One minute, you think you’ve got your life digitally sorted out and you’re living on social media’s cutting edge.
You started your Facebook profile when you were fresh out of college and, as a Twitter veteran, you wield hashtags and mentions with Shakespearean panache. You’ve been spicing up photos with the Brannan filter on Instagram for years, and your Pinterest boards are the envy of all your friends. LinkedIn says you’re an All-Star, and you’ve got the connections to prove it.
But lately, you feel like you’re losing touch. In conversations, people drop the names of new sites that sound as excitingly exotic as they are mystifyingly foreboding.
In the constantly evolving world of social media, there are dozens of platforms out there, and new ones crop up with startling frequency. If you think social media begins and ends with Facebook or Twitter, you’ve dated yourself.
According to a study released this spring by researcher Piper Jaffray, the number of teens who consider Facebook to be the most important social networking site has dropped precipitously in the last two years, from 42 percent to 23 percent. In that same time, interest in Facebook-owned Instagram — whose user base recently outgrew rival Twitter — grew from 12 percent to 30 percent.
This changing attitude of younger users, in particular, toward the old guard of social media, has resulted in sites that bill themselves as more appealing alternatives or, in especially vehement cases, as the “anti-Facebook.”
The only certainty in the realm of social media is that change is rapid and unceasing. If you’re concerned that you’re starting to fall behind the curve, here’s a brief guide to seven social media platforms that are either entering the mainstream or that are poised to do so:
Yik Yak
* How it’s used: Primarily a network for college students, Yik Yak allows users to post comments — or “yaks” — anonymously. A constantly updated feed displays yaks based on specific topics or, more commonly, from other users in the area.
Local yaks can be up-voted, down-voted or commented upon by users within a 1.5 mile-radius. Users with popular posts earn “yakarma,” and posts that receive a total score of more than five down-votes are removed from the feed.
Some experts have argued that the app’s ability to post anonymously makes it appealing to cyber-bullies. To help combat this, the app’s developers have enabled “geo-fence” that prevents the app from being used on the campus of high schools whose administrators request a ban.
* Started in: November 2013
* Age restriction: Users must agree to be 17 or older to use the app, but there is no in-app age verification.
* Website: yikyakapp.com
Snapchat
* How it’s used: Snapchat allows users to send messages to each other, most commonly as pictures or videos. These can be set to automatically expire after a set period of time — between 1 and 10 seconds– although recipients can choose to preserve “Snaps” by using their phone’s screen-capture function.
Before sending the images to their contacts, users can apply filters, add captions or draw on the image. They receive notifications in the app when they receive a message, when their messages have been viewed, when the recipient has taken a screen capture or when a video message has been replayed. Users can also create “stories” consisting of multiple linked Snaps that remain viewable to other users for 24 hours.
* Started in: September 2011
* Age restriction: Users must be 13 or older to set up an account.
* Website: snapchat.com
Vine
* How it’s used: Twitter’s standalone video-sharing app, Vine is similar to its parent company’s 140-character limit for posts. In Vine, however, users must make do with just six seconds of recording for their posts. Touching the screen initiates the camera, and the total time remaining is displayed as a bar at the top of the screen. Recording can be stopped or started at will, and popular posters often take advantage of this to generate special effects such as stop-motion photography or to craft micro-narratives.
Once a user posts their Vine, it will display on a loop in their followers’ feeds or on their “channel.” The longer a post is viewed, the higher its loop count becomes. The app curates lists of especially popular or promising Vines that are generating a lot of interest.
One of the site’s most popular users is Internet celebrity pet Marnie the Dog, whose channel has accumulated more than 400,000 followers and 77 million loops.
* Started in: January 2013
* Age restriction: Initially limited to users 12 or older, the restriction was raised soon after launch to 17 or older in response to posts containing pornographic content.
