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 [1] page ranking |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Avaaz | Global community and political activism | 2007 | 69,000,000 | Open | N/A |
Bebo | General | 2005 [2] | 117,000,000 [3] | Open to people 13 and older | 4,169 [4] |
BlackPlanet | Black Americans | 1999 | 20,000,000 [5] | Open | 7,193 [6] |
Blind | Employees | 2013 | 2,000,000 [7] | Open with verified work email | 43,680 [8] |
Busuu | Language learning community (headquartered in Madrid, Spain) | 2008 | 12,000,000[ citation needed] | Open | 8,049 [9] |
Buzznet | Music and pop-culture | 2005 | 10,000,000 [10] | Open | 6,955 [11] |
CafeMom | Mothers | 2006 | 1,250,000 [12] | Open to moms and moms-to-be | 1,293 [13] |
Care2 | Green living, social activism, animal rights | 1998 | 9,961,947 [14] | Open | 1,930 [15] |
CaringBridge | Not for profit providing free websites that connect family and friends during a serious health event, care and recovery. [16] | 1997 | 9,500,000 [17] | Open to people 18 and older [18] | 4,279 [19] |
Classmates.com | School, college, work and the military | 1995 | 50,000,000 [20] | Open to people 18 and older [21] | 3,284 [22] |
CouchSurfing | Worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the communities they visit | 2003 | 18,000,000 [23] | Open | 2,231 [24] |
Cyworld | General, popular in South Korea | 1999 | 24,000,000 [25] | Open | 1,616 [26] |
delicious | Social bookmarking allowing users to locate and save websites that match their own interests | 2003 | 8,822,921 [27] | Open | 436 [28] |
DeviantArt | Art community | 2000 | 22,000,000 [29] | Open to people 13 and older | 131 [30] |
Duolingo | Language learning community and forums [31] | 2011[ citation needed] | 500,000,000 [32] | Open to all ages. Forums open to people 13 and older [33] | 547 [34] |
Draugiem.lv | General (primarily Latvia, Lithuania, and Hungary) | 2004 | 2,600,466 [35] | Invitation only | 2,698 [36] |
Douban | Chinese Web 2.0 website providing user review and recommendation services for movies, books, and music | 2005 | 46,850,000 [37] | Open | 106 [38] |
DXY.cn | Chinese online community for physicians, health care professionals, pharmacies and facilities | 2000[ citation needed] | 2,000,000 [39] | Open | 8,367 [40] |
Edmodo | Social learning network for schools | 2008 | 50,000,000+ [41] | Open to students, teachers and parents | 2,367 [42] |
English, baby! | Students and teachers of English as a second language | 2000 | 1,600,000 [43] | Open | 29,585 [44] |
General | 2004 | 2.8×10 9 [45] | Open to people 13 and older | 3 [46] | |
Fetlife | People who are into BDSM | 2008 | 1,200,000 [47] | Open to people "of legal age to see adult content" | 4,131 [48] |
Fishbrain | Mobile social network, fishing | 2010 | 2,200,000 [49] | Open | 436,164 [50] |
Flixster | Movies | 2007 | 63,000,000 [51] | Open to people 13 and older | 4,012 [52] |
Flickr | Photo sharing, commenting, photography related networking, worldwide | 2004 | 32,000,000 [53] | Open | 48 [54] |
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 [55] |
Fotolog | Photoblogging, popular in South America and Spain | 2002 | 20,000,000 [56] | Open | 3,168 [57] |
Foursquare | Location-based mobile social network | 2009 | 20,000,000 [58] | Open | 817 [59] |
Friendster | General, popular in Southeast Asia and formerly in the western world | 2002 | 90,000,000 [60] | Open to people 16 and older | 12,167 [61] |
Gaia Online | Anime and games, popular in the US, Canada and Europe, and moderately popular in Asia | 2003 | 23,523,663 [62] | Open to people 13 and older | 6,277 [63] |
