The Different Social Media Platform Analogies
Twitter
- Twitter used to be like a water cooler, where one would experience one-sentence opinions. Yet, it seems that now Twitter is more like walking through a crowded room. You catch snippets of conversations and do not always know how the conversation started, how it may end and who else might join the discussion. Occasionally a fight breaks out, everyone pauses and takes note of the angry parties. Soon the crowd is divided, and there are two distinct sides to the fight.
- On Average, there are roughly 500 million tweets sent every day. (Source)
- Twitter has 396.5 million users globally. However, it ranks behind platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Pinterest (Source)
- Facebook is like meeting a group of friends at a market. It’s a time for you all to catch up briefly about each other’s lives (mostly the good stuff) hear the latest updates or ask a clarifying question. A meeting of this kind, at a market, is noisy and busy with other people’s conversations happening around you. It can also be distracting as you get curious about the products and services on offer. You may even be in the market for a particular vendor because you enjoy what they offer. Yet, for the most part, there is a little of everything on display, and you can learn about new things while connecting with long lost friends.
- Facebook is the world’s third most trafficked website. It has around 1.91 billion daily active users, and over 200 million businesses users. 98.3% of Facebook users access the platform via their mobile. (Source)
- LinkedIn is almost like going to Grazia Fine Food & Wine to have a business dinner. Being formal, dressing well and having proper table etiquette is required to fit in. Each person sitting at the other tables may be someone important, someone you need to connect with. You never know who may introduce themselves to you and ask to join. Sometimes they will bring friends, and your table gets larger. At the same time, you wear a jacket adorned with accolades that describe your life’s timeline. Depending on how good your jacket looks, you will soon attract like-minded people.
- LinkedIn is a gold mine for B2B. It is a platform where decision-makers and executives spend their free time. (Source)
- Nearly 800 million users are on the professional network in more than 200 countries. The platform is also home to over 57 million companies. (Source)
- Instagram is like an edition of your favourite digital magazine. It has beautiful and compelling imagery which captivates you and keeps you looking for hours at a time. Now and then, text pops up amongst the images, and you are pulled into someone else’s experience of the world or a sales pitch or even movement of people saying the same thing in solidarity. This digital magazine has the potential to motivate you in a way you didn’t expect. Yet it can also cause harm, as people criticise and point to the minor imperfection of the image you thought perfect and honest.
- Instagram is the 4th most-used social platform. (Source)
- It has over 1.3 billion monthly active users. 500 million people use Instagram Stories on a daily basis (Source)
TikTok
- TikTok is like watching a million trailers before a movie. Some trailers are really exciting, and you have to do a deep dive on the internet to find out more. Other trailers are hilarious and welcome a joyous mood for the comedy you are about to watch. Some of these trailers become so popular that you have to create your own version to stay part of the ‘it’ crowd.
- As of January 2022, TikTok has 1 billion monthly active users.
- 1 million TikTok videos are watched in an internet minute. (Source)
