Top 10 Social Media Sites

The social media playing field is awash in a sea of change, as familiar sites such as Facebook and Twitter jockey for position and new sites such as Yahoo! Answers, Tagged and Google+ rapidly gain momentum. For businesses, the big question is: Which sites are the most important to use and follow?

Facebook is by far the leader. However, recent statistics show the impressive growth of Pinterest and other up-and-coming sites.

Here is a quick guide to the Top 10 sites from Experian Hitwise, a leading online measurement service. Experian Hitwise collects aggregate usage data from a geographically diverse range of ISP networks and opt-in panels for all types of Internet usage, including home, work, educational and public access. The data is based on a sample size of 25 million people worldwide, including 10 million in the United States.

Let’s take a look at these Top 10 social media sites in more detail:

1.     Facebook – The world’s leading social networking service, Facebook launched in February 2004. As of September 2012, Facebook had more than one billion active users, more than half of whom use Facebook on a mobile device. Facebook has more than 300,000 business pages, generating invaluable consumer feedback that smart companies use to develop and improve new products and services.

2.     Twitter – Twitter was created in 2006 as an online social networking and micro-blogging platform to enable its users to send and re-tweet text-based messages of up to 140 characters. Twitter’s 140 million users organize around the principle of “followers” — other participants with whom they want to share conversations. A highly tagged word, phrase or topic is a trending topic, which can be generated through a concerted effort or a viral discussion.

3.     You Tube – A video-sharing website, created in February 2005, You Tube has 823 million users who upload, view and share videos. Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals, although a number of media corporations — including CBS, the BBC, VEVO and Hulu — offer material via the site as part of the YouTube partnership program.

4.     Pinterest – A pinboard-style, photo-sharing website, Pinterest allows its 35 million users to create and manage theme-based image collections. Users can browse other pinboards for inspiration, “re-pin” images to their own pinboards or “like” photos. Pinterest users can upload, save, sort and manage images and other media content such as videos through pinboards. Pinterest also allows businesses to create promotional pages as a "virtual storefront.” In a recent case study, Pinterest users spent $180 compared with $85 spent by Facebook users. Pinterest launched in March 2010.

5.     Google+ – A multilingual social networking and identity service, Google+ was launched by Google in June 2011 and already has more than 29 million registered users. Unlike other conventional social networks accessed through a single website, Google+ offers a "social layer" that covers many of its online properties. Circles within Google+ enable users to organize people into groups for sharing across various Google products and services. Hangouts facilitate group member video chats with a maximum of 10 people participating.

6.     Yahoo! Answers – A community-driven question-and-answer (Q&A) knowledge market, Yahoo! Answers was launched in June 2005 to allow users to submit questions for others to answer. Roughly 27 million users access the site daily. Currently Yahoo! Answers is ranked as the second-most-popular Q&A site, behind Answers.com.

7.     Tagged – A social discovery website based in California, Tagged was founded in 2004. Tagged allows members to browse the profiles of other members, play games and share tags and virtual gifts. After registering a free account, the 27 million users can customize their profile page, posting a biography about themselves and their interests. They also can post status updates to inform their friends of their whereabouts and actions, upload photos and albums, and send and receive messages from other users.

8.     LinkedIn – A social networking website for businesspeople, academics and other professionals, LinkedIn was founded in December 2002. With more than 24 million acquired users in the U.S., LinkedIn now features 128,000 interest groups primarily addressing professional and career issues.

9.     MeetMe – Founded in 2005, MeetMe provides the opportunity to socially interact and meet new people who share your interests. MeetMe’s 14 million users can earn and spend Lunch Money, a virtual currency for buying gifts, which members can send to each other or donate to charities.

10.  Instagram – An online photo-sharing and social networking site acquired by Facebook in 2012, Instagram enables its 13 million users to take pictures, apply digital filters and share the images on a variety of social networking sites, including Facebook and Twitter. Photos are confined to a square shape, similar to Kodak Instamatic shots. In 2012, Instagram created web profiles enabling users to set up a web profile featuring a selection of recently shared photographs, biographical information and other personal details.

2013 Social Media Demographics

Particularly popular among 35 to 54-year-olds, Facebook has a slightly older user base than the other social media sites. On the other hand, Twitter and Pinterest are both strong with those in the 18 to 35 age range. Pinterest boasts a very strong base of female users, and this audience has higher levels of education and earnings.

If you’re marketing to men, you may want to look at Twitter or Facebook as the social network of choice. Both sites boast similar user base statistics and have proven effective for reaching middle-class male workers with college qualifications.

Using online media for social marketing can be a powerful tool for raising brand awareness and personally connecting with your customers. At McNeill Communications Group, we'd love to work with you to help you take full advantage of the social media revolution by building a strategy for your business.

What is your favorite social media site and why? Have you been able to build relationships through social media that are unique? Remember, social media is a two-way street: We'd love to hear from you.