Social Tools
- Instant messaging - Social Networks : Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z
- Business
- Questions / Forums
- Alternatives (IRC, XMPP/Jabber) Favorite proprietary, open source or freeware tools
Gen Z
TikTok is a short-video social platform powered by music. Designed for the new generation of creators, TikTok allows users to quickly and easily create unique short videos to share with friends and the world. TikTok - including musically is the new cultural benchmark for young creators. We strive to empower more creative minds to be part of the content revolution.
YouTube is a video-sharing website, the site allows users to upload, view, and share videos.
Available content includes video clips, TV clips, music videos, movies, and other content such as video blogging, short original videos, and educational videos.
Everything on YouTube, except movies ( https://www.youtube.com/movies/ ) and some channels is free.
YouTube Premium, with its paid membership, offers: • Background play, audio mode and offline access to YouTube Music app • Videos without ads • Original shows from YouTube creators https://www.youtube.com/premium
Instagram is a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures. Snap a photo with your iPhone, choose a filter to transform the look and feel, send to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr – it’s all as easy as pie. It’s photo sharing, reinvented.
WeChat is a complete mobile communication and private social networking app. Free, cross-platform, and full-featured, WeChat is the best way to keep in touch with everyone you care about.
Features WECHAT OUT CALLS: Make calls to landlines and mobile around the globe at low rates (in certain regions only). • MULTIMEDIA MESSAGING: Send video, image, text, and voice messages. • GROUP CHAT & CALLS: Create group chats with up to 500 people and group video calls up to 9 people. • FREE VOICE & VIDEO CALLS: High-quality free calls to anywhere in the world. • STICKER GALLERY: Hundreds of free, fun, animated stickers to express your feelings from some of your favorite cartoons and movies. • MOMENTS: Share your best moments on your personal photo stream. • BETTER PRIVACY: WeChat gives you the highest level of control over your privacy. It's the only messaging app to be certified by TRUSTe. • MEET NEW FRIENDS: Use “Friend Radar”, “People Nearby” and “Shake” to meet others. • REALTIME LOCATION: Instead of having to tell others where you are, just use real-time location sharing. • LANGUAGE SUPPORT: Localized in 20 different languages and can translate messages to any language. • AND MORE: Desktop app, custom wallpapers, custom notifications, and Official Accounts.
Discord is a communication platform used by various communities. It provides a space for regular interaction and allows private discussions. Discord servers are organized into topic-focused channels for easy collaboration and conversation. It offers voice channels for effortless communication and uses low latency voice and video technology.
Discord supports text, voice, and video communication. Users can video greet, live-stream games, host group screen shares, and create custom emojis from images. Users can share a range of content and pin preferred items for easy access.
Discord suits small groups and large fandoms. It offers customizable moderation tools and permission levels for user-specific group organization. Users can assign moderator roles, grant special members access to private channels, and manage their community effectively.
Gen Y - Millenials
Snapchat is the fastest way to share a moment with friends.
You control how long your friends can view your message – simply set the timer up to ten seconds and send.
They’ll have that long to view your message and then it disappears forever. We’ll let you know if they take a screenshot!
Build relationships, collect points, and view your best friends. Snapchat is instantly fun and insanely playful. Show your friends how clever you can be and enjoy the lightness of being!
WhatsApp is an iPhone and Android messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS.
In addition to basic messaging WhatsApp users can create groups, send each other unlimited images, video and audio media messages.
You can use WhatsApp on your web browser too. WhatsApp Web is simply an extension of your phone: the web browser mirrors conversations and messages from your mobile device -- this means all of your messages still live on your phone.
To connect your web browser to your WhatsApp client, simply open https://web.whatsapp.com in your browser. You will see a QR code --- scan the code inside of WhatsApp, and you’re ready to go. You have now paired WhatsApp on your phone with the WhatsApp web client. Your phone needs to stay connected to the internet for our web client to work, and please make sure to install the latest version of WhatsApp on your phone.
Telegram is a messaging app created by former VK creators with a focus on speed and security. It’s superfast, simple and free. It is like SMS, but more powerful.
You can send messages, photos and videos to people who are in your phone contacts (and have Telegram). You can also create groups for up to 200000 people or channels for unlimited subscribers.
Your chats are not encrypted by default, which enables other people to see what you are writing. You can enable a "Secret Chat" to enable end-to-end encryption.
