Today, social networks are so firmly rooted in our lives that the composition of the top five most popular social platforms remains virtually unchanged from year to year. However, the penetration and use of these social networks varies depending on geography and demographic factors. Understanding these differences plays a big role when targeting specific audiences. When comparing the most popular social networks, it is important to pay attention not to the number of registered accounts, but to the number of active users. From the review you will learn which social networks are growing faster than others, and which are currently in decline.

The most popular social platforms

The chart, produced by analytics agency Statista, gives a clear picture of the number of active users (in millions) on the world's most popular social networks. Topping the list is Facebook. This can hardly surprise anyone. Facebook holds the majority of the market share with over 2 billion active users. In January 2017, the giant's closest competitor was WhatsApp, which is also owned by Facebook. Then he was in second place. Today, YouTube is in second place with 1.5 billion active users. Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp take third and fourth place respectively.

They are followed by platforms, the majority of whose audience is located in the Asia-Pacific region. These are QQ, WeChat and Qzone (with more than 600 million active users). This shows that there are a number of popular social media in APAC countries. After them, we see a cluster of platforms popular mainly in the West - Tumblr, Instagram and Twitter.

What about in Russia?

In Russia, the penetration of social networks is estimated at 47%; 67.8 million Russians have accounts on them. According to Statista, YouTube is used most actively in the Russian Federation (63% of respondents), VKontakte takes second place - 61%. Global leader Facebook is only in fourth place with an indicator of 35%. Skype and WhatsApp dominate among instant messengers (38% each).

Social networks that are growing faster than others

Marketers usually don’t spend much time on SMM. Which social network should you concentrate your efforts on? Twitter, which managed to amass an audience of 313 million users from 2010 to 2017, showed the slowest growth rate compared to its largest Facebook competitors, WhatsApp and Chinese WeChat. Founded in 2013, Instagram had already surpassed Twitter in terms of audience size by 2014.

A new study from Statista shows that Twitter fell far behind its peers in 2017. It saw the lowest growth in monthly active audience, with only 23 million from Q3 2015 to Q3 2017. Facebook, meanwhile, grew by 461 million.

How users interact with brands on social networks

Knowing how to behave and what posts to make on social media is also important, since it shapes the image of your brand and, as a result, encourages users to buy your products or, conversely, unsubscribe from your groups. Social media is increasingly being used as customer engagement platforms where customers, existing and potential, want answers to their questions in real time. A chart taken from a Sprout Social report shows that 48% of users can be persuaded to buy by quickly answering questions in a group. 46% respond positively to promotions, and 42% may choose a brand's product if its page provides educational content. 27% of surveyed users admitted that they would be willing to make a purchase if they were shown materials that are usually left behind the scenes.

Half of Sprout Social survey respondents said they would unfollow a brand's community if I posted content that they found offensive, and 27% said they would mark a brand and its page as spam and block it. That's why it's so important to reach and engage your potential customers by publishing relevant and interesting content that resonates with your audience. target audience.

Social networks with the most active audience

An important factor that influences how much time we should devote to SMM on a particular social network is the level of audience engagement. Here again, Facebook dominates, and also has the highest engagement over time, according to data from analytics firm comScore's study of a panel of US consumers.

Facebook's success is amazing. In addition to the social network itself occupying the top spot, other corporate-owned platforms also took second and third place. Facebook Messenger has a 47% penetration rate, with Instagram right behind it.

From the latest data from Pew Internet, shown in the chart below, we can see that Facebook also leads in the number of active audiences per day. 76% of users log into the social network every day, on Instagram this figure is 51%. Only 42% of Twitter users check it daily, which is almost half that of Facebook.

The average daily duration of use of social networks in the United States is 2 hours 1 minute; in Russia, users spend a little more time on social platforms - 2 hours 19 minutes.

Engagement rates in different social networks

Marketing analytics company TrackMaven analyzed 51 million posts from companies across 130 industries to find out which social networks have the highest engagement rates. The results showed that the absolute leader in terms of engagement per 1000 subscribers is Instagram. This is so much higher than other social networks that we had to create a separate chart to illustrate the difference between Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

As you can see from the second graph, Facebook is significantly ahead of Twitter and LinkedIn. This is largely due to the fact that more people post on Twitter because there is no algorithm to show content to only a small portion of the audience. Because of this, brands have to flood their feeds with posts to break through the information noise. This, in turn, reduces the response rate to publications. Below is the average daily number of posts per account on three social networks.

General statistics on social media usage around the world

Every year, WeAreSocial updates its comprehensive Global Digital Report, which compiles actionable data on social media around the world. From it you can find out how differently social platforms are used in different parts of the world. It is surprising that Western countries are seriously lagging behind in the rate of penetration of social networks.

Below are the main conclusions of the studies.

• The number of Internet users in 2018 reached 4.021 billion people, which is 7 percent more than a year ago.
• Audience social networks in 2018 there are 3.196 billion people - 13% higher than last year's figure.
• Number of users mobile phones is 5.135 billion people, this means plus 4% compared to last year.

