The world of social media is known among marketers to be fast-paced. There are algorithms to observe, new features to learn, and a plethora of trends to exploit, not the least of which is the development of AI-powered platforms for social media.

Changes in user tastes and the appearance of competing services are only two of the many reasons that may cause a social media platform’s popularity to rise and fall over time. You just have to consider what happened to Clubhouse and BeReal to see how rapidly the social media landscape can shift.

This article will examine 10 “alternative” social networking applications that might supplement your current plan. There are five broad types of applications here:

• Based on images – Lemon8 and Locket

• Twitter Alternatives : BlueSky, Mastodon, True, and Threads

• Telegram.

• Sound: Discord

• Subscription and Expertise: Patreon and Polywork

Image-based

1) Lemon8

TikTok’s developers have released another popular app, Lemon 8. Combining the best features of Instagram and Pinterest (a board-style layout), Lemon 8 is designed for content production that prioritizes still images over moving ones.

Over 5 million people have downloaded the app from Google Play, making it one of the most popular lifestyle applications available.

Lemon8’s material is organized into seven categories, each of which displays featured and suggested articles:

• Fashion

• Beauty

• Food

• Wellness

• Travel

• Home

• All 

What sets Lemon8 apart is its heavy reliance on influencer advertising and product recommendations (with little transparency over whether content is sponsored). There is also a significant amount of textual content, since some captions may have guides or even recipes.

Possibilities for advertising : Lemon8 is now ad-free, but its rising popularity means that it may soon begin selling advertising space. At now, it may be used by companies in collaboration with content producers to promote their wares.

2) A locket

Locket is a simple picture app that Matt Moss developed as a side project for his sweetheart. After seeing how well it did with his personal network, Moss released it publicly on the App Store.

The app’s purpose is straightforward: it provides a central location on the iPhone’s home screen where users can browse live photos from friends and family. The app’s widget, which allows users to invite and add contacts, may be added to a user’s mobile device. The app will display friends’ photographs as they are uploaded throughout the day.

Users may also add pictures to a “locket,” which will subsequently be shown on their friends’ and family’s devices and updated in real time.

After releasing on New Year’s Day 2022, the app skyrocketed to the top of the App Store rankings and was eventually downloaded 20 million times. TechCrunch claims that since Locket’s release, over a billion photographs have been exchanged using the app.

Although monetization isn’t a top priority for Locket for now, Moss thinks that as more people use the app and submit photographs, more features might be added.

Twitter Substitutes

3) BlueSky

Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, also created the decentralized social platform BlueSky. It has community moderation, a federated architecture, and algorithmic selection. The user is free to pick the server they connect to and the material they see.

The app’s basic functionality is similar to that of Twitter: with the click of a plus button, users may generate a message of up to 256 characters that can also contain images. Tweets may be commented on, retweeted, liked, reported, copied as text, and pasted into other applications.

The beta version of the app is currently invite-only and has a waiting list. However, being invited to BlueSky is a major coup. The program has been compared as a “Twitter without the garbage.”

There are currently no marketing possibilities since the app is invite-only.

4) Mastodon

Despite its existence since 2016, the network experienced a rise in registrations when Elon Musk, a billionaire, acquired Twitter.

Like Bluesky, it is a social network in which users connect with one another via specialized subsets of servers based on shared interests. Similarly to Twitter, Mastodon lets you take part in discussions, write posts, and upload photographs.

The main distinction is that your account is hosted on one of several servers, and you get to select which one.

Advertising possibilities – Mastodon’s creators have said the service would be ad-free, so it’s unlikely that sponsored posts or other forms of paid media will be tolerated. However, it has potential applications in areas such as market analysis, affiliate promotion, sponsor integration, and user-created content. Privacy-First Approach

5) True

The developers of True market it as a social network that would safeguard your personal information. Because its communications are encrypted, users may choose the persons they talk to and start secret conversations.

While there are public discussions, the private ones are what really make this app stand out. These might include as few as two individuals or as many as a few hundred, but the initiator can invite participants just one at a time. No one else can access your private conversation by searching the internet or using the software themselves.

More than 10,000 people use the app, and Microsoft insider Paul Maritz invested $15 million in it in 2023.

Potential for advertising: True has assured its customers that they would not be followed or bombarded with advertisements. While Inc.com reports that app founder Bret Cox claims private chats would never allow adverts, users should expect to see ads targeted to their interests in public forums. Cox has seen content providers and bloggers promoting their courses in public forums, and he believes this has the potential to increase True’s income in the future.

6) Threads

The ‘Threads’ software, developed by Meta, is a Twitter alternative designed to take on Elon Musk’s company. Threads, set to debut in July 2023, is marketed as “Instagram’s text-based conversation app,” and images imply users will be able to join up with their current Instagram login data.

Chris Cox, Meta’s Chief Product Officer, said the company’s goals for the app include “safety, ease of use, reliability” and providing artists with a “stable place to build and grow their audiences.”

It’s already making waves, but European Union privacy laws will prevent its release there for the foreseeable future.

As the app is owned by Meta and integrated with Instagram, it is possible that advertising capabilities may be made accessible in the near future, but specifics have not yet been disclosed.

Online chats

7) Telegram

Telegram is a cross-platform instant messaging program that is hosted in the cloud. End-to-end encryption in IMs and video conversations is a big selling point for it. As an added bonus, it allows for both support group chats and self-destructing messages, as well as a ‘Secret Chat’ function for more intimate conversations.

Nikolai and Pavel Durov, the same people behind the popular Russian social network VK, launched Telegram in 2013. Its creators set out to create a competitor to WhatsApp by emphasizing the privacy and safety it affords its users.

The app’s benefits include the ability to communicate with the other person even if you have lost their phone number. Unlike other messaging applications, you may save your conversation or user history in the cloud and access it from any device. These contribute to a stronger community.

Businesses may reach a large audience by sponsoring messages on popular Telegram Channels with more than a thousand members, thanks to Telegram Ads. A Telegram Ad consists of a title, a message, and a URL that leads to the advertiser’s own Telegram Channel or bot (no external links are permitted).

Audio

8) Discord

Discord is a social and communication platform for groups and individuals to communicate and hang out through voice, video, and text.

The servers used by the app are exclusive social hubs for closed-door communities and groups of friends. It’s no surprise that the platform was dubbed “Slack for gamers” since it supports both closed and open groups, with the former focusing on niche interests like popular video games. Integration with Zapier, YouTube, and Twitch, among others, is possible.

To “give people the power to create space to find belonging in their lives and build genuine relationships with friends and communities close to home or around the world,” as Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy put it when they released the app in 2015, is to fulfill the app’s stated mission.

The entrepreneur claims that 150 million people use the app on a monthly basis, and that they generate 4 billion server chat minutes per day.

Possibilities for advertising since businesses may use Discord to reach communities. Building a Discord server community around a subject related to or representative of your company is essential. Each of these communities has its own set of user permissions, avatars, and media conferencing tools. Stickers, GIFs, and photos may help convey your message visually. In addition to using live events, you can also participate in the Partner Program.

Group Membership and Expertise

9) Patreon

Patreon is a site where artists may have their own patronage system set up. As an alternative to creating a website and payment system, artists may set up a Patreon page.

Now that they’ve added video production to the app, users who pay to become “patrons” may support producers by paying a fee in exchange for access to exclusive material. According to Patreon’s own numbers, they have 8 million active patrons each month, 250,000 artists, and have paid out $3.5 billion to creators.

Promotional possibilities – Patreon was created so that artists could earn money, not corporations. However, businesses are teaming up with Patreon creators via influencer marketing to roll out campaigns tailored to the creator’s Patreon fan base (such as early access to products or special discounts).

10) Polywork

Polywork is an online community for professionals where people may build their own free websites, disseminate information, and solicit one another for work. It aspires to compete with LinkedIn as a business networking software.

In its own words, the app is “your place to discover opportunities to collaborate with other professionals” (from the app’s website). Work together on personal projects, guest on podcasts, and try out new applications. You can put an end to boredom forever.

Former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Caffeinated Capital led a $28 million Series B investment round for Polywork in 2022. Instacart, Stripe, Lyft, and Clubhouse are among the other investors.

“If LinkedIn is a network for full-time opportunities, we’re sort of the network for collaboration opportunities,” says Peter Johnston, Polywork’s CEO and Founder.

Marketing potential – The social network is not interested in making money, but rather expanding its user base and improving its offerings. Customizable user templates or enhanced search capabilities, like LinkedIn Premium, are two examples of how the platform may be monetized.

Conclusion

You now have access to 9 fantastic social applications that you may not have heard of or utilized in your social media endeavors.

It’s important to evaluate your current social media plan before switching to a new platform. This will guide your assessment of a social app’s potential for achieving your goals.

Keep in mind that you should always try out a social media network on your own before introducing your company to it.