Geni.com | Families, genealogy | 2007 | 15,000,000 [64] | Open | 5,958 [65] |
GetGlue | Social network for entertainment | 2008 | 2,000,000 [66] | Open | 3,735 [67] |
Goodreads | Library cataloging, book lovers | 2006 | 90,000,000 [68] | Open | 327 [69] |
GrabCAD | GrabCAD Community is the largest online CAD library, design and 3D printing tutorials, and a network of additive professionals | 2009 | 11,000,000 [70] | Open | N/A |
Habbo | General for teens. Over 31 communities worldwide. Chat room and user profiles. | 2000 | 268,000,000 [71] [72] [73] | Open to people 13 and older | 15,255 [74] |
hi5 | General, popular in Nepal, Mongolia, Thailand, Romania, Jamaica, Central Africa, Portugal and Latin America | 2003 | 80,000,000 [75] | Open to people 13 and older | 902 [76] |
Hyves | General, mostly popular in the Netherlands. | 2004 | 10,097,000 [77] | Open | 2,243 [78] |
General | 2010 | 2×10 9 [79] | Open | 38[ citation needed] | |
Itsmy | Mobile community worldwide, blogging, friends, personal TV-shows | 2008 | 2,500,000 [80] | 770,100 [81] | |
iWiW | Hungary | 2002 | 4,000,000 [82] | Invite-only | 3,831 [83] |
Jiepang | Location-based mobile social network, in the Chinese language | 2010 | 3,000,000 [84] | Open | 14,790 [85] |
Kiwibox | General | 1999 | 2,400,000 [86] | Open to people 13 and older | 104,563 [87] |
Kobo | Reading platform and social network | 2009 | 14,500,000 [88] | Open | 7,277 [89] |
Koofers | Social studying network for college students | 2008 | 1,000,000 [90] | Open | 97,090 [91] |
Last.fm | Music | 2002 | 30,000,000 [92] | Open | 772 [93] |
LibraryThing | Book lovers | 2005 | 1,300,000 [94] | Open to people 13 and older | 10,800 [95] |
LinguaLeo | Online English language learning website, popular among the Russian-speaking diaspora | 2010 | 3,749,061 [96] | Open | 7,480 [97] |
Business and professional networking | 2003 | 774,000,000 [98] | Open to people 18 and older | 12 [99] | |
LiveJournal | Blogging, popular in Russia and among the Russian-speaking diaspora abroad | 1999 | 17,564,977 [100] | Open ( OpenID) | 115 [101] |
Livemocha | Online language learning | 2007 | 5,000,000 [102] | Open | 4,100 [103] |
Mastodon | An open-source, self-hosted and globally interconnected microblogging community | 2016 | 8,700,000 [104] | Open, depends on the instance | NA |
mixi | Japan | 2000 | 24,323,160 [105] | Open | 232 [106] |
Miiverse | Social Network for Nintendo's Wii U home console and 3DS handheld family where users can post about games and ask for help on a particular game | 2012 | 4,500,000 | Nintendo Network members only | NA |
MocoSpace | Mobile community, worldwide | 2005 | 3,000,000 [107] | Open to people 14 and older | 9,882 [108] |
MyHeritage | Family-oriented social network service | 2003 | 30,000,000 [109] | Open | 3,756 [110] |
MyLife | Locating friends and family, keeping in touch (formerly Reunion.com) | 2002 | 51,000,000 [111] | Open | 1,765 [112] |
Myspace | General | 2003 | 30,000,000+ [113] [114] | Open to ages 13 and older | 161 [115] |
Nasza-klasa.pl | School, college and friends, popular in Poland | 2006 | 11,000,000 [116] | Open | 75,145 [117] |
Netlog | General, popular in Europe, Turkey, the Arab world and Québec, Canada. Formerly known as Facebox, Bingbox and Redbox. [118] | 1999 | 95,000,000 [119] | Open to people 13 and older | 2,621 [120] |
Nexopia | Canada | 2003 | 1,400,000 [121] | Open to people 13 and older [122] | 25,241 [123] |
Odnoklassniki | Connecting with old classmates, popular in Russia and former Soviet republics | 2006 | 45,000,000 [124] | Open | 65 [125] |