The numbers are growing rapidly, especially for active users of social networks with mobile devices— penetration level 39%, which is 5% more than in 2017.

If we talk about the structure of web traffic depending on the type of device, then the most traffic is generated by mobile users (52%, which is 4% higher than last year). Only 43% of all web pages are visited from desktops, which is 3% lower than last year.

Northern, Western and Southern Europe, as well as North America, boast the most high level Internet penetration - 74%-94% of the total population uses the World Wide Web. In Russia, 110 million people use the Internet—76% of the total population.

The growth in the global audience of social networks since January 2017 was 13%. The fastest growth in the number of users is observed in Saudi Arabia. Since January 2017, their number has increased by 32%, the global average is 17%. Other countries with the highest growth rates include India, Indonesia and Ghana. The reason for the jump was the development of technology, which made it easier for the population to access social platforms. Social networks grew the slowest in the UAE, South Korea and Great Britain -<5%. В России пользователей соцсетей стало на 8 826 000 человек больше (+15% к прошлогоднему значению).

Since Facebook has the largest share of users, it would be useful to know how the content you post will perform on the social network and what features to use to increase its reach. According to social network statistics, the average reach of a publication is 10.7%, with organic posts having 8% (organic reach in Russia is 11.3%), and for paid posts this value is 26.8% (27.4% in Russia) . Organic and paid Facebook posts have huge potential. It is important to target publications correctly in order to receive quality leads.

You can get a more complete picture of the state of the global digital market in 2018 by studying our review of the Internet 2017-2018 in the world and in Russia: statistics and trends, which we prepared based on the Global Digital 2018 study.

Popularity of social networks by country

The graph below from the GlobalWebIndex report, based on a survey of Internet users, perfectly reflects the popularity of various social networks by country. Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico, India and Brazil are among the top ten most active audiences on each social network, significantly ahead of the US, UK and European countries.

Of the four social networks presented (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Google+), Russians are the most active users of the video service. Twitter and Google+ are used relatively often by only 20% of our compatriots, and Facebook is regularly viewed by just over 40%.

Demographic statistics of social media use

As can be seen from the graph, different age groups have a similar pattern of social media use. This suggests that social networks have reached a stage of maturity where they can reach all demographic groups, regardless of age and gender. The exceptions are Instagram and Tumblr, which have younger audiences.

Strategies for interacting with social media audiences

According to The State of Social 2018 study, 96% of brands have a presence on Facebook.

Moreover, only half of the respondents have a documented SMM strategy. Large businesses are a little more responsible about this issue than small companies (60% said they have such a document).

When it comes to the types of content brands publish, images, links, and text lead the way. Even though video posts tend to get the most engagement, video content only comes in fourth. This is primarily due to the complexity of creating such materials.

At the end of 2017, Smart Insights, together with Clutch, conducted a survey among business representatives, in which they asked which social networks were of the greatest value to them. It turned out that among B2C companies Facebook is considered the most effective (93% of respondents), and most B2B companies prefer LinkedIn (93%).

The Value of Social Media for Brands in 2018

1. If you think that your target audience is not on social networks, you are mistaken.

Through social networks you can reach any audience, regardless of gender, age, social status. 98% of online consumers are registered on social networks, a fairly large part of them are adults 55-64 years old.

1. People devote a third of their time on the Internet to social networks.

The average user spends 2 hours 15 minutes a day scrolling through their feed and communicating on social platforms, and young people aged 16-24 spend almost three hours. If you do not consider SMM as a channel for attracting customers, then you are voluntarily giving up the attention of your target audience to your competitors.

1. Half of all social media users follow brand pages.

4 out of 10 internet users follow their favorite companies on social media, and a quarter follow brands when planning to buy something. People respond positively to such content, so an active presence on social media is of great value to companies.

1. Social networks are the main source of information for consumers.

People aged 16-24 prefer to look for information about brands on social networks rather than on search engines. A quarter of users in this age group admit that a large number of likes on a brand’s page can persuade them to make a purchase. In the group of 35-44 years old, 20% of respondents said the same. Social commerce can be considered one of the main channels for generating profit, which means it is important to diversify your efforts and not rely only on advertising.

1. Watching videos is a favorite pastime on social media.

Facebook is the largest social network in terms of number of users, but YouTube takes first place in terms of traffic and the reason is because of the video. Video posts receive the most active response, and that is why leading brands constantly publish videos on their pages.

