Social media platforms are growing in numbers and, with the increased use of mobile devices, they are likely to reach 3 billion users. Therefore, it is time to deal with online terrorism causing Internet chaos in all its evil forms.
The top platforms aren’t the only places considering how to handle violent extremism. And traditional moderation doesn’t affect smaller sites where some promote videos or praise shooters.
In some ways, social media poses a question about the negative uses of the web. For years the public has embraced the internet’s ability to connect people, share information. But what about negative content?
In the wake of the most recent hate-fueled mass shooting, where the terrorist decided to live stream his massacre, major web platforms scrambled to take down a 17-minute video of that attack. The New Zealand mosque massacre is a stark warning of a toxic political environment that allows hate to be shared and flourish.
Platforms attempted imperfect technical solutions to draw a line between acceptable and unacceptable uses of content.
Facebook This is the largest social networking site in the world and one of the most widely used. And, Facebook was perhaps the first that surpassed the landmark of 1 billion user accounts. Apart from the ability to network with friends and relatives, you can also access different Facebook apps to sell online and you can even market or promote your business, brand, and products by using paid Facebook ads. Recently Facebook has lost the trust of millions of its users by allowing 3rd parties to access over 87 million users’ personal data. This is a massive breach of trust and has created a feeling of unrest amongst the social media platform’s audience. So much so that there is now a #deletefacebook campaign where people are completely removing themselves from Facebook and using other networks instead. If you’re concerned about what Facebook is doing with your data, then why not check out my guide on alternatives to Facebook, and see if there’s a better place for you to interact with family and friends. Number of active users per month: 1.59 billion approximately
WhatsApp despite having been acquired by Facebook in 2014, this instant messaging platform exists as an independent entity. It arrived on the scene much later than Facebook but has been able to capture the imagination of millions of people across the world by giving them the ability to communicate and share instantly with individuals and groups. The WhatsApp call feature is just the icing on the cake! Number of active users per month: 1 billion approximately
Tencent QQ popularly known as QQ is an instant messaging (chat-based) social media platform. It became international with more than 80 countries participating after it was launched in China.
It can be used to stay in touch with friends through texts, video calls, and voice chats. It even has a built-in translator to translate your chats. To find out more, head over to our Chinese Social Media stats page. Number of active users per month: 853 million approximately
WeChat is an all-in-one communications app for messaging and calling (similar to WhatsApp) that enables you to connect with the people of your choice. It was also developed by Tencent in China and can easily work alongside QQ. As per the BI intelligence report, the number of WeChat users are fast catching up with the number of WhatsApp users. Number of active users per month: 697 million approximately
Q-Zone, just like QQ and WeChat, QZone is yet another social networking service developed by Tencent. It enables you to share photos, watch videos, listen to songs, write blogs, maintain diaries and so on. It also empowers you to choose the accessories and customize the look and feel of your QZone webpages. Number of active users per month: 640 million approximately
Tumblr, having been owned by Yahoo since 2013, Tumblr serves as a social media cum micro-blogging platform that can be used to find and follow things that you like. You can also use it to post anything, including multimedia, to a short-form blog. Moreover, it gives you the flexibility to customize almost everything. Number of active users per month: 555 million approximately
Instagram was launched as a unique social networking platform that was completely based on sharing photos and videos. This photo sharing social networking app thus enables you to capture the best moments of your life, with your phone’s camera or any other camera, and convert them into works of art. This is possible because Instagram allows you to apply multiple filters to your photos and you can easily post them to other popular social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. It is now part of the Facebook empire. Learn how to grow your Instagram audience. Read more on Instagram Tools to help you increase social engagement and audience numbers. Number of active users per month: 400 million approximately
Twitter is a social networking site enables you to post short text messages (called tweets), containing a limited number of characters (up to 140), to convey your message to the world. With the growing craze for online shopping, Twitter also makes it possible to promote your businesses and even shop directly through tweets. Learn how to create the perfect Twitter profile. Number of active users per month: 320 million approximately
