Top 10 Social Media Websites - Ranked from Worst to Best

Are these the ten most influential social media sites ever?

It's hard to imagine that even as recent as ten years ago, social media sites weren't such a big part of our lives as they are today. And it's even harder to imagine that most of us didn't even own a mobile phone 20 years ago. How times have changed.

Like them or loathe them, social media sites have changed our lives, and in many cases, for the better.  Either way, it's there, and these sites aren't about to go away any time soon.

The question we ask is: Of all the hundreds of social media sites out there, which ones have had the most impact on us, and what makes them so beneficial to our lives?

Here, Green Beans tech editor, Ralph Jameson, identifies ten of the most important and influential social media sites ever created. Take a look, let us know what you think, and feel free to comment below...

By Ralph Jameson, Tech Editor.  

10. Tinder

Launched: 2012
Active Users: 50 million

Tinder is a location-based social search mobile app that allows users to like or dislike other users, and allows users to chat if both parties liked each other in the app. The app is often used as a dating site.


Ok, so we all know about Match and Plenty Of Fish, and as great as they were, even the most traditional dater would find it hard to deny how important and revolutionary Tinder has become. This easy to use dating app is perfectly designed for those of us who are accustomed to the busy lifestyle.  You can find, arrange and be on a date quickly, and fuss-free.  Tinder has paved the way for future online dating.

9. Snapchat

Launched: 2011
Active Users: 185 million

This quirky app was instantly popular upon its release, but it never quite lived up to its hype in the long term. The name, Snapchat, kinda says what the app is all about.  You snap a pic, select a friend, or a group of people, and send!

Snapchat is a very intimate messaging application, the purpose of it is to in a way, send messages to people that you wouldn't send to someone in a other application, because the photo or message deletes itself after you open it. It's a funky little app, but mainly used as a fun side-kick to the more 'serious' apps.

8. Reddit

Launched: 2005
Active Users: 330 million

Reddit is an American social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website. Registered members submit content to the site such as links, text posts, and images, which are then voted up or down by other members.

Reddit, you could argue, was the first social media app of its kind - a platform that could enable you to gather and share information about pretty much anything.  Like all apps, it does have its flaws, like for example all the fake news stuff that's been floating around the web, but generally speaking, it's a revolutionary app, and with a few tweaks, it could potentially become an even bigger player.

7. LinkedIn

Launched: 2003
Active Users:  590 million

LinkedIn is a business and employment-oriented service that operates via websites and mobile apps. It actually got off to a pretty slow start, but after the emergence of Facebook, Twitter and other leading social media sites, it started gaining momentum, and is now regarded as a very important social media app in the world of professionals and business.

LinkedIn has given us an effective platform to network, build contacts, employ people, and even get a job ourselves.  This app seems to age like a fine wine, and its importance will increase even more over the next couple of years.

6. Twitter

Launched: 2006
Active Users: 126 million

Twitter is an online news and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as "tweets". Tweets were originally restricted to 140 characters, but in 2017, this limit was doubled for all languages except Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

Ok, so I was convinced that Twitter would be the leading social media site by this point, but I was proved wrong.  This site seemed to be picking up great momentum from its launch date to around 2015, but the emergence of new social media sites and apps have actually harmed Twitter.  However, we must remember that Twitter was, and will always be, the first ever social media site that enabled the everyday person to interact directly with celebrities and brands.

5. Myspace 

Launched: 2003
Active Users: 50 million

Myspace is a social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos. Myspace was the largest social networking site in the world from 2005 to 2009, but now it doesn't even make a mark on the top 30 social media site and apps.

It would be easy to talk about this once great app's decline, but let's focus on what we loved so much about Myspace when it was in its prime.  Firstly, would Facebook have been anywhere near as popular as it is now if it wasn't for Myspace? Probably not.  And let's not forget what Myspace is great for nowadays - it's turned into a fantastic platform for bands and musicians to get their music out there easily and effectively.

4. Instagram

Launched: 2010
Active Users: 1 billion

Instagram is a photo and video-sharing social networking service.  It is one of the fastest growing social media sites, and is now the leading image sharing app in the world.  Instagram has one billion active users, making it only one of four social media sites to achieve this status.

Most of us thought Pinterest had legs, and even though it's still a good app, it doesn't come anywhere near the might of Instagram.  In a selfie, image-obsessed society, Instagram has become the perfect app.  It's also a great app for businesses to visually advertise and promote their services and products. Unless something amazing comes out any time soon, expect to see Instagram grow further in popularity and overtake the mighty Facebook some time in the near future.

3. WhatsApp

Launched: 2009
Active Users: 1.5 billion

WhatsApp Messenger is a freeware and cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP service. The application allows the sending of text messages and voice calls, as well as video calls, images and other media, documents, and user location.

WhatsApp has truly revolutionised the way we communicate by mobile phone. This simple app has wiped the floor with the much dated SMS, taking 'texting' and message-sharing to a completely new level, and what's more, it's absolutely free!  With over 1.5 billion users already, expect to see WhatsApp grow to even scarier heights over the coming years.

2. Facebook

Launched: 2004
Active Users:  2.3 billion

You thought this would be number one, didn't you? Well, it probably should be, but it just misses out on top spot for a number of reasons.  Facebook is without doubt the king of social media, and it has reigned supreme since knocking Myspace off top spot back in the mid noughties.  But are we seeing this social media powerhouse losing perhaps some of its popularity in recent years?

Social media is all about trends and generations.  Facebook was THE go-to app for a number of years, but now we have so many other options, many of the newer generation are finding more joy from using apps such as Instagram.  Whatever the future may hold for Facebook, no one can deny its importance and the massive impact it has had on so many of our lives.  Along with Google, it is the most iconic brand of an entire generation.

1. YouTube

Launched: 2005
Active Users: 1.9 billion

YouTube is a video-sharing website which launched in 2005, and if there was any website that was ever going to compete with Facebook, it was only ever going to be YouTube. Who ever thought a video-sharing website could be so huge? I mean, it's just a site where you watch and share videos, right?

Well, yes, but it is also a whole lot more than that. YouTube is fast becoming the leading online search engine. Just think about that for a second. This powerful social media site has become a search engine, and why? Well, because so many of us would rather watch a video than read pages and pages of information on exactly the same topic!

We must also not forget how huge the world of vlogging has become, and it is set to grow further over the next few years. Millions of people are now making money (and in some cases very good money) by creating visual content. The opportunities that YouTube has to offer are quite remarkable.