/Map of Social Media (2015 edition)

Map of Social Media (2015 edition)

We have been updating the Map of Social Media periodically (see 2009 and 2011 editions) and a lot has changed since the last time.Instagram and instant messaging systems such as Whatsapp have become more relevant and we have given room to the new sharing economy tools and to Buzzfeed-type viral content sites.

These are the main trends:

– Instant messaging on mobile is ruining the SMS business and even replacing emails for some generations. We are also including Snapchat in this section in which we still miss Twitter.

– As of general social networks, we have removed Orkut and added Instagram, China’s Weibo and Russia’s VKontakte. All are covered by Alianzo Analytics. There is a concentration process going on.

– As of professional vertical social networks we added Behance (designers) and AngelList (investors), which are quite popular in their fields. We expect big growth as Linkedin is still too closed.

– In the dating field, we added Tinder.

– In the local social networks field the clear winner is Nextdoor, whose value now exceeds 1,000 million. FourSquare has disappeared and Yelp is having a hard time competing with Google+.

– On of the most interesting trends is the viral content sites such as Buzzfeed, The Huffington Post, Vice or Business Insider. These native digital media are outperforming the old newspapers and televisions.For example, Vice is already known as the new MTV. In any case, all online content has become social.

– Sharing photograph platforms are consolidating, with Instagram beating the rest on mobile. Snapchat is also very popular for younger audiences.

– Youtube continues to dominate the world of video but is getting more competition from Facebook.

– Social games have also lost positions. They have not evolved in recent years and there are the disappointments that is taking Zynga.