Google+ is owned by the tech giant Alphabet aka Google, this interest-based social networking platform enables you to stay in touch with people by sharing messages, photos, videos, useful links to sites and so on. It also extends support for video conferencing through Hangouts and allows businesses to promote their brands and products through Google+ business pages. Number of active users: 300 million approximately
Baidu Tieba of China, a search engine company, Baidu Tieba (known as Postbar internationally) is a social forum network based on the keyword searches in the Baidu search engine. This discussion forum works on the unique concept of allowing you to create a social network group for a specific topic, using the search, or even to join an existing online social group. Number of active users per month: 300 million approximately
Skype, owned by Microsoft, is one of the most popular communication-based social networking platforms. It allows you to connect with people through voice calls, video calls (using a webcam) and text messaging. You can even conduct group conference calls. And, the best part is that Skype-to-Skype calls are free and can be used to communicate with anyone, located in any part of the world, over the internet. Number of active users per month: 300 million approximately
Viber is a multi-lingual social platform, which is available in more than 30 languages, is known for its instant text messaging and voice messaging capabilities. You can also share photos and videos and audio messages, using Viber. It offers you the ability to call non-Viber users through a feature named Viber Out. Number of active users per month: 249 million approximately
Sina Weibo is a highly popular microblogging social platform in China that is known for its hybrid mix of Twitter’s and Facebook’s features. Number of active users per month: 222 million approximately
LINE is a globally available messaging social network that enables you to share photos, videos, text messages, and even audio messages or files. In addition, it allows you to make voice and video calls at any time of the day. Number of active users per month: 215 million approximately
Snapchat is an image messaging social platform that enables you to chat with friends by using pictures. It allows you to explore news and even check out live stories that are happening around the world. Number of active users per month: 200 million approximately
YY is a major video-based social networking platform in China that enables group video chats. In such chats, more than 100,000 members can watch a single person doing an activity. Such an activity can be anything from giving a tutorial video to singing karaoke, which helps the users earn virtual currency that they can later convert into cash. Number of active users per month: 122 million approximately
VKontakte, VK is one of the largest social networking platforms in Russia and has quite similar features to Facebook. Number of active users per month: 100 million approximately
Pinterest, this is a photo sharing and visual bookmarking social media site or app that enables you to find new ideas for your projects and save them. So, you can do DIY tasks or home improvement projects, plan your travel agenda and so on by using Pinterest. Number of active users per month: 100 million approximately
LinkedIn is easily one of the most popular professional social networking sites or apps and is available in over 20 languages. It is used across the globe by all types of professionals and serves as an ideal platform to connect with different businesses, locate and hire ideal candidates, and more. It boasts over 400 million members. Number of active users per month: 100 million approximately
Telegram. this instant messaging network is similar to WhatsApp and is available across platforms in more than eight languages. However, Telegram has always focused more on the privacy and security of the messages you send over the internet by using its platform. So, it empowers you to send messages that are encrypted and self-destructive. This encryption feature has only just been made available for WhatsApp, whereas Telegram has always provided it. Number of active users per month: 100 million approximately
YouTube is the world’s largest video-sharing social networking site that enables users to upload and share videos, view them, comment on them and like them. This social network is accessible across the globe and even enables users to create a YouTube channel where they can upload all their personally recorded videos to showcase to their friends and followers.
Amid Flood of Mosque Shooting Videos, YouTube Sees It's Unprepared for a New Kind of Virality https://gizmodo.com/amid-flood-of-mosque-shooting-videos-youtube-sees-i…
However, if you so desire, here are 6 ways to delete yourself from the internet https://cnet.co/2F6uM51
Or if you're staying on Facebook? As the FTC investigates the social network, here are some new tools and tips for securing your Facebook account: https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/facebook-privacy-settings/ …
Facebook’s effort to establish a service that provides its users with local news and information is being hindered by a lack of outlets where the company’s technicians can find original reporting. https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-facebook-hindered-local-news-ori…
