Most Popular Social Media Platforms (2004 - 2026)

The biggest social media platforms in the world by monthly active users, from 2004 to 2026. In 2004 the #1 app wasn't MySpace or Facebook… watch who takes the crown, which apps disappear, and how one company ended up owning the top 3. Which app do you use the most? Tell us in the comments 👇 ⏱ Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:05 2004: the MySpace & Friendster era 1:24 2010: Facebook passes YouTube 1:39 2011: a new #1 2:42 2015: WhatsApp breaks into the top 3 3:06 2017: TikTok arrives 3:51 2020: the lockdown boom 4:36 2023: WhatsApp passes YouTube 5:00 2024: Instagram joins the top 3 5:29 Final ranking 2026 📊 Data & method Values are monthly active users (MAU) at the end of each year (2026 = latest available figure), smoothly interpolated month by month. Sources: Meta, Tencent, Weibo, Snap, Pinterest and Twitter quarterly reports; official milestone announcements (YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, TikTok); DataReportal and industry estimates for apps that don't publish MAU. Pre-2008 figures and some recent years (Meta stopped reporting per-app numbers in 2024) are estimates. TikTok and Douyin are counted separately. Spotted an error? Comment below and we'll pin the correction. 🎵 Music: original soundtrack made for this video. #socialmedia #datavisualization #barchartrace #facebook #tiktok