With the emergence of social media platforms, smartphone users have become increasingly tech-savvy. In the US alone, social media platforms have a penetration rate of 61 percent in January 2019.
Instagram is the best social network for visual content. With 37% of American adults owning accounts, Instagram has a reputation for superficiality and selfies. Despite this, it features a large variety of visually stunning content. Twitter, meanwhile, has undergone some negative coverage lately. Many argue that its 280-character limit does not promote rational debate and the presence of fake bots degrades the user experience.
WhatsApp was started in 2009 by two ex-Yahoo! employees. It later evolved into an instant messaging app. The social network has a large user base of millennials and is key for e-commerce and brand awareness. The clubhouse is the newest social media app and will be available on Apple devices in September 2020. To access the app, users must have an Apple device and an invite code.
The Chinese version of Twitter is more niche, with over 320 million users. It also has strict character limitations – tweets can be 280 characters long. Instagram, an image-sharing social network, is part of Facebook. Its 500 million users are mostly in rural areas. Qzone, another Chinese social networking app from Tencent, blends social networking with blogging. Users can upload multimedia, create diaries and blogs, play games, stream music, and connect with friends.