The following materials were used in preparing the article:

1. Global Social Media Research Summary 2018 by Smart Insights
2. The State of Social 2018 report by Social Media Week
3. The Biggest Social Media Trends Shaping 2018 article published on the GlobalWebIndex blog
4. Social Networks Study: How social networks were used in 2017 by analytical agency Metricool
5. Global Digital 2018 report package compiled by WeAreSocial analytical agency

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Originally developed as a mobile application for smartphones, this utility has now grown into one of the largest social networks, the number of users of which has already exceeded 100 million. The resource settings help filter images according to specified parameters and accompany them with short captions. Now, with the help of this site, people not only meet people and post photos, but also earn money by creating online stores and banks of paid images.

https://www.instagram.com/

We present to you a site designed for young and mobile people who are interested in modern music and cinema and want to find new acquaintances. The resource registration conditions prohibit users under 18 years of age from logging into the system. There are no other restrictions. So come in, get acquainted, download music and movies, create groups, post news and share life hacks with 200 million Internet users who have chosen this portal as a platform for virtual meetings.

http://www.connect.ua

A social network without claims to uniqueness, made on the principle of similar resources with all the attached services: adding photos, posting videos, downloading music, creating author’s blogs and joining communities. The news feed is dominated by non-political news, and the game catalog contains a good selection of Internet toys available online. Among the attractive features, we note the simple functionality; among the disadvantages, we note the unsystematic nature of posting news messages.

http://www.privet.ru

A free all-Ukrainian student network, where, along with services that allow students from different schools to communicate, there are functions for posting the school schedule and grading. Parents, by visiting their son or daughter’s page, can find out how teachers rated their child’s knowledge this week, and teachers have the opportunity to remotely post homework assignments. The functionality of the resource also provides for communication at the level of school teams.

http://shodennik.ua/

A thematic resource designed for travelers. Its services allow you to mark your location on a map, communicate with other tourists and evaluate the performance of restaurants, hotels, shops and entertainment venues around the world you have visited. The authors of the resource attract new visitors with the opportunity to gain access to short local tips that will help them navigate a foreign city, choose a good and inexpensive hotel, cafe and nightclub.

https://ru.foursquare.com/

F.Gid

The portal for fishermen, which we invite you to visit, contains information that will be of interest to lovers of quiet hunting. By registering on the site, you will become part of a community of Internet users who cannot imagine their life without a fishing rod. Here you can show off your own catch by posting a photo report about it, learn about the best baits, get advice from experienced fishing enthusiasts, read the fisherman's encyclopedia and inquire about the bite forecast in your locality.

http://www.fgids.com/

Do you have a dog and want to receive training tips from professional dog trainers and connect with other animal lovers like you? A social network of dog breeders will come to your aid, where the most complete information about our four-legged friends is collected, including a list of nicknames, a schedule of exhibitions, descriptions of breeds, a rating of record holders and addresses of kennels. At the puppy exchange you can get a cute little barking cutie, and in the “video” section you can post videos about his first successes.

http://www.dogster.ru/

This is a combination of a social network and a dating site. Therefore, in addition to the usual services for posting photos and videos, games and creating groups, here you can take a compatibility test and start your own diary, giving access to it only to a select few, vote for the best couple and get into the rating of duets that received the most votes. The concept of a group on this site is replaced by the name “club”, but otherwise the functionality is similar to other portals of a similar format.

http://www.limpa.ru

Here is a portal that combines the features of a social network and a dating site. In addition to the usual functions of finding new acquaintances, online games, sharing music and videos, there are unique services that distinguish it from other portals. Firstly, duels are organized here - virtual discussions between two opponents on a given topic, in which anyone can take part. Secondly, here you can take part in a club meeting. And thirdly, you can go on a “blind date”.

http://www.justsay.ru

One of the largest Russian-language social networks, the number of registered users currently exceeds 200 million. Along with traditional services for searching for people, playing games, and posting audio and video files, a lot of functions are available here, including transferring money between users, broadcasting live broadcasts within a group, as well as a mobile messenger application and many options with which you can promote your group and make money online.

http://www.odnoklassniki.ru

In fact, this project arose as a result of a symbiosis of two formats - a dating site and a social network. Hence the selection of resource services that are designed to allow users to communicate and find new acquaintances. The youth audience under the age of 35, who generously share their photographs, are the main visitors to this Internet site. The portal's services allow you to spend time playing online games, share posts with friends and rate photos of other users.

http://www.fotostrana.ru

This resource is a platform for communication between people with an active lifestyle. Here the most pressing issues are raised and current topics are discussed. In other words, this portal is designed for those who are interested in politics in all its manifestations. Those who are taking their first steps on this path will be able to learn from more experienced colleagues, and for those who already have their own experience, the site will help expand the ranks of their associates by attracting new like-minded people.

http://www.soratniki-online.ru

This site claims to be a guide to the world of information and a platform for communicating with people who have similar interests to you. Here you can watch movies, play online games and applications, download videos from torrent trackers to your personal page, participate in discussions and share your impressions. The portal provides the opportunity to create your own resource using a website builder, optimize it in search engines, increase traffic and learn how to make money from it.

http://platforma.mirtesen.ru/

Wyw

A youth network that unites over two million registered visitors. Here, to communicate, you do not have to register under your real name and surname, or post real photos. According to the authors of the resource, such concessions make the portal more comfortable to use and distinguish it for the better from other similar services. The rest of the site’s functionality is traditional: communication in groups, posting photos, searching for people, creating author’s blogs and online games.

