Facebook has been the most popular social networking site on the internet for years and it’s not likely that that will change any time soon. There have always been complaints about every new layout and every new policy Facebook institutes, but for the most part these complaints are minor ones that tend to fade out eventually.
Most Facebook users are pretty loyal and enjoy the familiarity and easy usability of the Facebook format. However, as is the way of the internet, different companies have been trying to create newer, better and more popular social networking sites to try to convert Facebook users and get a share of the huge ad revenue Facebook is now making.
While most of these startups fail pretty quickly, there are a few that are actually quite succesful and growing really popular in certain social groups or parts of the world. Here are three of the Facebook competitors that aren’t about to let Zuckerberg get too comfortable up there on top.
Twitter is one of the most popular social networking sites online with over 300 million users. It is known for its short micro-blogs or “tweets” which are limited to 140 characters each. Although this site is not as friend friendly as Facebook, one of the reasons that this site has grown popular is because of its celebrity following. Twitter is a way for fans to keep up with their favorite famous personalities and find out what they’re doing and maybe even see if they have any words of wisdom to share. The great thing about this is that Twitter encourages a lot more interaction from the celebrities. That’s right, if you tweet about Britney Spears, there’s a good chance you’ll get a reply and you really can’t beat that!
LinkedIn is a more business centric networking site. You can build your professional network here and stay in touch and up to date with others in your profession. You can manage your “brand” or your professional identity and market yourself and your skills in a way that may open up more opportunities to further your career goals. LinkedIn is the largest online social network that mainly focuses on business with more than 135 million people registered with the site.
Orkut
Orkut is a Facebook-like social networking site run by Google. It has over 66 million users but many people in the United States don’t really know about it. However, it is still one of the most popular social networking sites in other countries, especially in Brazil and India. These
These are three of the sites that offer the most competition to Facebook. As you can see, they are all quite different and offer different ways to connect and interact. While these sites are popular it’s not very likely that any of them will be filling Facebook’s place at the top any time soon, but that shouldn’t stop you from using them to your advantage if you can even if you don’t plan on quitting FB just yet.
Terrence writes for a variety of sites and holds down the fort over at the Edrugstore.md blog.
Orkut is dead. LinkedIn and Pinterest are the latest buzz. Links shared on Pinterest is taken as authority.
Facebook is much more advanced than other three.Facebook have a lots of interesting features.
Yes these 3 are really good but I think they can not beat Facebook ever but I have heard about a new social network ‘Zurker’ people saying that it can beat Facebook someday.
well i can tell about this articale that facebook has better options ..
@Shabnam – I agree with you there. I’m currently focusing much of my social media efforts in pinterest. Not sure about LindkedIn though.
Well I remember when Myspace was sort of big. Facebook was able to completely overrun MySpace. It didn’t even really take them that long to do. I believe twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn can all coexist together. They all sort of do their own little thing. For something to take down Facebook it has to have a similar concept that users will have to fall in love with right away. People have just grown so accustom to facebook
i am agree with now a days facebook is much popular than other social networking site very nice info thanks for sharing with us.
I don’t think Orkut will ever compete with Facebook. Also Twitter and LinkedIn also are not direct competitors with Facebook. They offer different set of services compared to Facebook.
There are many Orkut users stopped to use it and now, they divert through Facebook. As per my view, it’s better to see latest growth rate of social networking sites. Nowadays, Pinterest and Google+ are great websites which increase new users fast and they will be new competitors of Facebook.
I was under the impression that Orkut ‘died’ a horrific death long time back. But you are so right about Linked In and Twitter. they indeed seem to be giving FB a run for its money.
There are several different social media sites that are positioning themselves as competitors to Facebook. Of course, Facebook itself is so huge and popular that it is very unlikely any new site is going to be able to knock them off their perch, at least not any time soon.
Twitter is an interesting player in the social media space. Characterized by its short messages, it is almost completely different in its format and tone. There are a lot more marketers using Twitter to send out links to sites and information directly.
Another competitor in LinkedIn, although this is really mostly geared to businesses and professionals. However, it is a great site for building professional contacts and networks. It is also a great way for people to gain new business in the creative fields like writing and design.
Another competing site which I really like is Pinterest. The idea behind this is to create sort of a virtual collage, with all of the content centering around a particular theme. Each of these sites are very different and may have their individual places in your marketing mix.
I agree Twitter and Linkedin are giving a tough competition to Facebook. But people hardly use Orkut these days. Orkut is no where seen and heard, I guess it has already stepped out of the competition.
You forgot about Meet.com.Up and coming and more fun then Facebook.Facebook just has size for now .Im not to impressed by an overcontrolling website that has no relationship with its members.Like a Dinosaur just waiting to disappear!!!!