption for security and privacy, and ability to hide specific chats from your messaging screen.

BlackBerry Messenger, also known as BBM, is a proprietary Internet-based instant messenger and videotelephony application included on BlackBerry devices that allows messaging and voice calls between BlackBerry, iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile users. It is developed by BlackBerry Limited (formerly known as Research In Motion Limited (RIM)) and was first released in August 2005.
Messages sent via BlackBerry Messenger are sent over the Internet and use the BlackBerry PIN system. Many service providers allow sign-in to BlackBerry Messenger using a dedicated BlackBerry data plan. Exchanging messages is possible to a single person or via dedicated discussion or chat groups, which allow multiple BlackBerry devices to communicate in a single session. In addition to offering text-based instant messages, BlackBerry Messenger also allows users to send pictures, voicenotes (audio recordings), files (up to 16 MB), share real time location on a map, stickers and a wide selection of emoticons.


 DOWNLOAD BLACKBERRY  HERE

Just when people were getting bored with the Short Message Service (SMS), Blackberry messenger revolutionized how people communicate by introducing instant messaging. It’s probably the oldest messenger out there with lots of cool features that could match it with other top messengers. The app offers privacy protection by using a peculiar PIN (or QR code) as your ID in place of your phone number. There’s also Free voice calling between BBM Contacts with BBM Voice, file sharing (photos, files, documents, voice notes and more). The BBM app is always connected and active, so there’s no need to open it always. You can share your location with your contacts using Glympse and BBM Channels help you get information on the things that interest you right from the BBM app. You can also set your messages to expire and disappear after a time, or retract the message if you no longer want it to be seen.

Telegram is a cloud-based instant messaging service. Telegram clients exist for both mobile (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Ubuntu Touch) and desktop systems (Windows, OS X, Linux). Users can send messages and exchange photos, videos, stickers and files of any type. Telegram also provides optional end-to-end-encrypted messaging, which has been criticized by security experts because of its custom nature.
Telegram is supported by the Russian-born entrepreneur Pavel Durov, who is now a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis, travelling the world in self-imposed exile. Its client-side code is open-source software, whereas its server-side code is closed-sourced and proprietary. The service also provides APIs to independent developers.
 DOWNLOAD TELEGRAM HERE
Telegram is a very fast and secure messaging app. It is popular for it’s simple and clutter-free interface that offers a smooth texting experience. The technology behind the app sends messages through decentralized servers i.e. it picks the one that is closest to you and thereby routes the messages at a faster rate. Telegram seamlessly syncs across all of your devices and the cloud. Telegram can also be used on desktops, tablets and phones alike. You can send an unlimited number of messages, photos, videos and files of any type (.doc, .zip, .pdf, etc.). Telegram groups can accommodate up to 5000 people and you can create channels to broadcast messages to an unlimited number of subscribers.  Telegram also offers Secret Chat messages that can be set to delete automatically from both participating devices.

OTHER BASED SOCIAL MEDIA

Baidu   is the largest Chinese communication platform provided by the Chinese search engine company, Baidu. It is an online community bound tightly with internet search services, one of the main business of Baidu. The website functions by having users search or create a bar (Forum) by typing a keyword, and if the bar has not been created before, it is then created upon the search.

 ALSO READ: How To Get Android Notifications Directly On Your PC

Gab is a free online social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send and read short blog-like messages called gabs. Gab enables its users or gabbers to post up to 300 characters in one message and to access additional functionality via using tags: a # option (hashtag) to reference hash topics, an @ option (username) to reference other users, a : option (emoji) to insert emoticons, and the option to add several hyperlinks and images to each message. Gab is described as a social network focused on upholding its users' Freedom of expression. Only registered users can read, post, upvote, or downvote gabs currently. Gab is currently based in San Mateo, U.S.A..

Flickr  is an image hosting and video hosting website and web services suite that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo on March 20, 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, and effectively an online community, the service is widely used by photo researchers and by bloggers to host images that they embed in blogs and social media.

MocoSpace is a mobile game community specifically focused on HTML5 for mobile, also known as a mobile social network. The features of the site are similar to other social networking sites. Features include mobile games, chat, instant messaging, eCards, and photos. MocoSpace is an off deck mobile site, which means that it isn't featured on the start page of cell phone carriers but is a standalone mobile web site that can be visited by any phone with mobile web access. MocoSpace is one of a number of Boston-area startups focusing on developing applications for the mobile web. It is also one of the largest mobile websites of any type in the U.S. as reported by Hitwise  Venture funding for start up companies in the mobile space expanded rapidly starting in 2005, and MocoSpace was a beneficiary of this trend. In 2007, MocoSpace received an initial $3 million series A round of venture funding  and in January 2008 received a $4 million series B round of funding. At that time, MocoSpace also announced 2 million registered users and 1 billion monthly page views, placing it among the very largest off deck mobile social communities. Like most social networking services, the business model is based on serving advertisements to users.

Myspace.com (stylized as myspace) is a social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos. It is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California.
Myspace was acquired by News Corporation in July 2005 for $580 million. From 2005 to 2009, Myspace was the largest social networking site in the world, and in June 2006 surpassed Google as the most visited website in the United States.

StumbleUpon is a discovery engine (a form of web search engine) that finds and recommends web content to its users. Its features allow users to discover and rate Web pages, photos and videos that are personalized to their tastes and interests using peer-sourcing and social-networking principles.

Wattpad is an online storytelling community where users post written works such as articles, stories, fan fiction, and poems, either through the website or the mobile app. The user-generated content is submitted by writers of all levels who are given an equal chance to write popular works. Users are able to comment and like stories or join groups associated with the website. Around half of the users are US based; other users come from the UK, Canada, the Philippines, Australia, Russia, Jamaica, United Arab Emirates and other countries.

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