Types Of Social Media

Social Media - What is available?

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The list below is a sample only but grouped by the type of activity that may be found in a social media site.

This link provides an extensive list, mostly in order of number of users.
List of 60+ Sites

Note:
It is probably easy to be ethno-centric or language centric in considering social media but there are many sites that are large and are predominantly non-English.
Examples like WeChat and QZone(primarily Chinese), VKontake (primarily Russian) have large numbers of followers.
It is of course possible that a site like Facebook can mix language types provided it has the the appropriate text for the language used.

Be warned though, WeChat has concerns associated with possible personal data loss to Chinese government monitoring.
In fairness, all western sourced social media is subject to government monitoring from Western Governments.
However there are reported concerns that surveillance is not legally constrained on WeChat.

More details here.

Social Networking

Facebook - multi-platform social network
Google+ - multi-platform social network
Instagram - multi-platform social network
Snapchat - multi-platform image based social network
Tik Tok - multi-platform short video based social network (mostly teens use this)
WeChat - multi-platform social network
WhatsApp - phone only network
LinkedIn - professional network
Tinder - dating network

Microblogging

Twitter, Tumblr
A Blog is a contraction of 'weB log'.
Usually a blog has text and may have images.
It is about presenting a point of view or information in which you have some interest.
A microblog has more limited amount of text.

Publishing

Wordpress - a full featured Blogging application with a reasonable learning curve.

Blogger - A free Google product that is easy to use. The basics for using Blogger are in this document: Click to download

These are typical Blog services that allow much more text, multiple pages and other features.
You may provide options for comments from readers.

Collaboration

Wikipedia
Wikipedia is an example of a website where content is generated in a collaborative way.
This is an online encyclopaedia that is created by the efforts of multiple people who are able to edit each other's work.

Photosharing

Flikr - shared images that have a range of re-use options depending on copyright. It is also used for showcasing photography skills.
Pinterest - the idea is an electronic pinboard of special interest images that are grouped by users
Flipboard - is a site that "aggregates" (or gathers) content from multiple sites and presents it in interest based magazine format

These sites are primarily about sharing images but in vastly differing ways.
The sites are also structured in different ways that are focused on the user base.

Videosharing

Video sharing can be about entertainment, education, training, self-promotion, special interest sharing or skill showcasing
Videos can be of varying quality from home-made using mobile phones to 'short films' using high end video cameras.

YouTube - Google owned, this is a repository of enormous diversity in material and useage. It also has substantial variation in video quality.

Vimeo - requires a minimum standard of video quality. Collects more of the professional end of videographic material.

Virtual Worlds

These are essentially an alternate reality that is intended for entertainment, experiment, gaming and business.

Second Life Click here - probably closer to the serious end of the possibilities, second life can be used for conferencing, education and training in a safe environment for people interactions. Requires a relatively powerful computer to make the 'worlds' appear as smooth video.

Farmville Click here - much closer to the gaming end, this is a simulation of a farm experience in a more 'cartoon' environment.

News Feed / Social Bookmarking

Digg

Delicious

Group Buying

Groupon

Review networks

These are sites that attempt to collate many reviews to give purchasers of goods or services an insight into opinion about goods or services discussed.
Many sites encourage reviews to drive interest for return visits. Reviewers are given ratings depending on the quality and depth of reviews which again encourages return.

TripAdvisor - many reviews of locations, accommodation and sites of interest around the world. Basically focused on travel reviews.

Yelp - reviews cafes, restaurants, delivery services and local services like trades.

Zomato - is focused mainly on reviews of cafes and restaurants,

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