So, if you are looking for a list of the top social media apps and sites that best suit your needs, you have clicked the correct article.
In this one, I’m going to list the best social media platforms in the world and share some insights about them.
I will also suggest the best use case of the listed social media apps and sites to give you an idea about how you can use them to their full potential.
Now, without further ado, let’s check out the list right below!
Top 16 social media apps to use in 2022
1. Facebook
- Founded – 2004
- Headquarters – Menlo Park, California
- Founder – Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms that has its own mobile app on both iOS and Android and a web client for its users. Although Facebook has been a core component of many controversies relating to the privacy of its users over the years, it is still the top social media platform with over 1.96 billion daily active users (DAUs) worldwide, as of Q1 2022.
Now, Facebook is essentially a multi-media-focused social platform that lets users share text-based posts, photos, videos, and GIFs. It also lets users create groups and pages that help nurture a community or build an online business.
2. TikTok
- Founded – 2017
- Headquarters – Beijing, China
- Founder – ByteDance
Originally launched as Douyin in mainland China back in 2016, TikTok is the international version of the Chinese short-form video app that lets users create and share short, intriguing videos. This social media app is available on Android and iOS and is best experienced on a mobile device with its vertical-scrolling UI that has been copied by many other similar social platforms like Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts.
Despite all these controversies and privacy concerns, TikTok continues to dominate the social media sector in its own category.
3. Instagram
- Founded – 2010
- Headquarters – San Francisco, California
- Founders – Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger
Originally designed as an image-focused social media platform, Instagram has come a long way to become what it is today. It is currently owned by Meta and is one of the fastest-growing social media apps in the world that lets users share images, short-form videos as Reels, and ephemeral content as Stories that automatically disappears after 24 hours. Furthermore, according to the current Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, the social platform will soon transform into a video-focused platform rather than a photo-sharing medium.
So, if you want to show off your photography skills or promote your small-business products, create an Instagram account right now.
4. Twitter
- Founded – 2006
- Headquarters – San Francisco, California
- Founders – Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, Evan Williams
Twitter is a unique social media app or platform that connects people to the world. On this social app or website, users can share “tweets” that can contain texts, links, images, or videos. However, the length of the text is specified and users cannot post anything that surpasses the specified length. Twitter is essentially a hub where you can follow your favorite celebrities, politicians, or influencers to know what’s happening in their lives.
5. Reddit
- Founded – 2005
- Headquarters – San Francisco, California
- Founder – Steve Huffman, Aaron Swartz, Alexis Ohanian
Reddit is one of the oldest social media sites in the world that was founded way back in 2005 when the internet was still in its developing stage. Despite being an old dog, Reddit still has its dedicated user base of over 430 million monthly active users (MAUs) and over 100,000 active communities that are called subreddits and are denoted by r/subreddit_name.
You can find and follow a subreddit for just about anything on Reddit, ranging from r/FunnyAnimals to r/PeopleFuckingDying. However, it is worth mentioning that poor moderation of content makes Reddit somewhat darker than other social media apps and sites. This means that while scrolling through cute cat videos, one might come across something dark that might affect their psychology. Hence, Reddit is not a great option for children as it can mess up their still-evolving minds.
6. WhatsApp
- Founded – 2009
- Headquarters – San Francisco, California
- Founder – Brian Acton, Jan Koum
If you are looking for a free social app that lets you directly chat with, call, or video-call a friend, colleague, or family member, then WhatsApp is the social media app to go for. It is the most popular direct-messaging app that is used by over 2 billion users across the world and has dominated the social media sector over the past years.
7. LinkedIn
- Founded – 2003
- Headquarters – Sunnyvale, California
- Founder – Reid Hoffman, Eric Ly
Founded in the early 2000s, LinkedIn has become the most popular social media app and platform that connects quality recruiters with potential employees. It is essentially a hub where you can either look for individuals who can work for your company or find yourself a job by connecting with company executives.
