In September, Ian Kum, founder of the WhatsApp messenger, which Facebook bought for $ 19 billion, boasted numbers: the monthly number of users worldwide exceeded 900 million. At this rate, it will soon be possible to say that every seventh person on the planet uses WhatsApp. The number of people using Facebook Messenger keeps up with WhatsApp, with 700 million monthly active users as of September. And by now, these numbers, of course, have become even more impressive.
All this suggests, at least, that in recent years messengers have turned from an alternative method of communication into almost a key one. Remember how you communicated on the Internet a couple of years ago. Correspondence on social networks, Skype calls. But Skype every now and then had some kind of communication problems, the answer in social networks sometimes had to wait for several hours, and in general - such communication was fragmented. Now everything is simple: you install the messenger on your smartphone, and the program automatically adds contacts from your phone book. And the answers in the messenger come almost instantly: everyone is always in touch, everyone has notifications. But all these technical advantages are so obvious to everyone who has used Viber, WhatsApp or Telegram at least once. It is more interesting to focus on other winning features of messengers.
We live in a time of information overload. Tons of hysterical news, heated opinions and arguments, a lot of annoying content (in the spirit of "10 things everyone should know"), endless distracting cats and dogs, annoying ads. The same Facebook earlier could really be used as a personal newspaper by subscribing to your friends and favorite media. Facebook is now - not least thanks to its convoluted news feed algorithm - turned into a complex dump.
With VKontakte, the situation is better: there the news feed does not turn into a trash heap against your will. But honestly, who uses this social network for their own growth and development? Of course, you can subscribe to some scientific publics. However, the news that water has been found on Mars will look somehow strange among the new photos from the sea from your former classmates and some repost of funny videos. Knowledge cannot appear "in the background", it must be assimilated purposefully.
That is why in 2015 it is appropriate to talk about a certain informational diet, the correct consumption of network resources. And messengers in this regard are at the forefront. They save us from night vigils on other people's pages, unnecessary garbage from the news feed and other things that distract from the most important thing - direct communication. In the messenger, there is no way to somehow publicly show off, which often suffer from certain of your "friends" in social networks, causing completely unnecessary emotions that could have been avoided. In Telegram or Viber, you cannot leave an offensive comment, ruining a person's mood for the whole day. Messengers again reduce the essence of network communication directly to the exchange of replicas - without distractions, and this is exactly what we need. That which can save us. And if you really want to develop, there are also separate applications for this, starting with some Longform, in which curators choose the best longreads of today, ending with Pocket, in which you can save articles for reading "for later".
Viber social network - surely many have heard this expression, which is repeated more than once on TV screens and on the pages of popular Internet resources. At first glance, the phrase introduces confusion and bewilderment, because everyone is used to such giants as: Odnoklassniki, Vkontakte or Facebook.
But on the other hand, these days life and rules are changing so quickly that sometimes technologies allow setting completely new standards. Judge for yourself, if at the dawn of the Internet, people communicated and met in chats, for example, "Bizarre", but nowadays communication takes place on social networks. And the social network is a resource that allows you to find and unite relatives and friends, find like-minded people in groups or on public pages.
Viber can be installed on gadgets running various operating systems. The Internet messenger works great not only on smartphones, but also on personal computers and laptops. Programmers are constantly improving functionality and adding new features.
But, despite many signs, the similarity is still very small and the functionality of the messenger, despite constant improvements, is still far from a full-fledged social network and remains an advanced Internet messenger. 
In terms of their capabilities, similar programs are Skype or WhatsApp, however, Viber has a number of significant advantages:
One of the projects that will be aimed at creating a symbiosis of a messenger and a social network is Durov's brainchild - Telegram. It is too early to talk about complete success, but all the prerequisites for this are in place.
What is a messenger in a phone, probably every person, without exception, who uses modern "smart" phones - smartphones - knows. But not only they support such applications - today you can download a program for communication via the Internet on a PC, and on a tablet, and even on a SmartTV set-top box. And this is not a joke, but a reality, since modern Internet technologies create real miracles!