Open Diary | First online blogging community, founded in 1998 | 1998 | 5,000,000 [126] | Open to people 13 and older | 28,134 [127] |
Plaxo | Aggregator | 2002 | 50,000,000 [128] | Open | 5,310 [129] |
Ravelry | Knitting and crochet | 2007 | 6,700,000 [130] | Open | 5,189 [131] |
Social news, link sharing and commenting | 2005 | 50,000,000 [132] | Open | 8 [133] | |
Renren | Significant site in China, known as 校内 (Xiaonei) until August 2009. | 2005 | 160,000,000 [134] | Open | 95 [135] |
Sina Weibo | Social microblogging site in China | 2009 | 300,000,000 [136] | Open | 28 [137] |
Skyrock | Social network in French-speaking world | 2002 | 22,000,000 [138] | Open | 710 [139] |
Sonico.com | General, popular in Latin America and Spanish and Portuguese speaking regions | 2007 | 50,000,000 [140] [141] | Open to people 13 and older | 2,676 [142] |
SoundCloud | Repository of original music pieces and networking | 2008 | 10,000,000 [143] | Open | 299 [144] |
Stack Overflow | Question and answer knowledge market site for programmers | 2008 | 16,000,000 [145] | Open to people 13 and older | 41 [146] |
Steemit | Blockchain-based social networking | 2016 | 1,300,000 [147] | Open | 5,577 [148] |
StudiVZ | University students, mostly in German-speaking countries. School students and those out of education sign up via its partner sites SchülerVZ and MeinVZ. | 2005 | 17,000,000 [149] | N/A | |
Tagged | General | 2004 | 100,000,000 [150] | Open | 288 [151] |
Taringa! | General (primarily Argentina) | 2004 | 11,000,000 [152] | Open to people 13 and older | 214 [153] |
TravBuddy.com | Travel | 2005 | 1,588,000 [154] | Open to people 18 and older | 21,523 [155] |
General, microblogging, RSS, updates | 2006 | 330,000,000 [156] | Open to all ages [157] | 12 [158] | |
Tylted | Mobile social game network [159] | 2007 | 3,000,000 [160] | Open to people 14 and older | 737,508 [161] |
Vkontakte | General, including music upload, listening and search. Popular in Russia and former Soviet republics. | 2006 | 208,833,674 [162] | Open | 38 [163] |
Vampirefreaks.com | Gothic and industrial subculture | 1999 | 1,931,049 [164] | Open to users 13 and over | 21,052 [165] |
Viadeo | Global social and campus networking available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese | 2004 | 35,000,000 [166] | Open/lift | 435 [167] |
WAYN | Travel and lifestyle | 2003 | 10,000,000 [73] | Open to people 18 and older | 1,367 [168] |
We Heart It | Image-based social network | 2008 | 25,000,000 [169] | Open to ages 13 and older | 823 [170] |
WeeWorld | Teenagers – 10 to 17 | 2000 | 30,000,000 [171] | Open to ages 13 and older | 18,317 [172] |
Xanga | Blogs and "metro" areas | 1999 | 27,000,000 [173] | Open | 3,943 [174] |
Business (primarily Europe, specifically Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) | 2003 | 11,100,000 [175] | Open | 270 [176] |
Name | Description or focus | Date launched | Date closed | Peak registered users | Registration |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Friends Reunited | UK-based, school, college, work, sport and streets | July 2000 | 26 February 2016 [177] | 23,800,000 (2010) | Open to people 13 and older |
Orkut | General, owned by Google Inc. Popular in India and Brazil. [178] | 22 January 2004 | 30 September 2014 | 100,000,000 [179] | Open to people 18 and older, ( Google login) |
Raptr | Video games | 2008 | July 2018 | 25,664 [180] | Open |
StumbleUpon | Stumble through websites that match users' selected interests | 2001 | June 30, 2018 | 20,000,000 [181] | Open |