8. Telegram
- Founded – 2013
- Headquarters – Tortola, British Virgin Islands
- Founders – Nikolai Durov, Pavel Durov
One of the direct competitors of Meta’s uber-popular social messaging app WhatsApp, Telegram is a similar social messaging app. Created by the Durov brothers from Russia, it is often considered more secure than WhatsApp and surprisingly has much more features than the latter. The social media app even allows users to create channels and share various kinds of content with their followers, much like how they would share images, videos, and other content on social media sites like Facebook or Instagram.
9. YouTube
- Founded – 2005
- Headquarters – San Bruno, California
- Founders – Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, Jawed Karim
Although YouTube was founded way back in 2005, this social media platform became popular much after its inception. However, once it gained momentum in the market, YouTube became a holy grail for video content creators who are looking to share quality, informative videos to audiences of specific niches. Before the massive popularity of short-form videos on platforms such as TikTok or Reels, YouTube videos were all the rage.
10. Pinterest
- Founded – 2009
- Headquarters – San Francisco, California
- Founders – Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, Evan Sharp
Pinterest is primarily an image-sharing social media platform that is available on Android, iOS, and the web. Although it is similar to Meta’s Instagram, Pinterest is essentially a platform to gather ideas from. It acts as a hub for finding creative ideas for DIY projects, fashion, recipes, dinner ideas, and more.
11. Snapchat
- Founded – 2011
- Headquarters – Santa Monica, California
- Founders – Evan Spiegel, Reggie Brown, Bobby Murphy
Snapchat is the pioneering social media app for Stories-style ephemeral content that disappears after a day. It was one of the first social media platforms to incorporate this concept and since then, many other social apps and platforms have copied the idea. Snapchat is also known for advanced filters that often set trends on the internet. The social media app is especially popular amongst the Gen-Z population.
12. Tinder
- Founded – 2012
- Headquarters – Los Angeles, California
- Founders – Sean Rad, Justin Mateen, Whitney Wolfe, Jonathan Badeen
Tinder is another unique social media app that helps single people find matches online. Well, I am pretty sure you have heard about Tinder at some point in your life, if not used it yourself. And if you used it, you already know that users need to create their profiles with their pictures and a short bio and they can “swipe” potential profiles to find a match.
13. Messenger
- Founded – 2009
- Headquarters – Menlo Park, California
- Founder – Meta
Messenger is the official social messaging app of Meta’s uber-popular social media platform Facebook. It lets Facebook users connect with each other via direct messaging safely and securely, at least that is what Meta claims. Messenger is only available on Android and iOS and lets users send text, call, or video-call their Facebook friends. They can also send animated stickers, funny GIFs, and react to messages with emojis.
14. Discord
- Founded – 2015
- Headquarters – San Francisco, California
- Founders – Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy
Counter-Strike/Valorant gang, where you at? Discord is an instant messaging app that allows you to connect to people individually or create a server to be able to have a discussion. The main idea behind it was to create a stable platform for gamers to communicate in the game.
15. Quora
- Founded – June 2009
- Headquarters – Mountain View, California
- Founders – Adam D’Angelo and Charlie Cheever
Quora is a social platform revolving mostly around Questions and Answers. Quora’s Founders are ex-Facebook employees Adam D’ Angelo and Charlie Cheever. So, while researching for this bit I found that you can go to Wikipedia and see what’s Quora but you could also go to Quora to see what is Wikipedia. But, on Quora, you can also find an in-depth comparison of how Wikipedia and Quora are unique in their ways.
On Quora, users can collaborate and edit and organize the community of users who are mostly called Quorans.
There can be Follow up questions making it a whole record of thoughts, facts, and opinions. The word Quora is an acronym for Questions or Answers. Well we all have taken our stupid questions to quora that we were too embarrassed to ask IRL, haven’t we? No? Just me, okay then.
