Most Popular Social Media (2004-2026): 22 Years, 2 Changes at #1

QQ, MySpace, Orkut, Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, WeChat, Instagram, TikTok and more: twenty-two years of social media, ranked month by month by the number of people using each platform. Chapters 0:00 QQ, MySpace and the early web (2004) 2:08 Facebook takes off 4:04 A new number one 6:03 The billion-user club 8:47 The TikTok generation 11:35 Threads, Telegram and the race today 13:21 Final ranking What is measured • Monthly active users worldwide per platform, social networks and messaging apps, December 2004 to August 2026. • 2004 to 2019 follows the Statista and The Next Web series published by Our World in Data. Later years and platforms missing from that series use company earnings reports and official milestones. • Between published figures, and after Meta stopped reporting users per app in 2024, the numbers are estimates built from the last reported figures and their recent trend. • QQ counts all devices until 2018 and smartphones afterwards, as Tencent reports it. Sources • Our World in Data, "Users by social media platform" (Statista and The Next Web, 2019) • Meta, Tencent, Snap, Pinterest, Weibo earnings releases; official announcements from YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Telegram Credits Platform icons and photos: 32 platform icons and 19 card photos: Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia; editorial use. Video excerpts (five seconds each, muted, editorial use): • jawed —    • Me at the zoo   • AP Archive —    • Google buy video sharing site YouTube for ...   • Voice of America —    • How Weibo Won Over China (VOA On Assignmen...   • Sony Pictures Entertainment —    • THE SOCIAL NETWORK - Official Trailer [201...   • ABC News —    • Instagram, Facebook Deal Worth $1 Billion   • CBS —    • Facebook's Zuckerberg rings NASDAQ bell on...   • DossierNet —    • Facebook  - The Things That Connect Us   • CBS Mornings —    • Twitter IPO: The opening bell   • CNN —    • Facebook to buy Whatsapp for $19 billion   • ABC 7 News - WJLA —    • Facebook Messenger: Is the paranoia justif...   • CGTN —    • Electronic red envelopes make Chinese New ...   • CNBC —    • Instagram Launches Snapchat Rival | CNBC   • CBS News —    • Twitter tests doubling its character limit...   • Channel 4 News —    • Cambridge Analytica Uncovered: Secret film...   • News 11 Yuma —    • Trump issues orders banning TikTok and WeC...   • JoyNews —    • Tech Talk: Signal and Telegram downloads s...   • CBS News —    • Facebook changing company name to Meta   • NBC News —    • CEO Mark Zuckerberg 'Takes Full Responsibi...   • CNBC Television —    • Threads becomes fastest growing app in his...   • BBC News —    • Telegram CEO Pavel Durov arrested at Frenc...   • Music: 'Starfire' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au; Music used: The Power by Savfk -    / @savfkmusic   (CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Music used: You Are Doing This For Love by Savfk -    / @savfkmusic   (CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...) • SFX: Kenney (CC0), https://kenney.nl/assets/interface-so... Names, photos, logos and flags are used editorially for identification, commentary and education. No sponsorship or affiliation is implied. Data reflects the cited sources and may be revised by their publishers. Which app do you open first every morning? Tell us in the comments. Subscribe for the next ranking story. Every ranking is a rivalry. #SocialMedia #Facebook #DataVisualization