http://www.wyw.ru

This portal was created for those who monitor their health and want to know more about how to maintain it. The “Medical Encyclopedia” contains definitions of medical terms and diseases, the “Traditional Medicine” section contains advice from our grandmothers on treating many diseases and strengthening the immune system, and the “Psychology” section contains materials that help to understand gender relations and the relationship between parents and children. . Register, communicate, exchange opinions and photos.

http://polonsil.ru/

Xing

One of the largest professional social networks with more than 10 million members. By registering here, the user gets access to a job search service abroad, and also expands the circle of his acquaintances with whom he finds himself in the same professional field. An important bonus received by network users is the opportunity to exchange experiences, meet new companies and employers, and maintain a personal blog, creating a reputation as an expert.

https://www.xing.com/

This resource was created exclusively for schoolchildren and, according to its developers, is a virtual assistant in their studies and a place where children look for new friends and peers, expanding their social circle. Teenagers can unite in groups, the topics of which cover all areas of the life of a modern student - from studying to watching films. The site regularly holds competitions among its subscribers, and the games section contains single-player and multiplayer Internet toys loved by teenagers.

http://www.classnet.ru

The purpose of creating this resource was to unite Russian-speaking people living in different parts of the Earth and to help restore lost connections with relatives, classmates and friends. Subsequently, this direction ceased to be the main one, resulting in a small portal that became a platform for communication between residents of the regions of Russia and Ukraine. The functionality of the site is not very diverse: there is the ability to add photos, search for a person, conduct correspondence and place advertisements.

http://www.100druzei.ru

Here is the world of computer gamers, where they get acquainted with reviews and previews of cyber games, the latest news from gaming software developers and share their secrets of success. Fans of comics and blockbusters will also find something to enjoy here, since a separate section of the portal is devoted to this topic, where reviews, videos and testimonials are posted. Otherwise, this is the same social network as others, with the need for registration and the ability to communicate with others like you.

http://kanobu.ru/

According to Wikipedia, today it is the most popular communication network in Russia and Ukraine, ranking fourth in the world in terms of the number of users. Initially positioning itself as a platform for schoolchildren and students, this resource later changed its format, expanding the age range, but young audiences still remain predominant among its visitors. The functions of the service are traditional: publishing photos and creating albums, adding video and audio, and communicating through posts.

http://www.vkontakte.ru

Choose a platform for communication. The list is compiled according to the principle of a catalog, where next to each site there is information on its main topic. You can choose a resource that helps you find friends, allows you to create groups, play games together, establish business contacts, buy, sell or exchange things, cars and real estate, prepare for the arrival of a baby in the family, get advice on raising and developing a child. A small note: social networks from all over the world are collected here.

http://www.ph4.ru/tsoc_index.ph4

Are you looking for a platform for communication, but find it difficult to choose the right one? To help you, Yandex has created a catalog of the most popular social networks. More than 100 sites presented in it cover different spheres of life and will help you find a resource that suits your interests: with an extensive film library, a wide selection of games, and a large music storage. There are portals where schoolchildren communicate, businessmen discuss and needlewomen exchange experiences.

http://yaca.yandex.ua/yca/cat/Entertainment/commun...

This site contains the most famous and popular social networks. Whatever your hobbies, here you will find portals that match your interests and allow you to chat with friends, exchange experiences and post photos, undergo language practice communicating with foreigners, create your own group, find former classmates, find out the latest news about the latest events in country and world, etc. In the new products section you can get acquainted with social portals that have recently appeared on the World Wide Web.

http://www.starterix.ru/social-nets.html

Here is a catalog of social networks, compiled to make it easier to find a platform for communication. The authors of the resource have grouped sites by topic: business, health, dating, art, hobbies, travel and tourism, sports, etc., thereby significantly simplifying the choice of a suitable site. In the TOP 10 of the catalog you will find the best resources that received the highest ratings from users, and in the “Article Categories” section you will find materials that tell you how to learn how to earn a stable income using social networks.

http://www.social-networking.ru/soccat

Scientists have not remained aloof from the currently fashionable trend of creating thematic social networks and have developed their own platform for communication, where you can find like-minded people, find out news about the latest scientific conferences and symposiums, and also get acquainted with the plan for upcoming events. Those who need a job will certainly be interested in the “Vacancies” section, and those who need funding for their research and development will find it useful to visit the “Grants” section.

http://www.science-community.org/

Russian social network for Russian-speaking people both in Russia and abroad. This is a place where you can make new acquaintances and meet new friends, download songs and upload your tracks, maintain an author’s blog and get acquainted with the latest entries in the user music chart. The portal is designed for those who love not only listening to music, but also writing. Therefore, music news appears here regularly, and it is possible to create a page for your own musical group.

http://www.ruspace.ru

http://www.esosedi.ru/#lat=48015877&lng=37802850&z...

