Some of the most popular social media websites, with over 100 million registered users, include Facebook , TikTok, WeChat, Instagram, QZone, Weibo, Twitter, Tumblr, Baidu Tieba, and LinkedIn. Depending on interpretation, other popular platforms that are sometimes referred to as social media services include YouTube, QQ, Quora, Telegram, WhatsApp, LINE, Snapchat, Pinterest, Viber, Reddit, Discord, VK, Microsoft Teams, and more.
Social media outlets differ from traditional media in many ways, including quality, Additionally, social media outlets operate in a dialogic transmission system , while traditional media outlets operate under a monologic transmission model .
Social media can help to improve an individual’s sense of connectedness with real or online communities and can be an effective communication tool for corporations, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, political parties, and governments. Observers have also seen that there has been a rise in social movements using social media as a tool for communicating and organizing in times of political unrest.
