alternate social networks

Lesser known social networks

Alternative Social Networks

Prepared by: Ankush & Kiran

@2013, ICE, All rights reserved

Main Stream Social Networks

Facebook, Google+ and Twitter have grown exponentially over the years and they have become synonymous with the term “social media.”

Facebook and Twitter are buzzwords nowadays, to the extent that Facebook has around 1 billion users, and “Twitter,” as an English word, has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary!

Google+ is also not that far behind. By the end of May 2013, it had 500 million registered users.


Facebook

Founded in February 2004, Facebook is the world leader in social networking Web sites, with currently over 1 billion registered users. Users can create their own personal profile, send messages, share pictures, audio, and video, and add friends.

Source:- https://www.facebook.com/

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Facebook Registered Users over the Years (in Millions)

https://www.facebook.com/


TwitterTwitter is an online social networking and microblogging site.

Twitter lets users post and read text-based messages of up to 140 characters, known as “tweets.” Launched in July 2006, by May 2013, Twitter had about 550 million registered users.

Source:- https://twitter.com/

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Twitter Registered Users over the Years (in Millions)

https://twitter.com/


Google+

Google+ (Google Plus) is a social networking Web site owned by Google Inc. Launched in June 2011, till May 2013, it had a total of 500 million registered users.

Source:- https://www.google.com/intl/en/+/learnmore/index.html

https://www.google.com/intl/en/+/learnmore/index.html


Alternative Social Networks

The use of mainstream social media networks is very high. Maybe that is a primary reason for people to escape from this buzz. Privacy seekers are now moving towards niche and smaller players/networks.

Alternative social media networks are targeting specific demographics by addressing different needs of social media users and have found a sizeable number of users.

In this report we have explored lesser known social media sites and have classified them based on their characteristics.


Overview: Alternative Social Networks

Relationship-based

Family Leaf

Family Wall

efamily.com

Just Family

Rootsy

Geni

My Heritage

Art-based

Pinterest

Fotolog

Netlog

Bebo

Knowledge- & Entertainment-

based

Tagged

Formspring

My Life

Ivy Connect

Pheed

Regional Social Networks

HyvesiWiWMixiLine

CloobNexopiaTaringaYookosRenren

Sina WeiboVK

OdnoklassnikiSonico

WorldfloatWer-kennt-wen

SkyrockDraugiemEksi Sozluk


Relationship-based


Family Leaf

Family Leaf offers a simplified, refreshing take on social media, paring its features down to the absolute necessities. Users can post status updates and photos to their walls. Users can also host discussions and save their family's contact information on this private site.

• Year of origin - February 2012• Target audience - Families• Area served - WorldwideSource:- https://familyleaf.com/

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https://familyleaf.com/


Family Wall

Family Wall users can post status updates and photos to their walls. It also features a calendar and private messaging. The maps in the mobile version help parents keep track of their wandering teenagers.• Year of origin – 2011• Target audience – Families• Area served - Worldwide

Source:- http://www.familywall.com/welcome.php

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http://www.familywall.com/welcome.php


efamily.com

efamily.com boasts a family tree and stories section in addition to picture posts posting pictures or status updates, and also private messaging. efamily.com stands out for its reminders feature, e.g., create a shared reminder for making beds, remembering lunch money or picking up milk on the way home from work.• Year of origin – 2010• Area served – Worldwide• Current size - More than 3,00,000 members

Source:- http://efamily.com/

http://efamily.com/


Just Family

Just Family lets you share, save, and organize photos among family members, as well as include a short message or caption for each. With an iOS app, downloadable Windows uploader and Web app, JustFamily shares your photos regardless of the device on which you captured them.• Year of origin - October 2011

• Target audience - Families• Area served - Worldwide

Source:- http://justfamily.com/Home/landing?ReturnUrl=%2f

http://justfamily.com/Home/landing?ReturnUrl=/


Rootsy

Rootsy helps you organize your family tree, add photos and videos and then share it with family members. It encourages users to flesh out trees with personal memories and photos, rather than just the names and old documents of long-ago deceased relatives. The family tree becomes a living document, through which users can connect over happy memories or lost loved ones. Text and photos appear in a virtual scrapbook that anyone in the family can easily access.• Year of origin: 2012• Target audience: Families• Area served: Worldwide

Source:- http://www.rootsy.com/

http://www.rootsy.com/


Geni

Geni lets you upload and store your family photos, videos, records, and sources. One distinctive feature of Geni is that it helps you find your ancestors by making it easier to connect family trees. Geni makes it easy to organize them by person or event and to share them with your relatives.

• Year of origin - January 2007 • Target audience - Families• Area served - Worldwide• Current size - 70 million usersSource:- http://www.geni.com/

http://www.geni.com/


My Heritage

My Heritage allows members to create family Web sites, share pictures videos, organize family events, create family trees, and search for ancestors.

• Year of origin - 2003• Target audience - Families• Area served - Worldwide• Current size - over 72 million usersSource:- http://www.myheritage.com/

http://www.myheritage.com/


Art-based


Pinterest

Pinterest is a pinboard-style photo-sharing Web site that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, and hobbies. Users can browse other pinboards for images, "re-pin" images to their own pinboards, or "like" photos.