If you still do not know what messenger is, or have not decided which application to give preference to, we will be happy to help you! Next, we will consider the most popular, well-known and reliable programs that are used to communicate via the Internet by users from all over the world.
First, let's figure out what the word messenger means, and what are the features of such an application?
A messenger is a program that is installed on a smartphone, PC or tablet for fast online text messaging. In addition, there are Internet messengers designed for communication exclusively on the World Wide Web.
Let's consider the meaning of the word "messenger". If translates literally from English, then this term means "sender", "the one who sends a message, messages, messages."
It is important to bear in mind that such programs work exclusively over the Internet, even if they are installed on the phone. However, these apps have one plus: they are not affected by internet speed. Therefore, even if you use the Internet services of mobile operators, this will not affect the delivery of your messages to the addressee.
We examined what a messenger is for “dummies” - people who have not yet had the opportunity to take advantage of all the benefits of these programs, and who do not know the specifics of their functioning. Now let's move on to the classification of these applications. But it should be borne in mind that, as such, gradation does not exist.
Conditionally messengers can be divided into the following types:
Of course, this is a conditional gradation of messengers, which helps to better understand what kind of application it is. Reviews of the very best programs will be reviewed later.
Many users are wondering what a message is. But such a concept does not exist, most likely, they confuse it with the term "message". He, in turn, is translated from English as "message, message". That is, when you communicate with your friends in messengers, you send messages to each other - regular text messages.
Social networks provide more opportunities. In them, you can not only communicate, use media players or play games. Social networks provide an opportunity for their users to make money - on groups, on likes, on subscriptions, etc.
Thus, the messenger is a simplified program for communicating in online chats. The most popular applications are Votsap, Viber, Telegram. But this is only the smallest part of existing communication programs.
Below are lists of what messengers are, what are their main features, advantages and disadvantages. We will also consider in detail the questions of how to use them, and which programs are better to give preference to.
So, we figured out in detail the question of what messengers are, and what they are. Now let's take a closer look at the list best apps for communication, which can be installed on a phone or tablet. Below is a list from which you can choose the best option for yourself.
Whatsapp is one of the best messengers for communication. The principle of its operation is very simple:
Whatsapp provides all the necessary opportunities for communication, but, in comparison with other messengers, it is, roughly speaking, rather weak. The fact is that it is impossible to use this program to call either mobile or landline phones, so this application is perfect only for those who like to communicate using text messages.
Note. What is Whatsapp messenger for tablet and how to use it? You will not have any difficulties here. If your device does not have a SIM card slot, then first you need to download the application and log into your account using your username and password. After that, you will receive a confirmation code on your phone. When you enter it, you will be able to use the messenger on your tablet in the same way as on your smartphone.
What kind of messenger Viber program is, a huge number of users know. This is one of the most convenient applications that can be installed not only on a smartphone or tablet, but also on a computer.
Its main advantage is the ability to make free video calls, and free communication with friends. Undoubtedly, this is the best messenger of all programs existing today. The principle of its functioning is close to that characteristic of Wotsap.
You need to register your account by entering your phone number and coming up with a password. That's it - the app is ready to use. It syncs with your phone book, automatically adding all the contacts in it. If users from your TC are also registered in Viber, you can freely communicate with them.
Skype is the most popular PC messenger. To register in the program, you need to create a login, or enter the address Email... Be sure to combine a strong password - and then you can use all the features of this service. And they are very extensive!
With Skype, you can make free calls to any corner of the world, send media files and text messages. In addition, there is a Skype mobile application, which you can use in the same way as a computer program. Its indisputable advantage is that it is a messenger that can be used without the obligatory indication of a phone number. You just create your account and the program is ready to use.
What other messengers are there for the computer? The choice is really great. The list of the most popular programs for communication over the Internet can include:
Which messenger is better to choose for installation on a computer - the choice is yours. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages, therefore, if necessary, you can always refuse to use one program in favor of another. Or you can install several applications at once to get all the services that you require.
So, we reviewed a list of the most popular instant messengers for communicating from a phone, tablet and computer. Now let's briefly “walk” through the programs that work directly on the Internet. We will only describe the most popular ones.
