At a time when 60% of French people use social networks, with strong habits of consulting mainstream social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it seems that certain habits are tending to change.
But that doesn’t mean people are living more of their lives offline. They are shifting their online presence from general social networking sites to more niche sites that match their interests and encourage online social interaction beyond ‘likes’ and ‘reposts’.
Concretely, sites like Twitch, Discord, Reddit, and TikTok encourage people to interact with content that interests them and connect with others, whether they’re talking about food, games, movies, or TV shows. To focus on their interests, Internet users turn to these social micro-networks, which focus on a single topic and have fewer users with whom they can interact.
- LinkedIn is a mainstream micro-social network because its sole purpose is to connect with people on professional topics.
- BeReal is another example of a micro-social network, as it encourages people to only connect with people they know personally and share information about their lives.
- Nextdoor, another micro-social media network, is a digital space where people share updates on local events.
So how can you create your own micro-social network online? Messaging groups that include both iPhone and Android users can be complicated to manage and follow, and private groups on traditional social media sites exclude people who don’t have an account. So here are two alternatives.
Create a WhatsApp group
In a WhatsApp group, users can add up to 256 people and control who is in the group. Users can send text messages, GIFs, photos, videos, and documents. And as WhatsApp is available on Play Store and App Store, the app is available for iOS and Android.
WhatsApp is also ideal for cross-border social groups, as messaging and international calls on WhatsApp use your device’s internet connection instead of minutes.
A WhatsApp group is best suited for people who want to imitate a group text without the technical difficulties that Apple users may encounter when messaging an Android device.
Create a photo album to share
If you want to share photos with a group of relatives or friends, consider creating a shared photo album on Google Photos.
Third-party apps – rather than apps tied to the device’s operating system – are better suited to groups of people who mix iPhones and Android smartphones. Indeed, Apple insists that only its products, applications and services work best within the ecosystem of its devices. So, sharing Apple photo album with Android users might be difficult.
Google Photos works well on iOS; users can share an album with multiple people. Each person added can upload photos, view photos someone else has uploaded, and leave comments on each photo.
PhotoCircle is another photo sharing app, but it focuses on sharing photos taken during an event or occasion. For example, if you are attending a conference, you can share photos with guests and attendees. If you work with people spread across the country, a shared PhotoCircle album makes it easy to share project-related photos.
Users can leave comments on photos shared in a PhotoCircle album, all photos are saved in the PhotoCircle cloud, and only people with access to the album can see the snaps. Shared photo albums and photo sharing apps are best suited for people who prefer sharing photos over sending messages, making calls, or sharing videos.
Source: “ZDNet.com”
