The Rise and Fall of Social Media Platforms

an article by Nick Routley at Visual Capitalist [via Stephen Abram on Stephen’s Lighthouse]

with apologies from me for the inadvertent cropping of video and image
Blogger does not want to make alterations but both are available through the continue reading link.



Since its inception, the internet has played a pivotal role in connecting people across the globe, including in remote locations.

While the foundational need for human connection hasn’t changed, platforms and technology continue to evolve, even today. Faster internet connections and mobile devices have made social networks a ubiquitous part of our lives, with the time spent on social media each day creeping ever upward.

The Scoreboard Today

Over the last 15 years, billions of people around the world have jumped onto the social media bandwagon – and platforms have battled for our attention spans by inventing (and sometimes flat-out stealing) features to keep people engaged.

Here’s a snapshot of where things stand today:

obal Rank	Social Platform	Parent Company	Monthly Active Users
1	Facebook	Facebook	2.2 billion
2	Instagram	Facebook	1.1 billion
3	Qzone	Tencent	528 million
4	Weibo	Sina Corp	528 million
5	TikTok	ByteDance	524 million
6	Twitter	Twitter	340 million
7	Pinterest	Pinterest	329 million
8	Snapchat	Snap Inc	302 million
9	LinkedIn	Microsoft	260 million

Today’s entertaining video, from the Data is Beautiful YouTube channel, is a look back at the rise and fall of social media platforms – and possibly a glimpse at the future of social media as well.

Below we respond to some key questions and observations raised by this video overview.

Continue reading

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