This site is positioned as a national social network. Created on the basis of the mail.ru portal, it is a good platform for communication among the Russian-speaking audience, whose age ranges from 20 to 50 years. Here you can search for classmates, fellow students and former work colleagues, view and add new photos and videos, read blogs, answer questions, leave entries in the guest book. At your service is a user-friendly interface, a set of games and a news feed.

http://my.mail.ru

Here is an attempt by Belarusian programmers to create a national social network. Judge for yourself how successful it turned out to be. We note that the start page is more reminiscent of a news site, where the official point of view on events taking place in the country and the world is posted. The resource developers also chose a rather unusual method of registration via a QR code, although you can also use the traditional method by clicking on the “Our chat” link and going through the usual procedure for creating a personal account.

http://www.vceti.by

User reviews of literally everything are posted here, from household items purchased and tested in practice to vacation spots they visited. The authors of the resource encourage site visitors to exchange useful information, thereby helping each other. Network members not only describe their impressions and give ratings, but also write what problems you may encounter when purchasing or traveling, and give advice on how to avoid them.

http://otzovik.com/

Lovely ladies made an attempt to create their own social network, the results of which you can evaluate by visiting this site. Participants who register here can find new friends and propose their own topics for discussion, start a diary and start their own group, inviting like-minded women into it, post articles of their own composition, and take part in competitions. The topics of the portal’s materials are selected taking into account women’s interests: beauty, cooking, handicrafts, children, travel, etc.

http://www.myjulia.ru/

Anyone can join this book lovers club. What does registration on this resource give? Firstly, expanding your social circle to include book lovers who share your interests. Secondly, you will be the first to know about new works appearing on bookstore shelves and in virtual libraries. Thirdly, you will have the opportunity to meet authors, read reviews from professional critics, and even start your own blog where you can show off your literary talents.

http://bookmix.ru/

Do you want to get rid of loneliness and find your partner or friends with whom it would always be interesting and fun? Then visit this resource and expand your circle of friends. All you need is to know English and register. After this, services for sharing music, uploading photos, posting advertisements, creating a personal blog and a thematic forum will become available to you. Otherwise, we have before us an ordinary social network, where users unite in groups, exchange posts and comments.

http://www.umka.mobi

What can you say about this portal? Among its visitors are teenagers and young people under the age of 25, united by common interests. Accordingly, the services are selected taking into account this category of users. Search for music, an IM client with a video chat function and a lot of information in demand by teenagers. All that remains is to add: knowledge of the English language is indispensable here, since the network is designed for an English-speaking audience and does not have a Russian-language version.

http://www.tagworld.com

This is a three-dimensional virtual world with elements of a social network. Account owners have the opportunity to choose an avatar from the “People” and “Vampires” categories, independently create their own virtual character, goods and art objects, and build architectural structures. The site's services allow you to chat online. In other words, the authors of the resource have created a second life for real people in the virtual world, where their abilities are limited only by their own imagination and the capabilities of the software.

http://www.secondlife.com

In addition to searching for old and new acquaintances, how does this portal attract users? Firstly, the presence in its archives of a solid collection of abstracts. Secondly, the opportunity to test your strength by passing the online Unified State Examination and State Examination tests. Thirdly, the presence of cloud storage where you can upload files for storage. And fourthly, a messenger distribution for computers and phones. In other words, this is a resource designed for young students who want to combine the interesting with the useful.

http://friends.qip.ru

This is a social network that positions itself as an entertainment portal that functions as a platform for communication, an online store and a blogosphere. By registering on the site, you can take part in the discussion of any of the existing topics or propose a new one. To make it more convenient for network members to connect, all topics are combined into groups, among which you will find “Home and Interior”, “Cosmetics”, “Recreation and Tourism”, “Movies”, etc. Photo and video posting services are included.

http://vilingstore.net/

A social network created on the basis of the famous portal and designed to find old and new acquaintances. Like most similar services, it has functions for downloading movies, videos, music, books, games, photos and wallpapers. The network community unites into interest groups in which they exchange opinions, life hacks and the latest news from their areas of interest. Here you can listen to the radio online, set up a personal organizer, send a postcard to a friend and find an interesting recipe.

http://narod.i.ua

An online community of creative people: artists, musicians, writers and photographers. Here you can get acquainted with young authors and their works. If you yourself belong to the cohort of creators, then you have the opportunity to submit your work for general discussion and even raise funds for its publication. For this purpose, the resource has created a “Crowdfunding” section, where anyone can make a contribution to the release of a music album, the printing of a book, or the filming of a film.

http://kroogi.com/explore?locale=ru

This is a portal for mothers who are ready to share their own experiences of raising children. Here, like any other social network, there are interest groups, a news feed and a people search service. Due to its specificity, the site also has distinctive features. For example, it contains a catalog of maternity hospitals, schools and kindergartens, a recipe section, a section on face and body care, as well as a pregnancy calendar and a list of names that can be given to the baby.

http://www.stranamam.ru/

According to the authors of this service, LifeStyleRepublic.ru is a network multimedia portal that hosts community services and reality shows designed for an Internet audience. The theme of the portal is style and beauty. Therefore, the users of the thematic network are young people who are interested in the latest news from the catwalks, publications of famous couturiers with comments about new trends in the fashion world. There are communities of interests and services for uploading videos, music and photos.