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 [1] page ranking |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Avaaz | Global community and political activism | 2007 | 69,000,000 | Open | N/A |
Bebo | General | 2005 [2] | 117,000,000 [3] | Open to people 13 and older | 4,169 [4] |
BlackPlanet | Black Americans | 1999 | 20,000,000 [5] | Open | 7,193 [6] |
Blind | Employees | 2013 | 2,000,000 [7] | Open with verified work email | 43,680 [8] |
Busuu | Language learning community (headquartered in Madrid, Spain) | 2008 | 12,000,000[ citation needed] | Open | 8,049 [9] |
Buzznet | Music and pop-culture | 2005 | 10,000,000 [10] | Open | 6,955 [11] |
CafeMom | Mothers | 2006 | 1,250,000 [12] | Open to moms and moms-to-be | 1,293 [13] |
Care2 | Green living, social activism, animal rights | 1998 | 9,961,947 [14] | Open | 1,930 [15] |
CaringBridge | Not for profit providing free websites that connect family and friends during a serious health event, care and recovery. [16] | 1997 | 9,500,000 [17] | Open to people 18 and older [18] | 4,279 [19] |
Classmates.com | School, college, work and the military | 1995 | 50,000,000 [20] | Open to people 18 and older [21] | 3,284 [22] |
CouchSurfing | Worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the communities they visit | 2003 | 18,000,000 [23] | Open | 2,231 [24] |
Cyworld | General, popular in South Korea | 1999 | 24,000,000 [25] | Open | 1,616 [26] |
delicious | Social bookmarking allowing users to locate and save websites that match their own interests | 2003 | 8,822,921 [27] | Open | 436 [28] |
DeviantArt | Art community | 2000 | 22,000,000 [29] | Open to people 13 and older | 131 [30] |
Duolingo | Language learning community and forums [31] | 2011[ citation needed] | 500,000,000 [32] | Open to all ages. Forums open to people 13 and older [33] | 547 [34] |
Draugiem.lv | General (primarily Latvia, Lithuania, and Hungary) | 2004 | 2,600,466 [35] | Invitation only | 2,698 [36] |
Douban | Chinese Web 2.0 website providing user review and recommendation services for movies, books, and music | 2005 | 46,850,000 [37] | Open | 106 [38] |
DXY.cn | Chinese online community for physicians, health care professionals, pharmacies and facilities | 2000[ citation needed] | 2,000,000 [39] | Open | 8,367 [40] |
Edmodo | Social learning network for schools | 2008 | 50,000,000+ [41] | Open to students, teachers and parents | 2,367 [42] |
English, baby! | Students and teachers of English as a second language | 2000 | 1,600,000 [43] | Open | 29,585 [44] |
General | 2004 | 2.8×10 9 [45] | Open to people 13 and older | 3 [46] | |
Fetlife | People who are into BDSM | 2008 | 1,200,000 [47] | Open to people "of legal age to see adult content" | 4,131 [48] |
Fishbrain | Mobile social network, fishing | 2010 | 2,200,000 [49] | Open | 436,164 [50] |
Flixster | Movies | 2007 | 63,000,000 [51] | Open to people 13 and older | 4,012 [52] |
Flickr | Photo sharing, commenting, photography related networking, worldwide | 2004 | 32,000,000 [53] | Open | 48 [54] |
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 [55] |
Fotolog | Photoblogging, popular in South America and Spain | 2002 | 20,000,000 [56] | Open | 3,168 [57] |
Foursquare | Location-based mobile social network | 2009 | 20,000,000 [58] | Open | 817 [59] |
Friendster | General, popular in Southeast Asia and formerly in the western world | 2002 | 90,000,000 [60] | Open to people 16 and older | 12,167 [61] |
Gaia Online | Anime and games, popular in the US, Canada and Europe, and moderately popular in Asia | 2003 | 23,523,663 [62] | Open to people 13 and older | 6,277 [63] |
