What are the different types of social media?

Updated 24 September 2026. We first published this list in September 2021. The platforms have changed since then, and the user counts in the old version dated from 2016 and 2017, so we rewrote it. The grouping is the same, because it still holds up.

The quick answer: sort social media by what people do there, not by brand. There are eight types worth knowing. Social networks, forums and social news, microblogging, professional networks, video sharing, live streaming, messaging, and community servers. One app can sit in more than one group. Facebook alone covers at least three of them.

For scale, DataReportal counted 5.79 billion social media user identities in April 2026. It calls them identities because one person often holds several accounts. The same source says the typical user visits about 6.5 platforms a month. So the useful question for a business is which types your audience uses, and for what.

1. Social networks

A profile, a list of connections and a feed of posts from them. Facebook and Instagram are the big examples. People come here to keep up with people they already know, so a brand is a guest in a personal feed. A business page reaches only the people the ranking algorithm chooses to show it to, so brands often pay to be seen here.

2. Forums and social news

People post a link or a question, and other members vote and reply. Reddit is the largest, split into topic communities called subreddits. Hacker News does the same for software.

In 2021 we listed social bookmarking as its own type. Delicious and StumbleUpon closed years ago and most of that behaviour moved to forums like these. Pinterest is what is left of it, and it works more like a visual search engine than a network.

Forum threads also show up in Google results and in the sources AI assistants cite. A good answer on Reddit can keep sending readers for years. Our Reddit page covers how to take part there without breaking its rules.

3. Microblogging

Short public posts that anyone can follow without being followed back. Twitter was the example in 2021. It is called X since July 2023, and it now has several rivals. Meta launched Threads in July 2023. Bluesky opened to the public in February 2024. Mastodon is a network of independent servers that talk to each other. This type suits news and fast replies. Posts age in hours.

4. Professional networks

LinkedIn is the largest. It works like a social network where the connections are colleagues and the posts are about work. It is where B2B buyers check who you are before they reply to you. A company page, and staff profiles that say what the company does, carry more weight there than posting volume.

5. Video sharing

Upload a video, and the platform recommends it to people who never followed you. YouTube is the largest, and people use it as a search engine for how-to answers. TikTok built its feed on recommendation first, and Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts copied that format. Here the content is found by topic, so a small account can reach a large audience with one good video.

6. Live streaming

A broadcast with a chat running beside it. Twitch started with gaming and now covers much more, and YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Kick all run live video too. Periscope, which we listed in 2021, closed in March 2021. Live works for product demos and question sessions, where the value is that viewers can ask and get an answer on the spot.

7. Messaging

Private chats and small groups on WhatsApp, Messenger, Telegram, WeChat and Signal. Links shared here never show up in a public feed or in your referral data. Businesses use it for support and for broadcast lists that people opt into. Telegram adds public channels, which sit between messaging and broadcasting.

8. Community servers

A space a company or creator owns and moderates, split into channels by topic. Discord is the main example, along with Slack communities and Telegram groups. Discord started with gamers and now hosts servers for software products and crypto projects.

Community servers are where a product’s users talk to each other and to the team. That makes them the most useful type for a software company, and the most work. A server nobody answers does more harm than no server. We run these for clients on Discord and Telegram. Our community management page explains how.

How to choose

Start from your audience, not from the list. Ask a few customers where they go to talk about the problem your product solves, and where they last asked for a recommendation. Then pick one or two types and do them properly.

A rough guide for software companies. LinkedIn for B2B buyers. Reddit and Hacker News for developers and technical buyers. Discord or Telegram once users need a place to help each other. YouTube for anything that is easier shown than explained.