The international social media handbook
The world's platforms — and what each of them says about monetization
Age limits, plans, caps, rights to your content and who pays whom — for every platform in the catalogue, with a link to its own document. Plus the tools that help: scheduling, analytics, community management.
Choose your region
Platforms whose home market is in your region — and global ones by category. The region is set by the platform's country of origin, not by audience measurements.
Russia and CIS33 platforms in the regionChina29 platforms in the regionUSA and Canada78 platforms in the regionWestern Europe16 platforms in the regionSouth Korea14 platforms in the regionJapan13 platforms in the regionIndia and South Asia7 platforms in the regionSoutheast Asia11 platforms in the regionMiddle East14 platforms in the regionIran10 platforms in the regionCentral and Eastern Europe12 platforms in the regionLatin America4 platforms in the regionAfrica6 platforms in the regionAustralia and Oceania2 platforms in the region
Start here
Getting startedAge, free plans, where no audience is required — conditions, not advice.Glossarypayout, KYC, offer, landing page: the catalogue's words in ordinary words.Find by situation“I have a personal profile”, “I need trending sounds” — verdicts drawn from the data.Scheduler comparisonFive tools across four platforms, every cell with a link and a date.What no tool will doRestrictions set by the platforms themselves.
Catalogue topics
Cross-cutting views: one topic across every platform of the catalogue at once.
Platform restrictionsWhat switching tools will not change: limits, entry barriers, invisible posts.What you are charged forThe billing unit: per person, per account, per volume — or something you never expected.History depth: how far back you will be able to compareHow far back metrics are kept is sold with the plan and cannot be bought retroactively.Earning: who pays creators, and for whatPlatform, affiliate network and tool each pay for different things on different terms.What metrics a platform gives youAnd which it gives nobody: thresholds, withdrawn metrics, availability windows.What platforms say about rankingThe platforms' own words — with no third-party «algorithm research».Publishing frequency and limitsHow much you may publish, and where the platform withholds the figure on purpose.Material requirementsSizes, durations, formats and codecs, from the platforms' own documentation.Making content with AIWho owns what you make, and whether the models train on your data.What platforms require of AI contentWhere a label is required, and where generated content is banned outright.Where you may send trafficWhat platform rules say about affiliate and outbound links.What must be disclosed about advertisingHow eight legal systems require advertising to be labelled.Who the platform pays, and for whatTo the author of the content, to the app developer — or to nobody directly.Which terms apply in your countryCountry sections override the general rules — but not on every platform.How to read the cardsThe platform's conditions in its own words, with the document's address — and whose number you are reading.
When something doesn't work
Why you get a notification instead of a published postWhy you are asked to reconnect your accountWhy the tool and the platform have different daily limitsWhy a free plan is not a stripped-down paid oneWhy the numbers do not matchIf you are working out a budget:What you are paying fortwelve units of pricingWhy plans cannot be compared on price
Platform guides
Instagram*
TikTokMajor deep dives: platforms
Telegramguide
VKontakteguide
YouTubeguide
X (Twitter)guide
Dzenguide
Threadsguide
Twitchguide
Major deep dives: tools
Bufferguide
SocialBeeguide
Publerguide
Laterguide
Hootsuiteguide
Metricoolguide
HeyGenguide
LiveDuneguide
The whole catalogue
Platform deep divesin-depth articles with sourcesPlatforms by categorysocial networks, video, messengers and the restTools by jobscheduling, analytics, administrationCatalogue topicscross-cutting views across all platformsQuestions answeredfrequent questions, answered from the factsУказательevery card by sectionSite maphow the catalogue is arranged
How this works. The data comes from the official pages of the platforms and tools themselves and is rechecked regularly. Pages are generated from the database, not written by hand. More: how to read the cards.