Many users ask the question: is VK a messenger or not? In a way, it can be attributed to this category, but, nevertheless, it is a social network. However, its developers have released a mobile application "Vkontakte", where you need to log in by entering the login and password that you use on the site. Then all the functions of this service will become available to you.
Another social network that has its own application for the phone, and therefore, just like VK, can be conditionally classified as Internet messengers. The terms of use are the same: you log in with your username and password, and you can use the program to communicate with friends via your phone, tablet or computer.
What are messengers on Megafon? This is a unique service that is perfect for users who actively communicate in various messaging programs on the Android platform (and not only).
So, if you are used to using mobile traffic from other operators cellular communication at full power, then when exchanging messages using many instant messengers from the above reviews, you will have to spend significant amounts of money on the constant replenishment of bonus megabytes. Megafon, on the other hand, offers its own application for communication, which does not require the consumption of mobile traffic at all, and, accordingly, no money.
The essence of such an application is as follows. If you download and activate it, then even when communicating in other popular messengers, mobile traffic will not be taken into account by the operator. So, Megafon actively cooperates with such messengers as Votsap, TamTam, Facebook, Viber, eMotion and Telegram. The choice, as you can see, is wide, so you can easily find the best option for yourself.
Thus, we have studied in detail the question of what refers to messengers, and how to use these applications correctly. Now let's make a short summary to consolidate the results.
Communication through social networks and special mobile / computer programs has a lot of advantages. You can easily contact anyone, even on the other side of the globe, and, in most cases, absolutely free.
We have examined in detail the most popular instant messengers for communicating over the Internet, and now it will be much easier for you to make the right choice. Use all the possibilities of these programs to the maximum, and communicate with your friends, family and friends with pleasure!
If until recently it was fashionable to have dozens of different applications that, in fact, could be combined into one, now the trend is the opposite - aggregation has replaced division. This time we will unite the most important thing: what you probably have on the first “home” screen of your smartphone. and messengers.
The idea is not new, and how many attempts have already been made to create a universal "messenger" is difficult to imagine. However, few people dared to use social networks and instant messengers as an element of the new platform. Often, searching for a person on social networks (especially with a common surname) turns into a search for a needle in a haystack. But what if you assign a unique ID to the user, with which you can immediately "exit" to all of his pages?
OL PORTAL application works according to this principle. When registering, each user is assigned a so-called OL-number: all social networks and instant messengers are connected to it. In addition, since the number is short, you can send it to your friends as a business card, because using this number a person can immediately find you in OL PORTAL.
But the main idea is to combine all social services, has not gone anywhere. For example, you need to write to a person, but you do not know where he most often views messages. We sent the same message to 2-3 messengers and the same number of social networks at once, and the recipient will respond most promptly. The same application is used to post new posts. A couple of clicks - and your photo or post appeared immediately on Instagram, VKontakte, and Facebook.
Cherry on the Cake is a news aggregator built into the application. Instead of first reading the feed on Twitter, then like on Instagram, and then on Facebook, it's easier to watch all the news at once in one application. This is a great time saver, especially in the mornings, when you need to quickly familiarize yourself with the agenda.
Conveniently, with OL PORTAL, you can easily and quickly see all the social networks of contacts on your phone at once. Convenient sorting and filtering of contacts will make your search easier. But most importantly, with a unique number, you don't have to explain how to find you on social networks.
The application is available for free, version for Android. The iOS version and the browser version are also on the way.
Today social networks are so firmly rooted in our lives that the composition of the five most popular social platforms practically does not change from year to year. However, the extent of penetration and use of these social networks differs depending on geography and demographic factors. Understanding these differences plays a big role when targeting a specific audience. When comparing the most popular social networks, it is important to pay attention not to the number of registered accounts, but to the number of active users. From the review, you will find out which social networks are growing faster than others, and which are now in decline.
The chart, produced by analytical agency Statista, gives a clear idea of the number of active users (in millions) on the most popular social networks in the world. Tops the Facebook list. This can hardly surprise anyone. Facebook has a large market share with over 2 billion active users. In January 2017, the giant's closest competitor was WhatsApp, which is also owned by Facebook. Then he was in second place. Today, YouTube is on the second line with 1.5 billion active users. Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp come in third and fourth places, respectively.
They are followed by platforms, the majority of whose audience is located in the Asia-Pacific region. These are QQ, WeChat and Qzone (with over 600 million active users). This shows that there are a number of popular social media in the Asia-Pacific region. After them, we see a cluster of sites popular mainly in the West - Tumblr, Instagram and Twitter.
In Russia, the penetration of social networks is estimated at 47%; 67.8 million Russians have accounts in them. According to Statista, YouTube is the most active in Russia (63% of respondents), followed by VKontakte - 61%. The global leader Facebook is only on the fourth line with an indicator of 35%. Skype and WhatsApp dominate messengers (38% each).
Marketers usually don't spend a lot of time on SMM. Which social network should you focus your efforts on? Twitter, which managed to reach an audience of 313 million users from 2010 to 2017, showed the slowest growth rates compared to its largest competitors Facebook, WhatsApp and China's WeChat. Founded in 2013, Instagram surpassed Twitter in terms of audience size by 2014.
New research from Statista found Twitter lagged far behind its rivals in 2017. It showed the lowest monthly active audience growth, which was only 23 million from Q3 2015 to Q3 2017. Facebook, meanwhile, grew by 461 million.
Knowing how to behave and what publications to make in social media is also important, because it forms the image of your brand and, as a result, encourages users to buy your products or, on the contrary, unsubscribe from your groups. Social media is increasingly used as a platform for working with customers, where customers, existing and potential, want to get answers to their questions in real time. A chart from the Sprout Social report shows that 48% of users can be persuaded to buy by quickly answering questions in a group. 46% respond positively to promotions, and 42% can choose a brand product if its page contains educational content. 27% of surveyed users admitted that they would want to make a purchase if they were shown materials that usually remain behind the scenes.
Half of Sprout Social survey participants said they would unsubscribe from the brand community if they post annoying content there, and 27% said they would flag the brand and its page as spam and block it. This is why publishing relevant and engaging content that resonates with your target audience is so important to reach and engage your potential customers.
An important factor that influences how much time we should devote to SMM on a particular social network is the level of audience engagement. Here again, Facebook dominates, and also has the highest engagement by time, according to data collected by analyst comScore from a survey of a group of US consumers.
Facebook's success is amazing. In addition to the social network itself occupying the top spot, other platforms owned by the corporation also occupied the second and third places. The penetration rate of Facebook Messenger is 47%, with Instagram following right behind it.
From the fresh data from Pew Internet, shown in the diagram below, we can see that Facebook is also leading in terms of the number of active audience per day. 76% of users go to the social network every day, on Instagram this figure is 51%. Only 42% of Twitter users check it daily, almost half of Facebook's.
The average daily duration of using social networks in the United States is 2 hours 1 minute, in Russia users spend a little more time on social media - 2 hours 19 minutes.
Analytical marketing firm TrackMaven analyzed 51 million posts from various companies across 130 industries to find out which social media has the highest engagement rates. The results showed that Instagram is the absolute leader in terms of engagement per 1000 subscribers. This is so much higher than other social networks that I had to draw up a separate diagram to illustrate the difference between Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
As you can see in the second graph, Facebook is well ahead of Twitter and LinkedIn. The reason for this is largely because more posts are published on Twitter, because there is no algorithm here that allows you to show content to only a small part of the audience. Because of this, brands have to bombard their feeds with posts to break through the information noise. This, in turn, lowers the response rate to publications. Below is the average daily number of posts per account in three social networks.
Every year, WeAreSocial updates its comprehensive statistical report, the Global Digital Report, which brings together useful data on social media around the world. From it you can find out how differently social platforms are used in different parts of the world. Surprisingly, Western countries are seriously lagging behind in terms of social media penetration.
Below are the main findings of the research.
