This post will list all leading English-language social networks as of Sept. 2017. It will also indicate social networks that were added since the 2015 article, by placing “(New)” beside the name.
General Purpose Social Networks
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- Facebook continues to be the number one social network in the world. It reportedly has more than 2 billion active monthly users as of June 2017.
- WhatsApp is an instant-messaging social network that works primarily on smartphones. It is now part of Facebook and has over 1 billion users as of 2016.
- Messenger (New) is also an instant-messaging social network that is part of Facebook. It has roughly 1.2 billion users as of April 2017.
- LinkedIn is a social network used by professionals and is now owned by Microsoft. The network has more than 500 million users as of April 2017.
- Google+ is Google’s social network that is reported to have more than 100 million active users. This social network is tightly integrated with all the other Google services, such as email and calendar.
- Twitter has approximately 320 million users, who can post tweets that are limited to 140 characters.
- Instagram is a photo and video sharing social network that is part of Facebook. It has roughly 375 million active users.
- Pinterest is a social network that allows photos and videos to be shared from other sites. Pinterest has more than 175 million active users.
- Snapchat is a multimedia messaging network with over 150 million daily users that has gained widespread popularity because of its innovative image filters.
- Quora (New) is a question-and-answer social network where users can get answers to their posted questions. The site has close to 200 million active users.
- GirlsAskGuys (New) is a question-and-answer social network where members of the opposite gender can ask each other questions.
- Nextdoor is a social network that connects neighbors by sharing upcoming events and other neighborhood activities. Over 150,000 neighborhoods in the U.S. use Nextdoor.
- ProductHunt (New) is a social network that helps share new products and prioritizes them based on votes given by members.
- AngelList (New) is a social network used by investors and startups. The site has thousands of investors signed up as members.
- Kickstarter (New) is a social funding platform where people can pitch their products or product ideas to get funding. The site has had almost 10 million backers.
- WeChat is a mobile-messaging social network with almost 1 billion monthly active users who are primarily from China. But WeChat also offers an English, international version. It has rich functionality from chatting to shopping with users even buying homes on the app.
- Skype is an instant messaging platform that enables communication using text, voice, and video. It has over 300 million active monthly users and is now part of Microsoft.
- Viber is also a communication social network like Skype that allows text, voice, and video messaging. It has over 800 million users
- Tumblr is a blogging network with over 350 million blogs and over 500 million users. The social network supports both web and mobile.
- Line is an instant messaging social network that is popular in Japan but also supports English and other languages. It has over 600 million users worldwide.
- Gab (New) is an ad-free social network that allows its users to read and write messages of up to 300 characters, called “gabs.” It has roughly 200,000 users.
- VK is like Facebook but more popular in Russia and neighboring countries with over 400 million users.
- Reddit is a content sharing social network with over 500 million monthly visits. Text posts or direct links can be shared on the site and voted by members to determine popularity.
- Telegram is a cloud-based instant messaging service that has over 100 million active monthly users.
- Tagged is a social network for making new friends. The site has about 20 million unique visitors globally.
- Myspace is a social network that is focused around an individual’s profile and is more popular with musicians and bands. It once was a top social network in the U.S., but now only has a few million users.
- Badoo is one of the world’s most widely used dating networks. It has over 360 million registered users.
- Stumbleupon focuses on content discovery for its users. It is offered as a browser toolbar in all popular browsers.
- Foursquare provides personalized recommendations based on a user’s location and previous purchases. The service has tens of millions of users and is growing rapidly in the enterprise space.
- MeetMe focuses on helping users discover new people to chat with on mobile devices. It has over 2.5 million daily active users.
- Meetup is a social network that facilitates a group of people to meet in person around a specific topic or theme. It has roughly 32 million users.
- Skyrock is primarily a French social network that offers blogging capabilities to its members. It has a few million members.
- Pinboard (New) is a paid social network that allows sharing of bookmarks. The users can benefit from an ad-free experience on this site.
- Kiwibox is a social network for young adults that offers blogging, photos, and gaming features. It has about 3 million members.