Geni.com | Families, genealogy | 2007 | 15,000,000 [64] | Open | 5,958 [65] |
GetGlue | Social network for entertainment | 2008 | 2,000,000 [66] | Open | 3,735 [67] |
Goodreads | Library cataloging, book lovers | 2006 | 90,000,000 [68] | Open | 327 [69] |
GrabCAD | GrabCAD Community is the largest online CAD library, design and 3D printing tutorials, and a network of additive professionals | 2009 | 11,000,000 [70] | Open | N/A |
Habbo | General for teens. Over 31 communities worldwide. Chat room and user profiles. | 2000 | 268,000,000 [71] [72] [73] | Open to people 13 and older | 15,255 [74] |
hi5 | General, popular in Nepal, Mongolia, Thailand, Romania, Jamaica, Central Africa, Portugal and Latin America | 2003 | 80,000,000 [75] | Open to people 13 and older | 902 [76] |
Hyves | General, mostly popular in the Netherlands. | 2004 | 10,097,000 [77] | Open | 2,243 [78] |
General | 2010 | 2×10 9 [79] | Open | 38[ citation needed] | |
Itsmy | Mobile community worldwide, blogging, friends, personal TV-shows | 2008 | 2,500,000 [80] | 770,100 [81] | |
iWiW | Hungary | 2002 | 4,000,000 [82] | Invite-only | 3,831 [83] |
Jiepang | Location-based mobile social network, in the Chinese language | 2010 | 3,000,000 [84] | Open | 14,790 [85] |
Kiwibox | General | 1999 | 2,400,000 [86] | Open to people 13 and older | 104,563 [87] |
Kobo | Reading platform and social network | 2009 | 14,500,000 [88] | Open | 7,277 [89] |
Koofers | Social studying network for college students | 2008 | 1,000,000 [90] | Open | 97,090 [91] |
Last.fm | Music | 2002 | 30,000,000 [92] | Open | 772 [93] |
LibraryThing | Book lovers | 2005 | 1,300,000 [94] | Open to people 13 and older | 10,800 [95] |
LinguaLeo | Online English language learning website, popular among the Russian-speaking diaspora | 2010 | 3,749,061 [96] | Open | 7,480 [97] |
Business and professional networking | 2003 | 774,000,000 [98] | Open to people 18 and older | 12 [99] | |
LiveJournal | Blogging, popular in Russia and among the Russian-speaking diaspora abroad | 1999 | 17,564,977 [100] | Open ( OpenID) | 115 [101] |
Livemocha | Online language learning | 2007 | 5,000,000 [102] | Open | 4,100 [103] |
Mastodon | An open-source, self-hosted and globally interconnected microblogging community | 2016 | 8,700,000 [104] | Open, depends on the instance | NA |
mixi | Japan | 2000 | 24,323,160 [105] | Open | 232 [106] |
Miiverse | Social Network for Nintendo's Wii U home console and 3DS handheld family where users can post about games and ask for help on a particular game | 2012 | 4,500,000 | Nintendo Network members only | NA |
MocoSpace | Mobile community, worldwide | 2005 | 3,000,000 [107] | Open to people 14 and older | 9,882 [108] |
MyHeritage | Family-oriented social network service | 2003 | 30,000,000 [109] | Open | 3,756 [110] |
MyLife | Locating friends and family, keeping in touch (formerly Reunion.com) | 2002 | 51,000,000 [111] | Open | 1,765 [112] |
Myspace | General | 2003 | 30,000,000+ [113] [114] | Open to ages 13 and older | 161 [115] |
Nasza-klasa.pl | School, college and friends, popular in Poland | 2006 | 11,000,000 [116] | Open | 75,145 [117] |
Netlog | General, popular in Europe, Turkey, the Arab world and Québec, Canada. Formerly known as Facebox, Bingbox and Redbox. [118] | 1999 | 95,000,000 [119] | Open to people 13 and older | 2,621 [120] |
Nexopia | Canada | 2003 | 1,400,000 [121] | Open to people 13 and older [122] | 25,241 [123] |
Odnoklassniki | Connecting with old classmates, popular in Russia and former Soviet republics | 2006 | 45,000,000 [124] | Open | 65 [125] |