• Year of origin - March 2010• Target audience - Everyone• Area served - Worldwide• Current size - 48.7 million usersSource:- https://pinterest.com/

https://pinterest.com/


Fotolog

Fotolog is one of the oldest and largest sites for sharing pictures through online photo diaries or photo blogs.• Year of origin - May 2002• Target audience – Everyone• Area served – Worldwide• Current size - Over 32 million users

Source:- http://www.fotolog.com/

http://www.fotolog.com/


Netlog

Netolg is a Belgian social networking website. If you want to create your own Web page, expand your social network, play games, make your music playlists public, share videos and post blogs, then Netlog is the place for you. Netlog has recently joined forces with Twoo. Netlog provides distinct facilities like extensive visitor statistics and advanced inbox. Advanced Inbox is a chat functionality that acts like a message in a bottle. The message floats around in the social network until someone opens it. This helps a user interact with strangers and build their network.• Year of origin - July 2003• Target audience – Everyone• Area served – Worldwide• Current size - over 103 million users

Source:- http://en.netlog.com/

http://en.netlog.com/


Bebo

Bebo users receive a personal profile page where they can post blogs, photographs, music, videos and questions that others may answer. Additionally, users may add friends and send them messages and notifications about updates to their personal profiles.• Year of origin - July 2005• Target audience – Everyone• Area Served – Worldwide• Current Size - Over 117 million

Source:- http://www.bebo.com/

http://www.bebo.com/


Knowledge- & Entertainment-based


Tagged

Tagged allows members to browse the profiles of other members, play games, share tags and virtual gifts.• Year of origin – 2004• Target audience – Everyone• Area served – Worldwide• Current size - Over 330 million users

Source:- http://www.tagged.com/

http://www.tagged.com/


Formspring

Formspring allows users to follow Q&As threads related to their ideas and opinions on any topic. Users can set up a profile page, follow others, and ask questions. The questions and their received responses are then published on the user's profile page.• Year of origin - November 2009• Target audience – Everyone• Area served – Worldwide• Current size - Over 29 million users

Source:- http://www.formspring.me/

http://www.formspring.me/


My Life

My Life offers its members a simple and convenient dashboard to manage communication across most popular social networks and email accounts securely. Users can also easily build and monitor one online identity including many profiles, and can make personal and professional connections by searching over 700 million profiles, all in one place.• Year of origin – 2002• Target audience – Everyone• Area served – Worldwide• Current size - 60 million

Source:- http://www.mylife.com/

http://www.mylife.com/


Ivy Connect

Ivy Connect brings together young urban professional elite for parties, excursions, and TED style talks. Ivy Connect is planning to build a dynamic private members community across 50 global cities, with 10,000 hand-selected members in each location.• Year of origin – 2013• Target audience - Urban professional elite• Area served – Worldwide• Current Size - 2000

Source:- https://www.ivyconnect.com/

https://www.ivyconnect.com/


Pheed

Pheed enables users to create, inspire and share texts, photos, videos, audio tracks, voice-notes and live broadcasts.• Year of origin - 2012 • Target audience - Everyone• Area served - Worldwide• Current size - Over 10 million users

Source:- https://www.pheed.com/

https://www.pheed.com/


Regional Social Networks


Hyves - Netherlands

Hyves connects Netherlands through sports, news and entertainment. Hyves users can upload pictures and play games, while staying connected with others.• Year of origin - October 2004• Target audience – Regional• Current size - Over 10 million users

Source:- http://www.hyves.nl/

http://www.hyves.nl/


iWiW - Hungary

iWiW users can provide personal information like place, date of birth, workplaces on the site. One can find friends and upload photos.• Year of origin - 2002• Target audience – Regional• Current size - Over 4 million users

Source:- http://iwiw.hu/i/belepes

http://iwiw.hu/i/belepes


Mixi - Japan

The focus of Mixi is on community entertainment. Users can send and receive messages, write a diary, read and comment on others’ diaries, organize and join communities. Mixi is mainly used by people who want to control their network depth and want to stay in their comfort zone.• Year of origin - 2004• Target audience – Regional• Current size - Over 24 million users

Source:- http://mixi.jp/

http://mixi.jp/


Line - Japan

Line is a cross-platform communication service and app. Line allows users to send text messages and make free calls with other users who have the app installed on their smartphones.• Year of origin - June 2011• Target audience - Regional• Current size - Over 80 million users

Source:- http://line.naver.jp/en/

http://line.naver.jp/en/


Cloob - Iran

Cloob users enjoy features like communities, community discussions, photo albums, articles’ archives for communities, live messaging and chat rooms, job and resume database, virtual money, online shops, etc.• Year of origin - December 2004• Target audience – Regional• Current size - Over 1 million users

Source:- http://www.cloob.com/

http://www.cloob.com/


Nexopia - Canada

On Nexopia, users can create their own profiles, friends list, blogs, galleries, articles and forums.• Year of origin - February 2003• Target audience – Regional• Current size - Over 1.6 million users

