Most anyone with a smartphone or a way to get on the internet knows about the social networking platform, Twitter. You probably know of other social network platforms that would be competing against Twitter. Social media is a powerhouse in 2021 and will be around for a while longer as it has taken over almost everyone’s day-to-day life.
#1 Twitter, Inc
- Founded: March 21, 2006
- Headquarters: San Francisco, CA, US
Need to know
Twitter was founded in 2006 by its co-founders Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, Evan Williams, and Noah Glass. It is like a mini-blogging site and a social network wrapped into one. The site’s users can reply, retweet, like, and/or share the tweet somewhere else. People also use it as an online news site. The site allows you only 280 characters to one post. It was 140 characters until they changed it. It is a good thing that you can make multiple tweets to get a point across now. It used to be that you had to tweet one at a time, now you can make multiple tweets into a thread and batch post them.
They have also recently released Twitter Blue in 2021 that gives you exclusive access to features that aren’t available to the whole platform. Like undoing tweets, having ad-free articles, customizing the Twitter experience, and get early access to features not yet available to the public. It only costs $2.99 per month for their introductory price. There is an ability to monetize an account, so you could potentially make money later on once you have enough followers.
#2 Facebook/Meta
- Founded: February 04, 2004
- Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA, US
Need to know
Facebook was founded in 2004 by its co-founders Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew McCollum, Eduardo Saverin. Facebook’s purpose is to build connections and communities. It has helped connect a lot of people and helped people get closer together. In 2021, Mark Zuckerberg changed the name to Meta to bring in his virtual universe called the Metaverse. It is a controversial issue, but one that will inevitably change the way we do things. Not only does Facebook help people connect with others from around the world, but it also helps businesses grow and create jobs.
Facebook gives people a voice where they didn’t have one before as they are working to make technology accessible to everyone. In fact, they have made it where you can talk to people from the other side of the world with just a few clicks. They have groups, pages, marketplace, dating, and even gaming. Of course, they have ads to keep their services free.
#3 WhatsApp Inc.
- Founded: 2009
- Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA, US
Need to know
WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by its co-founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton. It is an instant messaging application, and they were able to follow trends and capitalize on push notifications and encryption. Their principal is no ads, no games, no gimmicks that they pride themselves in. When WhatsApp first began its users could create statuses and ping their friends to that status. A lot of people were using this as a way to chat with friends instead of texting. We all know back in 2009 there was a charge for each text made. This led the two founders to make it into a messaging app.
In February 2014, Facebook (now Meta) bought WhatsApp for $19 billion. While the founders worked with Facebook, they eventually left in 2017. Brian left first as he wanted to work on his non-profit. Soon after Jan followed after Brian as arguments over data privacy and WhatsApp business model took place. With WhatsApp, you can make group chats or just talk to a singular person. You can still set your status like usual.
#4 Instagram Inc.
- Founded: October 6, 2010
- Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA, US
Need to know
Instagram was founded in 2010 by its co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. It is a social networking platform and a photo-sharing application. It allows its users to do a wide variety of things like take photos, apply filters, and share them on other social media networks. In April 2012 Facebook (now Meta) bought Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock. People use it to connect with various individuals and businesses. This includes connecting with brands, celebrities, thought leaders, and more.
You can do short-form videos to live streaming. This platform is designed primarily for smartphones. They are improving it to where you can access it better on a desktop or laptop. Their platform has reels, stories, Lives, and a shop. People can have captions under their photos. They can also like, comment, and share on other people’s posts.
#5 LinkedIn Corp.
- Founded: 2002
- Headquarters: Sunnyvale, CA, US
Need to know
LinkedIn was founded in 2002 by its co-founders Reid Hoffman, Konstantin Guericke, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Allen Blue, and Eric Ly. LinkedIn is a professional social networking site that helps career development and job seekers. It is the world’s largest professional network with nearly 800 million members from all over the globe. Their vision is to create economic opportunities for everyone in the workforce. They are succeeding in their mission of connecting the world’s professionals to become productive and successful.
They lead a diverse business with revenue from membership subscriptions and advertising sales. In December 2016, Microsoft acquired LinkedIn. This brought together the world’s leading professional cloud and professional network. Their services are hiring, selling, marketing, and Learning. They just launched their freelance portion in 2021 where it lets freelancers list their services on their profile.
#6 Pinterest Inc.
- Founded: January 1, 2009
- Headquarters: Sunnyvale, CA, US
Need to know
Pinterest was founded in 2009 by its co-founders Ben Silberman, Evan Sharp, and Paul Sciarra. Pinterest is a social media network based on image sharing. People who use it pin pictures to their boards or follow the board it is on. It is used as a visual bookmarking tool and to get creative ideas. Users are allowed to save and post images on different boards according to the individual’s taste right from the app. They can follow boards from other users.
Pinterest has more than 150 million monthly users. This is not surprising considering that you can easily get lost in a black hole of endless pictures as you are trying to get an idea. They have plenty of content on their site that others have posted that if you want to get creative ideas you can search it up and it will be there.
#7 Reddit Inc.
- Founded: June 23, 2005
- Headquarters: San Francisco, CA, US
Need to know
Reddit was founded in 2005 by its co-founders by Aaron Swartz, Alexis Ohanion, and Steve Huffman. People who use this site can post links and other people can either upvote or downvote. If a person gets upvotes they can get karma points. There is a lot of subreddits that cover various things like programming, science, and politics. People can make their communities and join the ones that interest them.
Reddit will celebrate the day that you created your account which is what they call cake day. At the end of the year, they do a Reddit recap and show you the ones you were most active in and how much you branched out within that year. They will even tell you the amount you scrolled.
Resources
- Twitter – Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding
- https://www.feedough.com/history-of-whatsapp/
- https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-instagram-how-to-use-guide
- https://www.twiiter.com
- https://www.facebook.com
- https://www.whatsapp.com
- https://www.instagram.com
- https://www.linkedin.com
- https://www.pinterest.com
- https://www.reddit.com