http://lifestylerepublic.ru

http://www.ayda.ru/

By creating this resource, its authors wanted to unite politicians, party leaders, journalists, experts and ordinary citizens who are not indifferent to the fate of the state within one online community. For some, this site can become a launching pad into big politics, for some it will open their eyes to events in domestic politics, and for others it will simply make new acquaintances and listen to the opinions of others about trends in foreign and domestic politics. Everyone will find theirs.

http://politiko.ua/

The top five most popular social networks in the world have not changed in recent years. Three of them - Youtube, Facebook, Instagram - are well known in Russia. The list of leaders is completed by two Chinese social networks. They did not spread influence in Europe and the USA, but became leaders due to the number of active users from Asian countries.

Dynamics of development of social networks 2004-2019

A very revealing video about which networks and what type of content are becoming more in demand.

Each social network is different in terms of user population, the nature of the content, and the specifics of working with regional areas. Different target audiences require different approaches, so differences between social networks are necessary when planning promotion.

The main thing is live users

When comparing social networks with each other, it makes sense to take into account only active users, and not the number of created accounts. In most social networks, the process of creating additional accounts is as complicated as possible - a mandatory link is established to a phone number, email, and accounts in other social networks. Owners of pages that are not logged in every day are asked to protect their data using additional bindings the next time they log in.

Maintaining business accounts on social networks and a separate budget for SMM are becoming the norm for large companies. The most popular social networks have additional functionality for registering and maintaining business accounts, and also offer integrated analytics systems for traffic, activity, and the effectiveness of promotions.

The most popular social networks in the world

According to research from analytics company Statista, the most popular social networks in the world, ranked by number of active users (in millions), as of October 2019:

China's largest social networks Qzone, QQ and the WeChat messenger have gained more than 570 million users from the Asia-Pacific region. Instagram and Twitter are popular mainly in Europe and the USA. Oddly enough, in terms of activity in social networks, Europe is still behind even Russia, so European social networks are not visible in the top 10.

Social networks: list of popular ones in Russia

Medialogy conducted a study on the mentions of platforms in social networks in August 2019. The Russian-language segment of social media was considered (Twitter, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, LiveJournal, forums and blogs). Data without self-citations were taken into account.
The leader in mentions was YouTube - 24.7 million messages, followed by Instagram - 13 million and VKontakte - 8.2 million.

In 11th and 12th places were Snapchat - 0.4 million mentions, and My World - 0.2 million, respectively.
Previously, Mediascope conducted a study on the audience of platforms; in terms of the number of monthly users, the leaders were VKontakte with 37.9 million people, Instagram with 30.6 million and Odnoklassniki with 23.1 million.
Despite the fact that Snapchat is in eleventh place in terms of mentions, it became the fifth social network by audience in Russia in the first half of 2019, according to Mediascope data.

What are social networks?

The list of popular social networks is headed by platforms for content that is easily accessible to the user: photos, videos, things that don’t take a long time to read. If you are promoting a brand on a particular social network, the content must be strictly adapted to the requirements of the audience. Don't try to promote text content on Twitter or Instagram: users of these platforms are accustomed to receiving visual material with only a small text component. Few people delve into the comments under posts for a long time; the main emphasis should be on visualization and conciseness.

Promotion on Facebook allows for variations with content. The platform is designed for a variety of content: short messages, photographs with captions sit side by side with designed longreads on a specific topic. There are many communities and opportunities to discuss anything with like-minded people.;

Social networks for business promotion: what makes you make purchases?

The Sprout Social agency, which has been studying American and global social networks since 2010, has published a chart that shows what brings users closer to completing a conversion action on a social network.

• Most users note that a quick response from a specialist is their priority;
• Half of brand followers on social networks react positively to promotions;
• Just over 40% expect to see useful information on a company page;
• 27% of users will be willing to make a purchase if you show them “behind the scenes.”

Half of the surveyed users threaten to unsubscribe from the page immediately, and 27% plan to mark the brand as spam and block it if annoying/negative/uninteresting information appears on the page. Reaching your audience and attracting new potential customers requires interesting and useful content that will resonate with your target audience. When choosing materials and designing publications, you will have to sift out a lot of unnecessary things.

Social networks are not only a place for people to communicate, but also a platform for working with potential clients, prompt responses and holding promotions to attract the target audience. If you decide to promote your business or product on social networks, remember the basic principles:

• Good promotion on one social network is better than bad promotion on several;
• The social network chosen for promotion must correspond to the specifics of the brand: cosmetics and perfumes are best presented through social networks with visual content;
• The content must be consistent with both the social network and the brand;
• For some social networks, interaction with the audience is critically important, and these are additional costs for developing promotions and competitions, which must be taken into account when drawing up estimates;
• Promotion in some social networks has a beneficial effect on promotion in search engines, this is especially true if the social network platform and the search engine belong to the same company.