- Twoo (New) is a social discovery platform that allows its 181 million members to create profiles, upload pictures, and chat with other users.
- Yelp (New) is a restaurant review and home services site that has social features to share photos, write reviews, and see activities of friends.
Photo Sharing Networks
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- Snapfish is a photo sharing social network where the members can benefit from unlimited storage space for their photos. The site has tens of millions of members.
- Flickr is a photo and video sharing social network that supports tens of millions of members and over 10 billion photos.
- Photobucket is a photo and video hosting site that has over ten billion photos and over 100 million members.
- Shutterfly (New) is a photo sharing site that allows its 2 million members to use the photos to create personalized gifts, such as mugs and t-shirts.
- 500px (New) is a Canadian photo sharing social network with over 1.5 million active members.
- DeviantArt is an art-sharing network with over 38 million registered members.
- Dronestagram (New) is focused around sharing photos that have been taken using drones. It claims to be “the Instagram for drone photography,” with more than 30,000 members.
- Fotki (New) is available in 240 countries. It has more than 1.6 million members and 1 billion photos. The site was started in Estonia.
- Fotolog is a photo-blogging site with over 20 million unique visitors.
- Imgur (New) is a photo-sharing site where members can vote (and rank) photos. The site has hundreds of millions of images.
- Pixabay (New) shares high quality photos from its members. The site has over 1.1 million images and videos.
- WeHeartIt is a social network for sharing inspiring images. The site has over 45 million members.
- 43Things (New) is a site for inspiration, advice, and support where members can set goals and share with their friends the goals that they are pursuing, such as losing weight or running a marathon.
- Path is a photo sharing and messaging network that has rich features for controlling privacy of the shared photos. It is popular in Indonesia.
- Uplike (New) is a photo-sharing service based in France that lets users share inspirations with the public. The app is currently used by millions of people in roughly 160 countries.
Lifestyle Networks
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- Last.fm is a music discovery and recommendation network that also shares what friends on the network are listening to. The site has tens of millions of users and over 12 million music tracks.
- VampireFreaks is a community for gothic-industrial subcultures that has millions of members. The site is also used for dating.
- CafeMom is a site for mothers and mothers-to-be. It has over 8 million monthly unique visits.
- Ravelry is a social network for knitting, crocheting, spinning, and weaving. The site has over 7 million registered users.
- ASmallWorld is a paid social network that can only be joined based on an invitation by a member. The site focuses on luxury travel and building social connections, Its membership is capped at 250,000.
- ReverbNation is a social network for musicians to help them manage their careers and find new opportunities. The site has about 4 million musicians as members.
- SoundCloud (New) is an online audio distribution platform that enables its users to upload, record, promote, and share their originally created sounds. The service has more than 150 million unique listeners every month.
- Cross.tv is a social network that shares Christian content to its 650,000 members.
- Flixster is a site for discovering new movies, learning about movies, and meeting others with similar tastes in movies.
- Gaia Online is an anime-theme social network and forums-based website. It has over 25 million registered users.
- BlackPlanet is a social network for African Americans that focuses on dating, showcasing talent, and chatting and blogging. The site has around 20 million members.
- MyMFB (New) is a social network for connecting Muslims across 175 countries. The site currently has roughly 500,000 members.
- Care2 is a social network that connects activists from around the world to primarily discuss political and environmental issues. The site has about 40 million users.
- CaringBridge is a social network for people facing various medical conditions, hospitalization, medical treatment, and recovery from a significant accident, illness, injury, or procedure.
- GoFundMe (New) is a fundraising network that can be used to raise money for most any cause.
- Tinder (New) is a location-based dating mobile app that is used by over 50 million users.
- Crokes (New) is a community or social network for authors. It is similar to Twitter, but limits posts to 300 characters.
- Goodreads (New) is a social network for book lovers, who can recommend books and see what their friends are reading, among other features. The site is owned by Amazon and has tens of millions of members.
- Internations (New) is a social network that connects expats across 390 cities worldwide. It has almost 3 million users.
- PlentyofFish (New) is a dating social network that is free to use but also offers some premium services. It has over 100 million registered members.