Source:-http://www.nexopia.com/mag

http://www.nexopia.com/mag


Taringa - Argentina

On Taringa, can share funny photos, Web memes and breaking news in the form of posts. • Year of origin - January 2004• Target audience - Regional• Current size - Over 11 million users

Source:- http://www.taringa.net/

http://www.taringa.net/


Yookos - Africa

Yookos allows users to meet friends online, play online games and keep up to date with the latest news from around the globe.• Year of origin - 2011• Target audience – Africa• Current size - Over 10 million users

Source:- www.yookos.com/

http://www.yookos.com/


Mxit – South Africa

Mxit is a free instant messaging application that runs on multiple mobile and computing platforms. Along with its own standard protocol, it can connect to Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, AIM or Windows Live Messenger contacts as well. Mxit is also the largest mobile social network in Africa.• Year of Origin - 2007• Target Audience – Africa• Current Size - Over 7 million users

Source:- http://site.mxit.com/

http://site.mxit.com/


2Go – South Africa

2Go is the fastest growing mobile messenger in South Africa that allows users to communicate with friends. Users can create profiles, talk to friends, share files and pictures and meet new people.• Year of origin - 2007• Target audience – Africa• Current size - 1.1 million users

Source:- http://www.2go.im/

http://www.2go.im/


Renren - China

On Renren, users can create their own profiles. Applications for blogging, uploading and sharing photos, and online gaming are available. Renren is known as the Facebook of China.• Year of origin - December 2005• Target audience – Everyone• Current size - Over 160 million users

Source:- http://www.renren.com/

http://www.renren.com/


Sina Weibo - China

Sina Weibo is a microblogging site and its features surpass those of Twitter, including threaded comments, pictures and videos. Chinese celebrities depend on Weibo as a way to connect with their fans and drive popularity.• Year of origin - August 2009 • Target audience – Everyone• Current size - Over 300 million users

Source:- http://weibo.com/

http://weibo.com/


VK - Europe

VK (Originally VKontakte, Russian: ВКонтакте, literally "in contact") is the second biggest social network service in Europe after Facebook. It is available in several languages but is popular among Russian-speaking users around the world, more so in Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Belarus, and Israel. VK allows users to message contacts publicly or privately, create groups, public pages and events, share and tag images, audio and video, and play browser-based games.• Year of origin - 2007• Target audience - Russian speaking users• Current size - Over 220 million registered accounts

Source:- http://vk.com/

http://vk.com/


Odnoklassniki - Russia

Odnoklassniki lets users rate other people’s photos, play games online and chat with other users. • Year of origin - 2006• Target audience – Regional• Current size - Over 16.5 million users

Source:- http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/

http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/


Sonico - Brazil

Sonico is popular among its users who can search and add friends, update their own personal profile, manage their privacy, upload photos and YouTube videos, organize events, and play online games. Users can interact via private messages, public comments, and photo tags.• Year of origin - July 2007• Target audience – Regional• Current size - Over 20 million users

Source:- http://www.sonico.com/

http://www.sonico.com/


Worldfloat - India

Worldfloat is slowly rising in its popularity. Users can create profiles, share photos and videos. One most important feature of Worldfloat is virtual gaming and integration of search engine and social networking.• Year of origin - June 2012• Target audience – Regional• Current size - Over 6 million users

Source:- http://worldfloat.com/

http://worldfloat.com/


Wer-kennt-wen - Germany

Wer-kennt-wen is a popular social media Web site. Users can create profiles, update status, write blogs and chat with friends. • Year of origin - October 2006• Target audience – Regional• Current size - Over 9 million users

Source:- http://www.wer-kennt-wen.de/

http://www.wer-kennt-wen.de/


Skyrock - France

Skyrock users can create blogs, add profiles, showcase their musical compositions and exchange messages with other members.• Year of origin - December 2002• Target audience – Regional• Current size - Over 21 million users

Source:- http://www.skyrock.com/

http://www.skyrock.com/


Draugiem - Latvia

Draugiem users can send messages, upload pictures, and play online games. It is frequently used in Latvia as a communication tool instead of e-mail.

• Year of origin - 2004• Target audience – Regional• Current size - Over 2.6 million usersSource:- http://www.draugiem.lv/

http://www.draugiem.lv/


Eksi Sozluk - Turkey

Eksi Sozluk was Turkey’s first social networking site and it means “sour dictionary.” Founder Sedat Kapanoglu wanted to create a digital, user-generated base of knowledge and he established a loose structure with minimal friction to achieve that goal. The site is still popular. Users can create entries about any topic and write anything about that, even if it is not correct. In a loose sense, it is a “dictionary” built by users.

• Year of origin - February 1999• Target audience – Turkey• Current size - Over 400,000 usersSource:- https://eksisozluk.com/http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/201

3/07/the-secret-behind-the-turkish-protesters-social-media-mastery/

https://eksisozluk.com/

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2013/07/the-secret-behind-the-turkish-protesters-social-media-mastery/




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