This week in social media, Facebook announced Facebook Messenger as its own platform, as the company's future now looks to rival Google. Meanwhile, Twitter unveiled its Meerkat live-streaming competitor, Periscope, and Snapchat's definitely, definitely the leader in the youth demographic.

It's time for Social Media Sunday!

Facebook:

Messenger Is Now a Platform, and It's Growing Fast

At the F8 Developer Conference in San Francisco last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed rumors we previously reported that the once-hated Facebook Messenger app would become a social media platform in its own right, with third-party apps of its own that connect to Messenger, enhancing and expanding the app's feature set.

And there's one very good reason for the company to make this move: Facebook Messenger now has 600 million users and is growing faster than Facebook's flagship app and popular (Facebook-owned) messenger WhatsApp, according to a recent study by market researcher GlobalWebIndex (via Forbes).

The report states that Messenger grew 50 percent in 2014 compared to the Facebook app, which "only" expanded its base by 23 percent, while WhatsApp grew 34 percent.

Of course, it helps Messenger's growth figures that Facebook basically forced users to download the app if they wanted to keep sending full featured messages to their friends, but it also appears Messenger's global momentum has continued after that kickstart.

Now "A Family of Apps": More Like Another Google

Zuckerberg announced "Facebook is a family of apps" at F8 last week, and judging by the exciting developments in subsidiaries Facebook acquired in recent years, that statement now reflects reality -- kind of.

More accurately, Facebook should now be considered a multi-armed technology conglomerate. 

Of course, Instagram has been popular and around for a while, but at the F8 conference, exciting news about the WhatsApp subsidiary adding voice calling soon, 360-degree Facebook videos being developed for the Oculus Rift arm of the company, developments in the Aquila solar-powered drone meant to provide (Facebook-style) Internet access anywhere in the world using lasers, and its ongoing work on advanced AI all show that Facebook is set on becoming more than the dominant worldwide social media network.

The company is aiming to become a Google-like global player in technology, Internet and communications.

Twitter:

Is Periscope, Twitter's Meerkat Alternative, So Important? 

Last week, we reported on Meerkat's stellar showing at the SxSW technology, media, and entertainment festival in Austin, Texas -- and Twitter's (ironic/backfiring) attempt to stymie the Twitter live video-streaming upstart.

This week, Twitter unveiled Periscope, the Twitter-acquired live-streaming app that Twitter hopes will supplant Meerkat's popularity. In a full feature story for The New York Times, Twitter unveiled Periscope, its founders, its story, and its capabilities -- all which mirror Meerkat.

The report told how Periscope's year-long development led to its launch just barely being scooped by competitor Meerkat. It also revealed Twitter's relationship to Periscope is along the lines of Vine: Periscope operates independently of Twitter, only using the company's purse and technical support.

Finally, Periscope's big feature unveiling in the Times included a tidbit about Twitter's continually beleaguered CEO Dick Costolo being "particularly obsessed" with real-time video streaming, which echoes Twitter's original strong suit in social media: real-time conversations.

That leads to one big question: With Twitter still struggling to prove its worth to Wall Street, and Meerkat -- which relies on Twitter's network -- already becoming the "next big thing" in social sharing, why did Twitter bother to restrict that app's access to its social graph?

Is Periscope's success so important that it overshadows the overall (investor-enforced) goal of increasing user activity on mothership Twitter? A goal that Meerkat, more so than Periscope, seems particularly poised to help Twitter reach? Is Costolo just upset that he spent $100 million on the wrong startup?

Vine Adds 720p Video

Speaking of subsidiaries, Twitter-owned Vine announced it is updating its Android and iOS apps to include HD for the first time ever. According to Vine's blog, the bite-sized videos will now support viewing, creating, and uploading 720p formatted videos. Updates for both platforms should be rolling out in the next week or so.

Snapchat:

Another Study Shows How It Dominates Valuable Youth Demographic

As if Snapchat needed any more outside confirmation, ComScore (via CNET) reported this week that Snapchat basically owns the 18 to 34 year-old demographic on social media.

The latest report states that now an incredible 71 percent of Snapchat's userbase in the U.S. are in the most valuable demographic age range for advertisers, with an incredible 45 percent of users being between 18 and 24 years of age.

For perspective on those numbers, the next social media outlet closest to Snapchat's valuable hold on the youth is a tie between Vine and Tumblr, both at 28 percent for the 18-24 set and at 51 and 53 percent (respectively) for the overall 18-34 demographic.

You have to give it up for those aged 65 and older Snapping away on the ephemeral messaging service. They make up just 1 percent of Snapchat's demographic, making Snapchat, by far, the one social media network where you're least likely to see your elders.