* Website: vine.co
Whisper
* How it’s used: Billed as “the best place to express yourself online,” Whisper is the social media equivalent of a church confessional or a therapist’s couch. Users can post messages anonymously that appear as text displayed over a background image, either one of their choosing or recommended automatically by the app based on the content of their post.
The content of Whisper posts varies, but the promise of anonymity generates many messages that confide secrets or admit to socially unacceptable behavior. The site also tracks trending stories in which a question or topic is presented — such as “What did you have to do to get out of the “friend zone”? — and the best Whispered responses are compiled.
Similar to many of the growing number of anonymous social apps, Whisper has also been used by citizen journalists in countries such as Iraq, where the state is monitoring or otherwise chilling free speech. Whisper also has established a nonprofit project, Your Voice, that allows users to share their struggles with mental health problems and provides resources to help with issues such as bullying, alternate sexuality and depression.
* Started in: March 2012
* Age restriction: Users must agree to be 13 or older to use the app, but there is no in-app age verification.
* Website: whisper.sh
Pheed
* How it’s used: At its core, Pheed is a social network like any other, but it takes a catch-all, Frankenstein-like approach to its services, folding in features from other sites, such as Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Users generate posts, search for channels to follow, like/dislike content and remix (read: retweet) posts they like.
Where Pheed differs is in its baked-in ability for users to create premium channels and charge users to view their content by paying either a one-time fee or a monthly subscription. Profits from this content are split down the middle with Pheed.
The site places a heavy emphasis on multimedia, allowing users to post text, audio tracks, videos, broadcasts and photos that will appear in their followers’ continuously updated newsfeed. Users can choose from filters at the top of their feed to view only certain categories of content.
In September, Israeli mobile security networking company Mobil Media acquired Pheed for an estimated $40 million and announced plans to invest another $10 million in remaking the service.
* Started in: November 2012
* Age restriction: Users must agree to be 13 or older to use the app, but there is no in-app age verification.
* Website: pheed.com
Ello
* How it’s used: Ello is one of the leading services in the “anti-Facebook” charge, an invitation-only social network that offers many of the same services as the world’s biggest network but with assurances that it will never — ever — be paid for by selling ads or user data.
“Every post you share, every friend you make and every link you follow is tracked, recorded and converted into data. Advertisers buy your data so they can show you more ads,” reads the site’s manifesto. “You are the product that’s bought and sold. We think there is a better way. … We believe a social network can be a tool for empowerment. Not a tool to deceive, coerce and manipulate — but a place to connect, create and celebrate life.”
On Oct. 23, the site became a USA Public Benefit Corporation, which legally binds its operators to their ad-free promise. The platform has received some criticism for its bare-bones presentation and lack of privacy functions, which users may want to consider before signing up.
* Started in: March 2014
* Age restriction: Users must be 13 or older. Currently, Ello membership is only by-invitation, which can be requested at its main page.
* App: None currently, but an iOS/Android app is listed under the site’s “coming soon” section.
* Website: ello.co
Swarm
* How it’s used: When it launched in 2009, Foursquare added a new layer to social networking with the introduction of location-based “check-ins” that let users notify their followers when they arrived at new places. Visit a place often enough, and a user could earn digital bragging rights as its “mayor.”
Earlier this year, Foursquare split itself in two. The original app was refocused to emphasize discovery and destination-based recommendations, and the company’s trademark check-ins shifted to a new service, Swarm, which made the activity even more socially focused.
Just like on Foursquare, Swarm users can check-in at places they visit and earn digital trophies and stickers for visiting certain locations or types of locations more than their friends. The app also tacks on the ability to post “plans” that push a notification to friends, who can express interest in joining you on your outing.
Via a simple swipe gesture, users also can enable “neighborhood sharing,” which will automatically notify them when their friends are nearby, even if they haven’t checked in recently.
* Started in: May 2014
* Age restriction: Users must agree to be 13 or older to use the app, but there is no in-app age verification.
* Website: swarmapp.com
Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.