From Friend Requests to Feeds: The Evolution of Social Media (1997–2026)

The Evolution of Connection

Social media has transformed the way we connect, communicate, and consume information. What began as niche online communities has blossomed into a global phenomenon that shapes our personal lives, cultures, and even economies.

From its humble beginnings with platforms designed for sharing personal updates among friends, to the emergence of billion-user networks influencing politics, business, and entertainment, social media has become a cornerstone of the digital age.

In this blog post, we’ll journey through the history of social media platforms, uncovering how each era built upon the last to create the dynamic and multifaceted ecosystem we know today.

Whether you’re a marketer, social media user, or simply someone curious about the digital world, understanding where social media came from offers valuable insights into how it continues to evolve – and what it means for the future of human connection.

Let’s dive in and explore the platforms that have shaped our world, one post, tweet, image, video and story at a time.

While this list has 43 social media platforms on it, it may not cover every platform, we’ll continue to update it as we discover more noteworthy additions to the social media landscape.

[Originally posted 25 November 2024. Updated March 2025]

Platform: Six Degrees

Launch Year:

1997

Status:

Shutdown in 2001

Peak Users:

3.5M users

Type:

Profile-based social networking

Key Features:

Early networking site; user profiles and friend connections.

Platform: QQ

Launch Year:

1999

Status:

Active (primarily in China)

Peak Users:

597M Monthly Active Users

Type:

Instant Messaging

Key Features:

Users can log into games, chat with friends during gameplay, and even purchase virtual items

Platform: StumbleUpon

Launch Year:

2001

Status:

Shutdown 2018

Peak Users:

25M in 2012

Type:

Content Discovery

Key Features:

Platform that allowed you to discover and explore new websites, articles, videos, and images based on your interests

Platform: Friendster

Launch Year:

2002

Status:

Shutdown in 2015

Peak Users:

115M registered users

Type:

Social networking

Key Features:

Friend connections, shared interests, early influencer.

Platform: LinkedIn

Launch Year:

2003

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

950M users

Type:

Professional networking

Key Features:

Career networking, job postings, skill endorsements.

Platform: MySpace

Launch Year:

2003

Status:

Active, most features disabled

Peak Users:

100M Monthly Active Users (2008)

Type:

Social networking, music-focused

Key Features:

Profile customisation, music sharing, youth-oriented.

Platform: Hi5

Launch Year:

2003

Status:

Merged with Tagged 2011

Peak Users:

60M Monthly Active Users (2008)

Type:

Social Gaming

Key Features:

Was all about meeting new people

Platform: Facebook

Launch Year:

2004

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

3B Monthly Active Users (2024)

Type:

Social networking

Key Features:

Personal and business use; largest global platform.

Platform: Orkut

Launch Year:

2004

Status:

Shutdown in 2014

Peak Users:

300M Users

Type:

Social networking

Key Features:

Popular in Brazil/India; precursor to Google+.

Platform: Flickr

Launch Year:

2004

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

60M users (2013)

Type:

Photo-sharing

Key Features:

Professional and personal photography sharing.

Platform: Vimeo

Launch Year:

2004

Status:

Getting relaunched

Peak Users:

260 Million (2022)

Type:

Video-sharing

Key Features:

Video sharing, professional focused

Platform: Digg

Launch Year:

2004

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

30 Million (2008)

Type:

News aggregation

Key Features:

News website, that allowed people to vote user-generated and web content up or down, called digging and burying

Platform: YouTube

Launch Year:

2004

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

2.7B Monthly Active Users (2024)

Type:

Video-sharing

Key Features:

Largest video platform; vlogging, tutorials, entertainment.

Platform: Reddit

Launch Year:

2005

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

97.2M Daily Active Users (2022)

Type:

Forum

Key Features:

A key feature to Reddit is that users can cast positive or negative votes, called upvotes and downvotes respectively, for each post and comment on the site

Platform: Bebo

Launch Year:

2005

Status:

Shutdown in 2022

Peak Users:

40M (2008)

Type:

Social networking

Key Features:

Profile-based social networking with customisation options, photo sharing, and blogging.

Platform: X (Twitter)

Launch Year:

2006

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

450M Monthly Active Users (2024)

Type:

Microblogging, real-time updates

Key Features:

Trending topics, concise posts, news.

Platform: VK (VKontakte)

Launch Year:

2006

Status:

Active (primarily in Russia)

Peak Users:

85M Monthly Active Users (2023)

Type:

Social networking

Key Features:

Messaging, sharing media, creating groups, and playing games

Platform: Tumblr

Launch Year:

2007

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

612M Blogs created (2025)

Type:

Blogging and multimedia sharing

Key Features:

Creative content, fandoms, niche communities.

