This text primarily focuses on the concept of ‘Virtual Communities’. A virtual community[1] refers to a social network[2] of individuals who interact through specific social media[3] platforms, primarily on the internet[5], rather than face to face, and enable wider, more diverse, and dispersed communication networks to form. These communities can be categorized based on various factors like interests, education, and region. These platforms often have a global reach, with some boasting more than a billion users, such as Facebook[4]. Besides social networking, virtual communities also exist for educational purposes, like Edmodo, or based on specific interests like Flixster for movie enthusiasts. Certain platforms are region-specific, popular mostly in certain countries or regions. The interaction in these communities may be for various purposes, but they’re built and sustained by a common interest or goal.
This article needs to be updated.(June 2024) |
This is a list of notable active virtual communities with more than 1 million registered members.
Name | Description or focus | Date launched | Registered users | Registration | Global Alexa page ranking |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Avaaz | Global community and political activism | 2007 | 69,000,000 | Open | N/A |
BlackPlanet | Black Americans | 1999 | 20,000,000 | Open | 7,193 |
Blind | Employees | 2013 | 2,000,000 | Open with verified work email | 43,680 |
Bluesky | Microblogging | 2024 | 34,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | N/A |
Busuu | Language learning community (headquartered in Madrid, Spain) | 2008 | 12,000,000[citation needed] | Open | 8,049 |
Buzznet | Music and pop-culture | 2005 | 10,000,000 | Open | 6,955 |
CafeMom | Mothers | 2006 | 1,250,000 | Open to moms and moms-to-be | 1,293 |
Care2 | Green living, social activism, animal rights | 1998 | 9,961,947 | Open | 1,930 |
CaringBridge | Not for profit providing free websites that connect family and friends during a serious health event, care and recovery. | 1997 | 9,500,000 | Open to people 18 and older | 4,279 |
Classmates.com | School, college, work and the military | 1995 | 50,000,000 | Open to people 18 and older | 3,284 |
CouchSurfing | Worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the communities they visit | 2003 | 18,000,000 | Open | 2,231 |
Cyworld | General, popular in South Korea | 1999 | 24,000,000 | Open | 1,616 |
DeviantArt | Art community | 2000 | 22,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 131 |
Duolingo | Language learning community and forums | 2011[citation needed] | 500,000,000 | Open to all ages. Forums open to people 13 and older | 547 |
Draugiem.lv | General (primarily Latvia, Lithuania, and Hungary) | 2004 | 2,600,466 | Invitation only | 2,698 |
Douban | Chinese Web 2.0 website providing user review and recommendation services for movies, books, and music | 2005 | 46,850,000 | Open | 106 |
DXY.cn | Chinese online community for physicians, health care professionals, pharmacies and facilities | 2000[citation needed] | 2,000,000 | Open | 8,367 |
English, baby! | Students and teachers of English as a second language | 2000 | 1,600,000 | Open | 29,585 |
General | 2004 | 2,800,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 3 | |
Fetlife | People who are into BDSM | 2008 | 11,000,000 | Open to people "of legal age to see adult content" | 4,131 |
Fishbrain | Mobile social network, fishing | 2010 | 2,200,000 | Open | 436,164 |
Flickr | Photo sharing, commenting, photography related networking, worldwide | 2004 | 114,000,000 | Open | 48 |
Fotki | Photo sharing, video hosting, photo contests, journals, forums, flexible privacy protection, friend's feed, audio comments and unlimited custom design integration | 1998 | 1,632,565 | Open | 8,011 |
Foursquare | Location-based mobile social network | 2009 | 20,000,000 | Open | 817 |
Gaia Online | Anime and games, popular in the US, Canada and Europe, and moderately popular in Asia | 2003 | 23,523,663 | Open to people 13 and older | 6,277 |
Geni.com | Families, genealogy | 2007 | 15,000,000 | Open | 5,958 |
Goodreads | Library cataloging, book lovers | 2006 | 90,000,000 | Open | 327 |
GrabCAD | GrabCAD Community is the largest online CAD library, design and 3D printing tutorials, and a network of additive professionals | 2009 | 11,000,000 | Open | N/A |
Habbo | General for teens. Over 31 communities worldwide. Chat room and user profiles. | 2000 | 268,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 15,255 |
HER | Sapphic community app for queer women, non-binary and trans people. Community groups, online events and IRL events. 114 countries. 15 million users. | 2015 | 15,000,000 | Open to people 18 and over | 1,230 |
hi5 | General, popular in Nepal, Mongolia, Thailand, Romania, Jamaica, Central Africa, Portugal and Latin America | 2003 | 80,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 902 |
General | 2010 | 2,000,000,000 | Open | 38[citation needed] | |
Kiwibox | General | 1999 | 2,400,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 104,563 |
Kobo | Reading platform and social network | 2009 | 14,500,000 | Open | 7,277 |
Last.fm | Music | 2002 | 30,000,000 | Open | 772 |
LibraryThing | Book lovers | 2005 | 1,300,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 10,800 |
LinguaLeo | Online English language learning website, popular among the Russian-speaking diaspora | 2010 | 3,749,061 | Open | 7,480 |
Business and professional networking | 2003 | 774,000,000 | Open to people 18 and older | 12 | |
LiveJournal | Blogging, popular in Russia and among the Russian-speaking diaspora abroad | 1999 | 17,564,977 | Open (OpenID) | 115 |
Mastodon | An open-source, self-hosted and globally interconnected microblogging community | 2016 | 8,700,000 | Open, depends on the instance | NA |
mixi | Japan | 2000 | 24,323,160 | Open | 232 |
MocoSpace | Mobile community, worldwide | 2005 | 3,000,000 | Open to people 14 and older | 9,882 |
MyHeritage | Family-oriented social network service | 2003 | 30,000,000 | Open | 3,756 |
MyLife | Locating friends and family, keeping in touch (formerly Reunion.com) | 2002 | 51,000,000 | Open | 1,765 |
Myspace | General | 2003 | 30,000,000+ | Open to ages 13 and older | 161 |
Odnoklassniki | Connecting with old classmates, popular in Russia and former Soviet republics | 2006 | 45,000,000 | Open | 65 |
Open Diary | First online blogging community, founded in 1998 | 1998 | 5,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 28,134 |
Ravelry | Knitting and crochet | 2007 | 6,700,000 | Open | 5,189 |
Social news, link sharing and commenting | 2005 | 73,000,000 | Open | 8 | |
Sina Weibo | Social microblogging site in China | 2009 | 300,000,000 | Open | 28 |
SoundCloud | Repository of original music pieces and networking | 2008 | 10,000,000 | Open | 299 |
Stack Overflow | Question and answer knowledge market site for programmers | 2008 | 16,000,000 | Open to people 13 and older | 41 |
Steemit | Blockchain-based social networking | 2016 | 1,300,000 | Open | 5,577 |
Tagged | General | 2004 | 100,000,000 | Open | 288 |
General, microblogging, RSS, updates | 2006 | 330,000,000 | Open to all ages | 12 | |
Tylted | Mobile social game network | 2007 | 3,000,000 | Open to people 14 and older | 737,508 |
Vkontakte | General, including music upload, listening and search. Popular in Russia and former Soviet republics. | 2006 | 208,833,674 | Open | 38 |
Vampirefreaks.com | Gothic and industrial subculture | 1999 | 1,931,049 | Open to users 13 and over | 21,052 |
Viadeo | Global social and campus networking available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese | 2004 | 35,000,000 | Open/lift | 435 |
Business (primarily Europe, specifically Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) | 2003 | 11,100,000 | Open | 270 |