The numbers are growing rapidly, especially for active users of social networks from mobile devices - the penetration rate is 39%, which is 5% more than in 2017.
If we talk about the structure of web traffic depending on the type of device, then mobile users generate the most traffic (52%, which is 4% higher than last year). Only 43% of all web pages are visited from desktops, which is 3% less than last year.
North, Western and Southern Europe, as well as North America, boast the highest Internet penetration rates - 74% -94% of the total population use the World Wide Web. In Russia, 110 million people use the Internet - 76% of the total population.
The global social media audience has grown by 13% since January 2017. The fastest growing user base is in Saudi Arabia. Since January 2017, their number has increased by 32%, with a global average of 17%. Other countries with the highest growth rates are India, Indonesia and Ghana. The reason for the leap was the development of technology, which made it easier for the population to access social sites. The slowest growing social networks were in the UAE, South Korea and the UK -<5%. В России пользователей соцсетей стало на 8 826 000 человек больше (+15% к прошлогоднему значению).
Since the largest proportion of users are on Facebook, it would be helpful to know how the content you post will perform on this social network and what features to use to increase its reach. According to the statistics of the social network, the average coverage of a publication is 10.7%, while organic posts have 8% (organic coverage in Russia is 11.3%), and for paid posts this value is 26.8% (27.4% in Russia) ... Organic and paid Facebook posts have huge potential. It is important to correctly target publications in order to receive high-quality leads.
You can get a more complete picture of the state of the global digital market in 2018 by studying our review of the Internet 2017-2018 in the world and in Russia: statistics and trends, which we prepared based on the Global Digital 2018 study.
The graph from the GlobalWebIndex report below, based on a survey of Internet users, perfectly reflects the popularity of various social networks by country. Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico, India and Brazil are among the ten most active audiences for each of the social networks, and are significantly ahead of the US, UK and European countries.
Of the four social networks represented (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Google+), Russians are the most active users of the video service. Twitter and Google+ are relatively often used by only 20% of our compatriots, while Facebook is regularly viewed by just over 40%.
As can be seen from the graph, a similar pattern of social media use is observed in different age groups. This suggests that social media has reached a stage of maturity where it can be used to reach all demographic groups, regardless of age and gender. The exceptions are Instagram and Tumblr, with a younger audience.
According to a study by The State of Social 2018, 96% of brands have a presence on Facebook.
At the same time, only half of the respondents have a documented SMM strategy. Big business is a little more responsible in this matter than small companies (60% stated that they have such a document).
When it comes to the types of content brands publish, images, links, and copy are leading the way. While video posts tend to get the most engagement, video content only ranks fourth here. This is primarily due to the complexity of creating such materials.
At the end of 2017, Smart Insights, together with Clutch, conducted a survey among business representatives, in which they asked which of the social networks are of the greatest value to them. It turned out that among B2C companies, Facebook is considered the most effective (93% of respondents), and most B2B companies prefer LinkedIn (93%).
Through social networks, you can reach any audience, regardless of gender, age, social status. 98% of online consumers are registered on social networks, quite a large part of them are adults 55-64 years old.
The average user spends 2 hours 15 minutes a day flipping through the feed and chatting on social platforms, while young people aged 16-24 spend almost three hours. If you do not consider SMM as a channel for attracting customers, then you voluntarily cede the attention of your target audience to competitors.
4 out of 10 Internet users follow their favorite companies' social media pages, and a quarter follow brands when they plan to buy something. People have a positive attitude towards such content, so an active social media presence is of great value for companies.
People aged 16-24 prefer to search for brand information on social media rather than search engines. A quarter of users in this age group admit that a large number of likes on a brand page can lead them to buy. In the 35-44 age group, 20% of the respondents stated the same. Social commerce can be considered one of the main channels for generating profit, which means that it is important to diversify efforts, and not rely on advertising alone.
Facebook is the largest social network in terms of the number of users, but YouTube takes the first place in terms of traffic, and the reason is precisely in the video. Video posts receive the most active response, which is why leading brands are constantly posting videos on their pages.
In preparing the article, the following materials were used:
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