Open Diary | First online blogging community, founded in 1998 | 1998 | 5,000,000 [126] | Open to people 13 and older | 28,134 [127] |
Plaxo | Aggregator | 2002 | 50,000,000 [128] | Open | 5,310 [129] |
Ravelry | Knitting and crochet | 2007 | 6,700,000 [130] | Open | 5,189 [131] |
Social news, link sharing and commenting | 2005 | 50,000,000 [132] | Open | 8 [133] | |
Renren | Significant site in China, known as 校内 (Xiaonei) until August 2009. | 2005 | 160,000,000 [134] | Open | 95 [135] |
Sina Weibo | Social microblogging site in China | 2009 | 300,000,000 [136] | Open | 28 [137] |
Skyrock | Social network in French-speaking world | 2002 | 22,000,000 [138] | Open | 710 [139] |
Sonico.com | General, popular in Latin America and Spanish and Portuguese speaking regions | 2007 | 50,000,000 [140] [141] | Open to people 13 and older | 2,676 [142] |
SoundCloud | Repository of original music pieces and networking | 2008 | 10,000,000 [143] | Open | 299 [144] |
Stack Overflow | Question and answer knowledge market site for programmers | 2008 | 16,000,000 [145] | Open to people 13 and older | 41 [146] |
Steemit | Blockchain-based social networking | 2016 | 1,300,000 [147] | Open | 5,577 [148] |
StudiVZ | University students, mostly in German-speaking countries. School students and those out of education sign up via its partner sites SchülerVZ and MeinVZ. | 2005 | 17,000,000 [149] | N/A | |
Tagged | General | 2004 | 100,000,000 [150] | Open | 288 [151] |
Taringa! | General (primarily Argentina) | 2004 | 11,000,000 [152] | Open to people 13 and older | 214 [153] |
TravBuddy.com | Travel | 2005 | 1,588,000 [154] | Open to people 18 and older | 21,523 [155] |
General, microblogging, RSS, updates | 2006 | 330,000,000 [156] | Open to all ages [157] | 12 [158] | |
Tylted | Mobile social game network [159] | 2007 | 3,000,000 [160] | Open to people 14 and older | 737,508 [161] |
Vkontakte | General, including music upload, listening and search. Popular in Russia and former Soviet republics. | 2006 | 208,833,674 [162] | Open | 38 [163] |
Vampirefreaks.com | Gothic and industrial subculture | 1999 | 1,931,049 [164] | Open to users 13 and over | 21,052 [165] |
Viadeo | Global social and campus networking available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese | 2004 | 35,000,000 [166] | Open/lift | 435 [167] |
WAYN | Travel and lifestyle | 2003 | 10,000,000 [73] | Open to people 18 and older | 1,367 [168] |
We Heart It | Image-based social network | 2008 | 25,000,000 [169] | Open to ages 13 and older | 823 [170] |
WeeWorld | Teenagers – 10 to 17 | 2000 | 30,000,000 [171] | Open to ages 13 and older | 18,317 [172] |
Xanga | Blogs and "metro" areas | 1999 | 27,000,000 [173] | Open | 3,943 [174] |
Business (primarily Europe, specifically Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) | 2003 | 11,100,000 [175] | Open | 270 [176] |
Name | Description or focus | Date launched | Date closed | Peak registered users | Registration |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Friends Reunited | UK-based, school, college, work, sport and streets | July 2000 | 26 February 2016 [177] | 23,800,000 (2010) | Open to people 13 and older |
Orkut | General, owned by Google Inc. Popular in India and Brazil. [178] | 22 January 2004 | 30 September 2014 | 100,000,000 [179] | Open to people 18 and older, ( Google login) |
Raptr | Video games | 2008 | July 2018 | 25,664 [180] | Open |
StumbleUpon | Stumble through websites that match users' selected interests | 2001 | June 30, 2018 | 20,000,000 [181] | Open |