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 | Open | N/A | |||||||||
Bebo | General | [2] | [3] | Open to people 13 and older | [4] | |||||||
BlackPlanet | Black Americans | [5] | Open | [6] | ||||||||
Blind | Employees | [7] | Open with verified work email | [8] | ||||||||
Busuu | Language learning community (headquartered in Madrid, Spain) | Open | [9] | |||||||||
Buzznet | Music and pop-culture | [10] | Open | [11] | ||||||||
CafeMom | Mothers | [12] | Open to moms and moms-to-be | [13] | ||||||||
Care2 | Green living, social activism, animal rights | [14] | Open | [15] | ||||||||
CaringBridge | Not for profit providing free websites that connect family and friends during a serious health event, care and recovery.[16] | [17] | Open to people 18 and older[18] | [19] | ||||||||
Classmates.com | School, college, work and the military | [20] | Open to people 18 and older[21] | [22] | ||||||||
CouchSurfing | Worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the communities they visit | [23] | Open | [24] | ||||||||
Cyworld | General, popular in South Korea | [25] | Open | [26] | ||||||||
delicious | Social bookmarking allowing users to locate and save websites that match their own interests | [27] | Open | [28] | ||||||||
DeviantArt | Art community | [29] | Open to people 13 and older | [30] | ||||||||
Duolingo | Language learning community and forums[31] | [32] | Open to all ages. Forums open to people 13 and older[33] | [34] | ||||||||
Draugiem.lv | General (primarily Latvia, Lithuania, and Hungary) | [35] | Invitation only | [36] | ||||||||
Douban | Chinese Web 2.0 website providing user review and recommendation services for movies, books, and music | [37] | Open | [38] | ||||||||
DXY.cn | Chinese online community for physicians, health care professionals, pharmacies and facilities | [39] | Open | [40] | ||||||||
Edmodo | Social learning network for schools | +[41] | Open to students, teachers and parents | [42] | ||||||||
English, baby! | Students and teachers of English as a second language | [43] | Open | [44] | ||||||||
General | [45] | Open to people 13 and older | [46] | - | Familo | Mobile family locator app | [47] | Open | NA --> | |||
Fetlife | People who are into BDSM | [48] | Open to people "of legal age to see adult content" | [49] | ||||||||
Fishbrain | Mobile social network, fishing | [50] | Open | [51] | ||||||||
Flixster | Movies | [52] | Open to people 13 and older | [53] | ||||||||
Flickr | Photo sharing, commenting, photography related networking, worldwide | [54] | Open | [55] | ||||||||
Fotki | Photo sharing, video hosting, photo contests, journals, forums, flexible privacy protection, friend's feed, audio comments and unlimited custom design integration | Open | [56] | |||||||||
Fotolog | Photoblogging, popular in South America and Spain | [57] | Open | [58] | ||||||||
Foursquare | Location-based mobile social network | [59] | Open | [60] | ||||||||
Friendster | General, popular in Southeast Asia and formerly in the western world | [61] | Open to people 16 and older | [62] | ||||||||
Gaia Online | Anime and games, popular in the US, Canada and Europe, and moderately popular in Asia | [63] | Open to people 13 and older | [64] | ||||||||
Geni.com | Families, genealogy | [65] | Open | [66] | ||||||||
GetGlue | Social network for entertainment | [67] | Open | [68] | ||||||||
Goodreads | Library cataloging, book lovers | [69] | Open | [70] | ||||||||
GrabCAD | GrabCAD Community is the largest online CAD library, design and 3D printing tutorials, and a network of additive professionals | [71] | Open | N/A | ||||||||
Habbo | General for teens. Over 31 communities worldwide. Chat room and user profiles. | [72] [73] [74] | Open to people 13 and older | [75] | ||||||||
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 | 15million [76] | Open to people 18 and over | 1,230 | |||||||
hi5 | General, popular in Nepal, Mongolia, Thailand, Romania, Jamaica, Central Africa, Portugal and Latin America | [77] | Open to people 13 and older | [78] | ||||||||
Hyves | General, mostly popular in the Netherlands. | [79] | Open | [80] | ||||||||
General | [81] | Open | ||||||||||
Itsmy | Mobile community worldwide, blogging, friends, personal TV-shows | 2008 | [82] | [83] | ||||||||
iWiW | Hungary | [84] | Invite-only | [85] | ||||||||
Jiepang | Location-based mobile social network, in the Chinese language | [86] | Open | [87] | ||||||||
Kiwibox | General | [88] | Open to people 13 and older | [89] | ||||||||
Kobo | Reading platform and social network | [90] | Open | [91] | ||||||||
Koofers | Social studying network for college students | [92] | Open | [93] | ||||||||
Last.fm | Music | [94] | Open | [95] | ||||||||