- Minds (New) is a social network that allows its users to create channels on a variety of topics and also rewards users for their online activity. It promotes freedom and privacy on the Internet and has over 2 million members.
- Nexopia is a Canadian social network that allows its members to create forums on any topic and have discussions within those forums. The site has over 1 million users.
- Glocals is a social network created in Switzerland for the expatriate community. It allows the members to meet, organize activities, and share information.
- Academia.edu (New) is a social networking website for academics. The platform can be used to share papers, monitor their impact, and follow the research in a particular field. The site has over 55 million users.
- Busuu (New) is a language-learning social network. The site connects learners to speakers of the native language to make the learning process easier.
- English, baby! (New) is a social network and online curriculum for learning conversational English and slang. The service is used by more than 1.6 million members.
- Italki.com (New) makes connections between language learners and language teachers to help learning new languages. The site has more than 1 million students.
- Untappd (New) is a mobile social network that allows it members to rate the beer they are consuming, earn badges, share pictures of their beers, review tap lists from nearby venues, and see what beers their friends are drinking. The site has roughly 3 million members.
- Doximity (New) is a social network for U.S. clinicians. It has over 800,000 members.
Travel Networks
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- Wayn is a travel network that connects like-minded people and also helps them discover where to go. The site has over 20 million users.
- CouchSurfing provides a platform for members to stay as a guest at someone’s home, host travelers, meet other members, or join an event. The site has roughly 15 million members.
- TravBuddy specializes in finding a travel companion. The site has about half a million members.
- Tournac (New) is a social network for travelers that connects people traveling to the same location.
Gaming Networks
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- Cellufun is a gaming community with over 2 million members that can be accessed using any mobile device.
- MocoSpace is social gaming site with over 2 million users and over 1 billion monthly page views.
- Zynga (New) offers multiple games that are played by millions of daily users. Popular titles are Farmville, Draw Something, and Zynga Poker.
- Habbo is a social gaming company for teenagers. It has more than 5 million unique monthly visitors. The network operates nine sites for users in different countries.
Video Networks
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- YouTube is the world’s leading video sharing network that enables its users to upload, view, and share videos. It serves billions of videos daily.
- FunnyOrDie is a comedy video network that allows users to upload, share, and rate videos. The videos often feature celebrities. The network has hundreds of millions of viewers.
- Tout is a video network that helps businesses grow online video revenue and drive deeper engagement with viewers. It has 85 million unique monthly viewers.
- Vine gained popularity as a video sharing network for 6-second videos. It is now part of Twitter.
Reunion Networks
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- Classmates connects people with their high school friends in the U.S. and also allows for the uploading of high school yearbooks. Members can also plan their high school reunions.
- MyHeritage is an online genealogy network that enables users to create family trees, upload and browse photos, and search billions of global historical records. The site has 80 million users worldwide.
- 23andMe (New) is a DNA analysis company that connects its customers with their relatives based on a DNA analysis. It also identifies if the person is likely to have any health-related issues based on DNA analysis.
- Ancestry.com (New) is in the business of finding your ancestors — i.e., building genealogy networks. The site has roughly 2 million paying members.
Business Networks
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- Viadeo is a social network for business owners, entrepreneurs, and managers — mostly in Europe. It has about 50 million members.
- Ryze links business professionals, mainly new entrepreneurs. The site has about 1 million members.
- Xing is a career-oriented social network that is used by consumers and businesses. Xing supports closed groups to enable a private and secure network within an enterprise.
- Sprybirds (New) is a social and business networking site where people can make business friendships.
- Solaborate is a social network and collaboration platform dedicated to technology professionals, to connect, collaborate, discover opportunities, and create an ecosystem around products and services.
- eToro (New) is a social trading platform that enables investors to view, follow, and copy the network’s top traders automatically. It has over 2.5 million members.
Blogging Related
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- Xanga hosts weblogs, photoblogs, and social networking profiles.
- Plurk is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates through short messages or links, which can be up to 360 text characters.
- LiveJournal allows its users to maintain a blog, journal, or diary. It has over 10 million unique visitors monthly in the US.
