Social media channels
An overview of the major social media channels and their primary functions
Last updated: 8 August 2024
There are many resources out there for anyone wanting to learn, brush up, or refresh their social media expertise. Please take a look at our social media guidance page for suggestions as well as advice and guidance from the PAD social media team on maintaining a social media channel and managing audiences.
We are aware that tools, platforms and support pages are constantly changing so please let us know if any of these resources aren’t working; or if you’d like to flag a helpful tool you have found.
X has an average of 335.7 million users. X states that its audience are most interested in news, sports, weather, science and dogs. The platform is optimised for mobile but can be used effectively on desktop.
X includes the following features:
- Minimal analytics (such as engagement rate, follower growth per month)
- In-tool scheduling
- Content threads
- Polls
- GIFs
- Images and videos (videos up to 2:20 minutes)
- Live feature
- X spaces (a place where you can host live podcasts or audio discussions)
You can get the following features if you subscribe for X Premium:
- Longer posts (4,000 characters)
- Edit post function (only available for 30 minutes after posting)
- Upload videos longer than 2:20 minutes
- Access to X Pro (formally known as TweetDeck)
- Access to Media Studio
- Access to more detailed analytics - view metrics such as number of overall views, follower gains and more.
Find out more about X Premium features and pricing.
Facebook has an average of nearly 3 billion users per month. It still one of the most popular social media platforms around. However, it should be noted that the platform isn’t as popular with people aged 21 or below.
As well as general content posting, the platform has lots of functionality including:
- In-tool reporting
- In-tool scheduling
- Paid advertising
- Live broadcasting
- Event hosting
- Groups
- Polls
- Donations
- Different levels of admin access to Facebook pages
Instagram has an average of 2 billion users. The platform is continuing to grow and has seen a 127% increase in monthly active users from 2019 to 2023.
Instagram limits the ability to include links in certain types of content. For example, for posts and reels, you are unable to include a clickable link within the post. However, you can include links within the stories function.
Currently, you can schedule onto Instagram using Meta Creator Studio. However, you must ensure your Instagram account is linked to a Facebook page to use the tool. You can schedule stories via the Creator Studio but with limited functionality.
Some of Instagram's main features include:
- Post up to 10 image uploads at a time
- Collaboration feature – able to post content collectively with up to two other accounts
- Effective image and location tagging feature
- Stories platform which includes features such as polls, Q&A, like-o-meters, stickers, GIFs
- Ability to link to webpages via stories platform
- Instagram reels – allows you to post TikTok-style videos onto the platform (videos have to be a maximum 90 seconds long and ideally in portrait mode (1080 x 1920)
- Video editing functionality within the platform
- In-tool analytics reporting with a Business account
- You can access data such as reach, engagement and follower gains
Threads was created by Meta in 2023 and has 130 million active users. The platform is more of a text focused platform compared to Instagram.
Some of Threads’ main features include:
- X/Twitter style of feed – more text-based updates
- Post up to 500 characters
- Ability to post videos, photos and GIFs
- Seamless integration from Instagram – if you have an Instagram page, your followers, profile picture and bio from the platform will automatically transfer to your Threads account
Please note: There is limited API access on Threads meaning only some social media management platforms have limited features for Thread.
LinkedIn has around 1 billion users worldwide. The platform is more than just posting about job roles or career progress. LinkedIn can be an effective platform to promote research/news with targeted audiences. The platform displays media such as images and videos effectively on both desktop and mobile.
Functions currently offered by the platform include:
- In-tool reporting
- Content suggestions tab
- Featured posts/articles – this can be used to highlight your key work or news
- Newsletter feature
- Video, image and PDF document uploads
- Poll feature
- Dedicated area for vacancies
- Dedicated area for event promotions
- Link display optimisation
- Hashtag optimisation
- Targeted advertising
- Different levels of admin access to LinkedIn pages
TikTok is an ever-growing platform which has over 1 billion users worldwide. The platform is very popular with audiences aged 25 or younger. 80% of TikTok’s audiences are aged between 16 to 34.
TikTok is a predominantly video platform where clips can be up to 10 minutes. However, the most successful videos on TikTok are the ones which are at the most one minute long.
The type of videos which excel on the platform are people-focused videos filmed in portrait mode (1080px 1920px).
TikTok content does not have to be polished; what is more critical is the content being easy to understand, concise and relatable to audiences.
Some of TikTok’s key features include:
- Video editing functionality within the platform
- Content creators are able to combine multiple clips into one video
- Ability to enhance clips
- Use a variety of video effects and text captions
- Filter/AI effects
- Use greenscreen effects
- Polls
- Ability to reply to videos with video
- Voiceover feature
- Sticker feature – ability to include interactive components such as hashtags, polls and an ‘ask’ feature
- Live feature
Please read the University's Information Security team has advice on how to use TikTok safely.
YouTube is the most popular long-form video hosting website on the internet, with nearly 2 billion logged-in visits per month. The range of content is vast but includes short documentaries, interviews, product reviews, music (half of all on-demand music is listened to via YouTube), gaming, explainers and social content.
Functions currently offered by the platform include:
- In-tool reporting
- In-tool scheduling
- Playlists, series and other curation tools
- Paid advertising
- Live broadcasting
- Watch parties (‘premieres’)
- Polls
- Donations (currently limited to certain creators)
Contact us
For more information about social media at Oxford, contact the PAD social media team:
