People always like to be connected with like-minded people. Understanding this, in the age of digitisation, there are many social networking platforms that help them stay socially active on the internet. With these social media platforms and apps, relationships begin, grow and last for a lifetime. People no longer need to meet someone in person as they are just a few clicks away.
Over the years, social media sites have grown by leaps and bounds. With the increase in mobile devices and the availability of high-speed internet, there are billions of users accessing social networking sites across the world.
While Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. are some common networking platforms, these are not the only ones that exist for people to network. There are many social networking apps and platforms in Europe connecting like-minded people together and some of them are detailed here.
Peanut (London)
Founders: Michelle Kennedy
Funding: €4.6 million
Founded year: 2016
Its purpose: London-based Peanut is the largest social network for motherhood and is the first social network created for women to build strong ties keeping motherhood at the forefront. This platform lets women at similar life stages connect and provides them a voice. Almost one million women use Peanut to chat and connect with like-minded mothers and share advice across meaningful topics.
Wizbii (France)
Founders: Benjamin Ducousso, Romain Gentil, Emeric Wasson
Funding: €17.1 million
Founded year: 2010
Its purpose: Wizbii is one of the first professional platforms connecting young people. The platform fosters employment and entrepreneurship of young people all over the world. It offers them free services and events that are highly valuable to enter the job market, search for relevant jobs and more. Gradually, Wizbii has progressed from a simple social network to a multi-service platform and offers services such as online courses, aid in finding student grants, and foreign language certifications.
XING (Germany)
Founders: Bill Liao
Funding: €5.7 million
Founded year: 2003
Its purpose: XING is a social network for business professionals. It is meant for business contacts and has nearly 13 million users in its core market. It is a platform that lets professionals from across industries meet each other, find jobs, assignments, cooperation partners, and generate business ideas. It uses full SSL encryption by default. In 2013, it was acquired by kununu, a leading employer review platform in Germany.
Viadeo (France)
Founders: Dan Serfaty, Thierry Lunati
Funding: €51.8 million
Founded year: 2004
Its purpose: Viadeo is a key player in professional social networks, which has revolutionised the recruitment process with nearly 7.5 million members in France. It operates with the mission to connect talent with opportunities through its social network. Viadeo accompanies members throughout their professional career with customised solutions that let them reveal all facets of their personality as and when required.
Nasza-klasa (Poland)
Founders: Maciej Popowicz
Funding: €570k
Founded year: 2006
Its purpose: Nasza-klasa is the biggest social network in Poland with nearly 13.5 million monthly active users and 7.5 million daily average active users. The platform lets users register from specific schools and graduation and keep and maintain a personal page with personal details such as the history of classes attended and more.
Draugiem (Latvia)
Founders: Agris Tamanis, Lauris Liberts
Founded year: 2004
Its purpose: Draugiem is the largest social networking site in Latvia with nearly 2.6 million users. It plays an important role in the daily lives of internet users in the country. It is a frequently used tool for communication and users prefer this platform over email.
Partyflock (Netherlands)
Founders: Thomas van Gulick
Founded year: 2001
Its purpose: Partyflock was started by Thomas van Gulick while he was a student at the Universiteit Twente. After graduation, Partyflock left the campus and became an independent website. Now, it has important elements such as artists, organisations, locations, and a photo section. Also, there is an interactive platform to discuss subjects such as new releases, parties, clubs, artists, and more.
Main image picture credits: Wizbii
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