Social networks are a type of Internet resource with the ability to join different interest groups, discuss all sorts of links, videos, photos, etc. I don’t know any people who haven’t heard of at least a couple of networks from the list below.

How did you find out about this site?
- I am a registered user.
- Is it true? Are you doing this singles thing?
- I am a 32-year-old system administrator who works in the basement. Yes, I do this singles thing.

Facebook has an audience of 750 million users in 200 countries. The service was born in 2004 as a site for communication between Harvard students, and what follows is a well-known story. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen Fincher’s film – it’s educational and 3 Oscars no matter how.

Forbes included the founder of the service, Mark Zuckerberg, in the list of the richest people in the world. There are many independent programmers working inside the site; the programs they created have brought the lion's share of success

LiveJournal is a blog platform that brings together a variety of people, be it age, social status, religious views, preferences, and so on.

In 1999, American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick registered the domain livejournal.com and created a giant virtual diary service. At first it was his personal blog site, then his friends and acquaintances began to unsubscribe there, and off we go. Fitzpatrick founded the company Danga Interactive, in 2005 the company was sold to the large corporation Six

Twitter is essentially a microblogging system where users can post short texts of up to 140 characters using SMS, pagers and a web interface. Twitter was created in 2006 in San Francisco by Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass and Biz Stone. IT specialists worked on an R&D project with Odeo.

In October 2006, they opened their own company, Obvious, through which they managed Twitter and Odeo. There was nothing like this before, so immediately after entering the market, the number of users of the tweeting network began to grow very quickly. In April 2007, Twitter split from Obvious and became

Tom Anderson and Chris DeWulf met at XDrive Technologies, which they left to form their own company, Response Base Marketing. The main goal was to create a universal space for online activities. Initially, the guys focused on the interests of the creative part of users - photography, programming, music, cinema.

As of June 2006, the resource boasted 48 million unique visitors and 27.4 billion page views. Even the Pentagon decided to play on the popularity of MySpace: in the name of replenishing the ranks of the US armed forces, an official page of the American Marine Corps was created on the social portal, equipped with a “Contract” button

Google+ is a social network of Google Inc. In 2010, there was information about the development of a new social network, Google Me, but it turned out to be a hoax. In the spring of 2011, information about the social network Google Circles was leaked, but when Google+ began operating in June, it became clear that Google Circles was its basis.

Circles divide the social circle into separate subgroups. The number of photos and videos is not limited by anything other than size; video duration is a maximum of 15 minutes with a resolution of 1080p. There are Video Meetings where users can set up video chat (maximum 10

Brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov were inspired by Facebook and created Vkontakte.ru. Previously, Pavel created Durov.com and Spbgu.Ru (by the way, it is still one of the largest communities for students in St. Petersburg and Moscow).

Due to the similarity of the interfaces, there were many disputes about copyright, but for Vkontakte it was necessary to write your own code, look through the Ministry of Education reference books, university websites and do a hell of a lot of work. So to be honest

Albert Popkov was on the team that created the social network Passado.com. Since 2000, I have developed a project similar to Classmates with my own money. This loud and at times scandalous network has gained an audience of 1.5 million users in Russia in 7 months.

The British company i-CD Publishing, Popkov's former employer, accused him of using Passado's ideas and other terrible sins. They also said that Odnoklassniki is a project of the FSB, this is how they monitor people and collect dossiers in leather folders. Or whatever it is

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1

Facebook is the most popular social network of all time. On the site we all know, you can upload photos, update your current status, send messages to friends, and publish messages and opinions on your page. Facebook was originally called "The Facebook" - it was a kind of fantasy idea of ​​​​one Harvard University student. The social site instantly became popular and continued to grow. Facebook was initially restricted to university students only.

The social network began its journey at Harvard, and soon its creator, Mark Zuckerberg, opened it to other educational institutions. Soon the site of this social network became available not only to students and attracted millions of people from all over the world.

Many companies use Facebook to build a reputation and promote their products. There are several external companies that help support Facebook services. A service seller can create a Facebook page and post content on a regular basis in the form of advertisements.

When Facebook first appeared, two students from Harvard University accused the creator of this social network of stealing their idea. After the trial, Zuckerberg had to pay monetary damages, the exact amount of which was not disclosed. Another time the case went to court was when the co-founder and CFO filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg after he was fired from the company, and the case was also settled for a secret amount of money.

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2

It is the second most famous and popular social network that allows users to send and read messages called tweets. But tweets must be short - their size is limited to 140 characters. Twitter was first created in March 2006 and launched in July 2006. By 2013, this social network became one of the top 10 most visited sites. Today there are more than half a billion registered users on Twitter. Many celebrities, politicians, world leaders, media channels and other businesses have Twitter profiles so that their fans can follow their daily lives and events.

The second top social network also became famous for the fact that they came up with the use of hashtags (#), i.e. the most widely used symbols to represent various events, so millions of people on Twitter have been able to use them in their tweets. Before it came to Twitter, the hashtag was only used as a button on the phone and was considered a symbol for numbers only.

