It serves various purposes for individuals, businesses, organizations, and communities, making it a versatile and dynamic tool. From fostering personal connections to driving social change, here’s an in-depth look at the primary purposes of social media. Social media is characterized by user-generated content, such as posts, videos, stories, and comments, and is often driven by engagement metrics like likes, shares, and followers. It serves various purposes, from personal communication and entertainment to business marketing, activism, and education. Businesses use social media to identify and capitalize on consumer trends, engage with customers, collect consumer data, and pay for targeted advertising.
- “We recognise a diversity of platforms, technologies, approaches available,” Ms Inman Grant said.
- This translates to about 6 out of every 10 people around the world using social media platforms.
- Social media has opened many doors for businesses and employee recruitment while also causing obstacles to overcome.
- All of this means that the history of social media is a brief yet tumultuous one, and studying it can help us better understand just how much, and how quickly, the world around us is changing.
- Before posting on social media, step back and look at your overall business goals.
Social media sites provide opportunities for individuals to connect with friends, family, and like-minded individuals, even across geographical distances. These connections help maintain relationships and interests, fostering a sense of belonging, self-esteem, and support in users. The inherent catch of wiki sites is the ability of nameless users to post and edit information that is not vetted for accuracy, so other users must evaluate and correct it. This accuracy problem gives rise to a concern about “fake news.” However, academic and evidence sources can also post data in wikis. Discover how 5,000 global marketers use social media marketing to grow their audience, boost engagement, and drive conversions. Companies that fail to develop a consistent, engaging social media presence are not taking full advantage of the marketing tools available in today’s competitive marketplace.
Use by individuals
A new study finds that “psychological inoculation” helps people better discern fact from fiction without causing undue distrust of media. Research shows that most of us believe we should push back against misinformation on social media, but our behavior often doesn’t match this belief. Each platform offers distinct features and functionalities, some of which align more naturally with King Johnnie Casino specific industries or marketing objectives. Reddit has a unique blend of content and community, with more than 3.4 million communities, or subreddits, dedicated to every topic imaginable.
Additionally, the emergence of blogging and the bulletin board system in the 1990s helped usher in the age of online social networking sites. An online social network is a website or app that allows a user to create and share content online, for example, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. This often involves sharing personal information in comments and messages, and photos and videos. One of the cons of social media is that it brings many privacy and security concerns. Personal information that users share on social media platforms is frequently vulnerable to exploitation if inadequate security measures are in place.
If you’re targeting the Chinese market or exploring cross-border e-commerce, Kuaishou is worth exploring as part of a broader social media marketing strategy. For brands and creators targeting the Chinese market, Douyin offers a highly engaged, transaction-friendly audience — and a glimpse into the future of video-led commerce. Douyin is the Chinese version of TikTok — developed by ByteDance and launched before its global counterpart. While they share the same interface and video-first format, Douyin operates separately from TikTok and has its own ecosystem, rules, and user behavior. WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging app, used in over 180 countries and by nearly 3 billion people every month.
Instagram Global Users Statistics 2025 Instagram Demographics
Social media has many uses, including sharing personal updates with friends, brand marketing and publicizing professional work. Although originally the domain of photographers and artists, Instagram quickly became popular across all ages and backgrounds. Like Twitter, following people on Instagram can be a one-way relationship, which has made it popular with celebrities and other public figures. However, users can also set their profile to private, which requires them to approve any potential followers.
You’ll want to know as much as you can about the target audience you are creating content for. It can be overwhelming to think about all the negative ways your child may be affected by using social media. Black individuals follow closely at 77%, while White individuals have a slightly lower engagement rate of 69%. Specifically, 84% of those aged 18 to 29 years use social media, a figure that slightly decreases to 81% for the 30 to 49 age group. Facebook leads the pack with a significant 74.2% of adults reporting its use, underscoring its dominance as the most widespread platform in the United States.
If you are someone who enjoys photography, arts or creating pieces and showcasing them, they are a great way to promote yourself, comment on others’ work and receive feedback. “The government’s announcement today reverses a clear, public commitment to exclude YouTube from this ban. We will consider next steps and will continue to engage with the government.” It comes days after Google, the parent company of YouTube, threatened legal action if the government scrapped its previously flagged exemption on the basis of the platform’s educational uses.
It can help people stay in touch with news
Lastly, Reddit captures 27.9% of adults, emphasizing its role as a community-driven discussion platform. From writing a catchy bio to creating scroll-stopping captions, this set of tools helps you improve your social media game. The trend continues with an increase from 4.48 billion in 2021 to 4.95 billion in 2023, and further projections indicate a steady climb to over 5 billion users by 2024, reaching approximately 5.84 billion by 2027. Social media has exploded in popularity, with a staggering 5.16 billion users worldwide. Social media has transformed how we communicate, connect, and consume information in the modern digital age.