Telegram offers a Premium plan too: by subscribing to Telegram Premium, users unlock doubled limits, 4 GB file uploads, faster downloads, exclusive stickers and reactions, improved chat management – and a whole lot more. At the same time, all existing features that users have come to expect and rely on for nearly a decade remain free. Moreover, non-premium users will be able to enjoy some of Premium's benefits: for example, download the extra-large documents and view stickers sent by premium users, as well as tap to increase counters on premium reactions that were already added to a message. There are different prices for the Premium subscription based on your country, also if you buy it via the @premiumbot you don't have to pay the app store fees.
Telegram's security model has received notable criticism by cryptography experts. They criticized the general security model of permanently storing all contacts, messages and media together with their decryption keys on its servers by default and by not enabling end-to-end encryption for messages by default.
Telegram's client-side code is open-source software, whereas its server-side code is closed-source and proprietary. The service also provides public APIs with which developers can access the same functionality as Telegram's official apps to build their own messaging applications.
Telegram also provides a bot API for programmers to create different kinds of Telegram bots. Bots are simply Telegram accounts operated by software – not people – and they'll often have AI features. They can do anything – teach, play, search, broadcast, remind, connect, integrate with other services, or even pass commands to the Internet of Things.
Gen X
Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.
Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.
Facebook Messenger is a faster way to message. Reach friends right on their phones, get and send messages fast, message everyone at once and more.
Top Features: • Message friends, groups of friends or anyone in your mobile contacts • Map your location, find your friends and make plans on the go • Get mobile notifications so you never miss a message • Include photos so friends can see what you're doing
Twitter, currently rebranding to X, is an online social media and social networking service operated by the American company X Corp., the successor of Twitter, Inc.
With X, you can:
- Post content for the world to see and join public conversations
- Stay up to date on breaking news
- Go live with Spaces for audio or stream live video
- Communicate privately with Direct Messages
- Subscribe to Blue to expand your reach, get a blue checkmark, and more
- Earn a living creating exclusive content for your paid subscribers and share in the ad revenue generated in replies to your posts
- Create and join Communities around topics and interests, from sports to music to technology
- Upload and watch videos up to 3 hours in length
- Write and read long form posts
- Connect directly with your customers to help your business grow
Skype is the most popular free voice-over IP and instant messaging service globally. It allows users to text, video and voice call over the internet. Users can also call landlines and mobiles at competitive rates using Skype credit, premium accounts and subscriptions.
Features: · Find all of your friends and family in an instant - search for friends, groups, conversations or new contacts on Skype. With over 300 million people using Skype, you’re bound to bump into someone you know. · Call your world for free - Free voice and video calls let you talk to your heart’s content with all your friends and family on Skype. · Make low cost calls to mobiles and landlines - Keep in touch with anyone even if they’re not on Skype, with low cost calls to mobiles and landlines. · Instantly get in touch - No matter where you are, your friends are always available with free instant messaging. · Share moments - Send photos, record and send video messages, share your location or share web content with the people who matter most. · Available for Apple Watch - see your notifications and chat on your Apple Watch so you’re always part of the conversation. · Skype is available everywhere - on smartphones, tablets, Macs, PCs, and even TVs. Whatever your friends or family use, Skype is there. Simple.
The Skype that you use at home is great for smaller businesses of up to 20 employees. It is free to use, unless you want to buy credit to make calls to landlines and mobiles.
Skype for Business lets you add up to 250 people to online meetings, gives you enterprise-grade security, allows you to manage employee accounts, and is integrated into your Office apps. It costs from $2 per month per user.
Business communication
Zoom is a video communication company that provides remote conferencing services that combines video conferencing, online meetings, chat, and mobile collaboration.
Zoom offers a way to start or join a 100-person meeting face-to-face video, screen sharing and instant messaging
Key Features: --Best video meeting quality --Best screen sharing quality --Screen share directly from your device --Screen share photos, web, and Dropbox or Box files --Screen share apps via iOS AirPlay --Co-annotate during screen sharing --Real-time whiteboard collaboration --Send group text, images, and audio files from mobile and desktop --Contact availability status --Easily invite phone, email, or company contacts --Join as interactive participant or view-only webinar attendee --Works over WiFi, 4G/LTE, and 3G networks --Safe driving mode while on the road --Connect with anyone on iPad, iPhone, other mobile devices, Windows, Mac, Zoom Rooms, H.323/SIP room systems, and telephones
Slack is a unified communication platform built with an optimized workflow to keep modern teams focused and productive. A familiar chat interface facilitates discussions while advanced features are easily exposed based on context. Hover over a message to see more options such as emoji reactions, sharing and pinning features and more. A navigation bar provides easy access to key features including a powerful search to find important discussions, files and more.
Conversations are organized across dedicated Channels, neatly arranged in a responsive sidebar with collapsible sections. These Channels are highly configurable and allow for flexibility in working with various teams but can also be shared externally, making it easy to hold discussions with partners and clients.
LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking service, mainly used for professional networking. As of March 2016, LinkedIn has more than 433 million users, out of which more than 106 million are active, spanning more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.
The LinkedIn app makes it easier to connect to the people and things that matter in your professional world. Build and nurture your professional network, stay up to date with the latest business and industry news, and find your next dream job.
It all starts with your LinkedIn profile. It’s more than just your professional resume — it shows the world who you are and what you’ve accomplished in your career. But that’s just the beginning:
- Search for people, jobs, companies and groups
- Get updates from the people, publishers and companies that matter to your professional success
- Tell your story with your professional profile and build your professional brand
- Update your professional profile right from the app to polish your resume wherever you are
- Grow your professional network and keep in touch
- Reach out to people and view their professional profiles
- Share articles to establish yourself as a thought leader
- Follow companies to get job postings, business updates, and suggestions to connect with people you may know
Microsoft Teams is the chat-based workspace in Office 365 that integrates your team's people, content, and tools to be increase engagement and efficacy.
All your team conversations, files, meetings, and apps can be found in a single workspace you share with your coworkers and peers. Teams is also supported across Android, iOS, Windows, and the web.
Features: • Easily manage your team’s projects with file editing and sharing on the go • Connect face-to-face with HD audio and video, and join meetings from almost anywhere • Chat privately, in selected groups, or communicate with the entire team in dedicated channels • @ mention individual team members, or the whole team at once, to get your colleagues’ attention • Support for saving important conversations and custom notification patterns • Search your chats and team conversations to quickly find what you need • Get enterprise-level security and compliance alongside the rest of the Office 365 suite
Yammer is revolutionizing internal corporate communications by bringing together all of a company’s employees inside a private and secure enterprise social network. Although Yammer is as easy to use as consumer products like Facebook or Twitter, it’s enterprise-grade software is built from the ground up to drive business objectives.
Yammer is free for your whole company, enabling users to communicate, collaborate, and share more easily and efficiently than ever before. It reduces the need for meetings, increases communication across silos, surfaces pockets of expertise and connects remote workers.
Sign up and start using Yammer in less than 60 seconds. All you need is a company email address.
Cisco Webex is the leading enterprise solution for video conferencing, online meetings, screen share, and webinars.
• Share documents, presentations, and applications. • Take advantage of integrated voice conferencing. • Record meetings for those who missed the session. • Share streaming video and up to six webcams.
Questions / Forums
People come to Quora to ask questions about any subject, read high quality knowledge that's personalized and relevant to them, and share their own knowledge with others. Quora is a place to share knowledge and better understand the world.
- Ask a question and get helpful answers
- Follow topics and browse quality content
- Learn from credible people with first-hand knowledge
- Answer questions and share your knowledge with the world
4chan is a simple image-based bulletin board where anyone can post comments and share images. There are boards dedicated to a variety of topics, from Japanese animation and culture to videogames, music, and photography. Users do not need to register an account before participating in the community. Feel free to click on a board that interests you and jump right in!
Reddit (stylized in its logo as 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. Posts are organized by subject into user-created boards called "subreddits", which cover a variety of topics including news, science, movies, video games, music, books, fitness, food, and image-sharing. Submissions with more up-votes appear towards the top of their subreddit and, if they receive enough votes, ultimately on the site's front page. Despite strict rules prohibiting harassment, Reddit's administrators spend considerable resources on moderating the site.
Alternatives : IRC, XMPP/Jabber
HexChat is an IRC client based on XChat for Linux , but unlike XChat it’s completely free for both Windows and Unix-like systems. HexChat was originally called XChat-WDK which in turn was a successor of freakschat.
Features
Easy to use and customizable interface Cross-platform on Windows, OS X, and Unix-like OSes Highly scriptable with Python and Perl Translated in multiple languages Fully open source and actively developed Multi-network with auto-connect, join, and identify Spellcheck, Proxies, SASL, DCC support and more
Pidgin is a chat program which lets you log into accounts on multiple chat networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on XMPP and sitting in an IRC channel at the same time.
Pidgin is compatible with the following chat networks out of the box: Jabber/XMPP, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE, and Zephyr. It can support many more with plugins.
Pidgin supports many features of these chat networks, such as file transfers, away messages, buddy icons, custom smileys, and typing notifications. Numerous plugins also extend Pidgin’s functionality above and beyond the standard features.
Pidgin is free and contains no ads. All our code is open source and licensed under the GNU General Public License. This means you can get Pidgin’s underlying code and modify it to suit your needs, as long as you publish the changes you make for everyone to benefit from as well.