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3

Linkedin is the third most popular social network in the world and is intended for professionals in any field. The site was created specifically for professionals and businesses to bring together the best jobs and the best employees in one place. Linkedin was founded in December 2002 and officially launched on May 5, 2003. In 2013, the site became one of the most popular social and professional networking sites with more than 259 million registered users in nearly 200 countries. Linkedin is available in twenty different languages.

This network allows users to create their profiles so that they can build real professional relationships with thousands of employers, employees and other professionals in their field. Here you can find a job and discover new business opportunities through the users you connect with on this social website.

Job seekers often use the site to view HR profiles to better prepare for interviews. When you sign up for Linkedin, you can tag jobs you're interested in where you'd like to send your resume. You can also congratulate other users on their promotion and you can see who visited your page.

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4

The site is used to store, collect and share information. Elements that are saved on a page are called “pins.” There are several other sites linked to this site that offer news and information and also have a save option. Just click on the "Pin" button on the information you want to download on the page and it will automatically load on your page.

Users can also pin each other's pages, so you can see what your friends are interested in. Pinterest is a huge platform where you can show off your creativity and interests. The user can also tag a Pinterest page from their Twitter or Facebook profiles. Pinterest has become one of the top 5 social networks over the past few years. As of February 2013, there are 48.7 million registered users, and this number is growing rapidly and intensively.

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5

Google Plus, which is owned by Google Inc. is another popular network with a large number of users around the world. Google Plus allows its users to create a profile page that contains a picture, background screen, work history, your interests and education history. The user can also post status updates and sees other people's status updates and can share photos. In order to see your friends' news, you need to add them to your “circle”.

In November 2011, Google Plus profiles became the backdrop for other Google services such as Gmail, Google Maps, Google Play, Google Voice, Google Wallet, Google Music, and Android, the most common smartphone operating system. Google Plus also has a Plus-1 button that allows its users to recommend content, something similar to the Facebook "Like" button.

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6

Tumblr is the sixth most popular social network that was created by David Karp in 2006. This social network is designed for micro-blogging. Users can post content and multimedia elements in a short blog form. The main Tumblr page is a combination of your favorite blogs and posts from people you follow.

In addition, here you can post images, videos, texts, quotes, or share links on your blog, and there is also the ability to share other people's blogs. The user can also set a schedule so that their posts can be delayed by several hours or days. Hashtags (#) are a great opportunity for friends and subscribers to easily find any messages and promotions. Today, there are over 213 million blogs on Tumblr.

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7

Instagram is the seventh popular social network that is used for mobile photo and video sharing on social media. It was created by Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom and launched in October 2010. There are currently more than 300 million users of this popular social network.

Instagram allows its users to upload photos and share videos and follow other users. Users can also link their Instagram account to their Facebook and Twitter accounts, so that photos they post on Instagram will automatically appear on those sites as well. Since Instagram's creation, it has contributed to the emergence of some new trends on the Internet:

Selfie is a self-portrait taken using a smartphone or digital camera.

Throwback Thursday is a trend that started on Instagram and spread to Twitter and Facebook. Every Thursday you can post an old photo with the hashtag #TBT.

Woman Crush Wednesday - Every Wednesday you can post a photo of a beautiful lady you have a crush on.

Man Crush Monday: Every Monday you can post a photo of a handsome man.

Weekend Hashtag Project: The Instagram team suggests a specific theme at the end of the weekend. You can upload a photo that fits a given topic.

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8

VC

VK is the largest social network in Russia and Europe. Although VK is available in several languages, it is mainly popular among Russian-speaking users. VK currently has more than 280 million users. The most widely used function on VK is messages. A VK user can send private messages to another user or a group of two to thirty users.

You can send audio, photos, videos, files, documents and maps in private messages. The user can also post news, opinions and share interesting links on his page. There is a “Like” button, just like in Facebook, but if on Facebook likes automatically appear on the user’s own wall, then on VK likes are information that can be hidden. A VK user can also synchronize his account with other social networks.

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9

Flickr is another popular site that allows the user to post and share videos, images, and web services. Flickr was created in 2005 as Yahoo Flickr, and as of 2013 it has over 87 million users. This social network offers 3 types of accounts. The first type of account is free and with such an account the user has limited storage space.

The second is “no ads”, also free, offering the same amount of storage, but without annoying advertisements. The third is the Double account type, which allows users to get double the amount of storage. Photos and videos you upload can be displayed in normal view, slideshow view, detail view, or have an archive attached.

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10

Vine

Vine is a social network for video sharing. It was founded in June 2012, and since then, Vine allows its users to edit, record and upload videos of only 5-6 seconds in length. The user can also repost or exchange photos, and can subscribe to other users.

Videos you upload can be automatically posted to Twitter and Facebook. If you want to watch videos that are uploaded by other people you don't follow, you can search by username, topic, or trending video.

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Conclusion

This was an article TOP 10 Most popular social networks in the world. Thank you for your attention!