LibraryThing | Book lovers | [96] | Open to people 13 and older | [97] | ||||||||
LinguaLeo | Online English language learning website, popular among the Russian-speaking diaspora | [98] | Open | [99] | ||||||||
Business and professional networking | [100] | Open to people 18 and older | [101] | |||||||||
LiveJournal | Blogging, popular in Russia and among the Russian-speaking diaspora abroad | [102] | Open (OpenID) | [103] | ||||||||
Livemocha | Online language learning | 2007 | [104] | Open | [105] | |||||||
Mastodon | An open-source, self-hosted and globally interconnected microblogging community | 2016 | [106] | Open, depends on the instance | NA | |||||||
mixi | Japan | [107] | Open | [108] | ||||||||
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 | Nintendo Network members only | NA | |||||||||
MocoSpace | Mobile community, worldwide | 2005 | [109] | Open to people 14 and older | [110] | |||||||
MyHeritage | Family-oriented social network service | 2003 | [111] | Open | [112] | |||||||
MyLife | Locating friends and family, keeping in touch (formerly Reunion.com) | 2002 | [113] | Open | [114] | |||||||
Myspace | General | +[115] [116] | Open to ages 13 and older | [117] | ||||||||
Nasza-klasa.pl | School, college and friends, popular in Poland | 2006 | [118] | Open | [119] | |||||||
Netlog | General, popular in Europe, Turkey, the Arab world and Québec, Canada. Formerly known as Facebox, Bingbox and Redbox.[120] | 1999 | [121] | Open to people 13 and older | [122] | |||||||
Nexopia | Canada | 2003 | [123] | Open to people 13 and older[124] | [125] | |||||||
Odnoklassniki | Connecting with old classmates, popular in Russia and former Soviet republics | 2006 | [126] | Open | [127] | |||||||
Open Diary | First online blogging community, founded in 1998 | [128] | Open to people 13 and older | [129] | ||||||||
Plaxo | Aggregator | [130] | Open | [131] | ||||||||
Ravelry | Knitting and crochet | 2007 | [132] | Open | [133] | |||||||
Social news, link sharing and commenting | 2005 | [134] | Open | [135] | ||||||||
Renren | Significant site in China, known as Chinese: 校内 (Xiaonei) until August 2009. | 2005 | [136] | Open | [137] | |||||||
Sina Weibo | Social microblogging site in China | [138] | Open | [139] | ||||||||
Skyrock | Social network in French-speaking world | 2002 | [140] | Open | [141] | |||||||
Sonico.com | General, popular in Latin America and Spanish and Portuguese speaking regions | 2007 | [142] [143] | Open to people 13 and older | [144] | |||||||
SoundCloud | Repository of original music pieces and networking | 2008 | [145] | Open | [146] | |||||||
Stack Overflow | Question and answer knowledge market site for programmers | 2008 | [147] | Open to people 13 and older | [148] | |||||||
Steemit | Blockchain-based social networking | 2016 | [149] | Open | [150] | |||||||
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 | [151] | N/A | ||||||||
Tagged | General | 2004 | [152] | Open | [153] | |||||||
Taringa! | General (primarily Argentina) | 2004 | [154] | Open to people 13 and older | [155] | |||||||
TravBuddy.com | Travel | [156] | Open to people 18 and older | [157] | ||||||||
General, microblogging, RSS, updates | [158] | Open to all ages[159] | [160] | |||||||||
Tylted | Mobile social game network[161] | [162] | Open to people 14 and older | [163] | ||||||||
Vkontakte | General, including music upload, listening and search. Popular in Russia and former Soviet republics. | [164] | Open | [165] | ||||||||
Vampirefreaks.com | Gothic and industrial subculture | [166] | Open to users 13 and over | [167] | ||||||||
Viadeo | Global social and campus networking available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese | 2004 | [168] | Open/lift | [169] | |||||||
WAYN | Travel and lifestyle | Open to people 18 and older | [170] | |||||||||
We Heart It | Image-based social network | [171] | Open to ages 13 and older | [172] | ||||||||
WeeWorld | Teenagers10 to 17 | 2000 | [173] | Open to ages 13 and older | [174] | |||||||
Xanga | Blogs and "metro" areas | [175] | Open | [176] | ||||||||
Business (primarily Europe, specifically Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) | [177] | Open | [178] |
Name | Description or focus | Date launched | Date closed | Peak registered users | Registration | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Friends Reunited | UK-based, school, college, work, sport and streets | [179] | (2010) | Open to people 13 and older | ||
Orkut | General, owned by Google Inc. Popular in India and Brazil.[180] | [181] | Open to people 18 and older, (Google login) | |||
Raptr | Video games | 2008 | July 2018 | [182] | Open | |
StumbleUpon | Stumble through websites that match users' selected interests | June 30, 2018 | [183] | Open |