Platform: Sina Weibo

Launch Year:

2009

Status:

Active (primarily in China)

Peak Users:

582M Monthly Active Users (2022)

Type:

Microblogging

Key Features:

A mix of X (Twitter) & Facebook functionalities. Share text, images, videos, and engage in discussions

Platform: WhatsApp

Launch Year:

2009

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

2.7B Monthly Active Users (2024)

Type:

Messaging

Key Features:

Private/group chats, voice and video calls.

Platform: Foursquare

Launch Year:

2009

Status:

Pivoted to location data (2014)

Peak Users:

55M (2013)

Type:

Location Based

Key Features:

Users earn points, badges, and can even become the “mayor” of a venue by checking in frequently, adding a gamified element to the platform.

Platform: Instagram

Launch Year:

2010

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

2.5B Monthly Active Users (2024)

Type:

Photo/video-sharing

Key Features:

Stories, Reels, e-commerce integration.

Platform: Pinterest

Launch Year:

2010

Status:

Shutdown 2018

Peak Users:

480M Monthly Active Users (2024)

Type:

Visual discovery and bookmarking

Key Features:

Lifestyle inspiration; recipes, DIY, fashion, etc.

Platform: Path

Launch Year:

2010

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

50M (2013)

Type:

Photo Sharing

Key Features:

A social networking-enabled photo sharing and messaging service for mobile devices

Platform: Snapchat

Launch Year:

2011

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

400M Daily Active Users (2024)

Type:

Ephemeral photo/video sharing

Key Features:

Disappearing content, AR filters, Snap Map.

Platform: Google+

Launch Year:

2011

Status:

Shutdown in 2019

Peak Users:

111M active users

Type:

Social networking

Key Features:

Circles for different user groups, Google integration.

Platform: WeChat

Launch Year:

2011

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

1.3B Monthly Active Users

Type:

Messaging – social -payments

Key Features:

Messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, video conferencing, video games, mobile payment, sharing of photographs and videos and location.

Platform: Twitch

Launch Year:

2011

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

36.7M Monthly Active Users

Type:

Live Streaming

Key Features:

Live-streaming service popular for video game streaming

Platform: Vine

Launch Year:

2013

Status:

Shutdown in 2016

Peak Users:

200M Monthly Active Users

Type:

Short-form video sharing

Key Features:

6-second looping videos, humour, creativity.

Platform: Telegram

Launch Year:

2013

Status:

Shutdown in 2016

Peak Users:

1B Daily Active Users

Type:

Messaging

Key Features:

Secure messaging with end-to-end encryption, large groups and channels and file sharing up to 2GB (4GB with Premium)

Platform: Yik Yak

Launch Year:

2013

Status:

Shutdown (2017), Relaunched (2021), Niche

Peak Users:

1.8M (2015)

Type:

Anonymous Messaging

Key Features:

Yaks” (posts), upvoting/downvoting, commenting, and “peeking” at other locations’ posts.

Platform: Ello

Launch Year:

2014

Status:

Shutdown in 2023

Peak Users:

Minimal activity

Type:

Ad-free social networking

Key Features:

Ethical alternative for creatives.

Platform: Discord

Launch Year:

2015

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

150M Monthly Active Users

Type:

Community/voice chat

Key Features:

Instant messaging and VoIP social platform which allows communication through voice calls, video calls, text messaging, and media. Primarily used by gamers

Platform: Periscope

Launch Year:

2015

Status:

Shutdown (2021)

Peak Users:

10m (2016)

Type:

Live streaming

Key Features:

Interactive viewing, replay options, and broadcast search capabilities

Platform: TikTok

Launch Year:

2016

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

1.2B Monthly Active Users (2024)

Type:

Short-form video sharing

Key Features:

Trends, challenges, algorithmic feed.

Platform: Mastodon

Launch Year:

2016

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

10M accounts (2024)

Type:

Decentralised microblogging

Key Features:

Independent servers, chronological feed, no ads.

Platform: Gab

Launch Year:

2016

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

5M (2022)

Type:

Microblogging

Key Features:

[alt-tech](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-tech) microblogging and social networking service known for its far-right userbase

Platform: Parler

Launch Year:

2018

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

20M (2021)

Type:

Microblogging

Key Features:

[alt-tech](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-tech) social networking service associated with conservatives.

Platform: Clubhouse

Launch Year:

2020

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

10M weekly users (2021)

Type:

Audio-based social networking

Key Features:

Live discussions, audio rooms.

Platform: BeReal

Launch Year:

2020

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

73M (2022)

Type:

Photo sharing

Key Features:

Its main feature is a daily notification that encourages users to share photos of themselves with friends in their day-to-day life

Platform: Bluesky

Launch Year:

2022

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

30M (2025)

Type:

Decentralised microblogging

Key Features:

Text & image posts (similar to X), custom algorithms.

Platform: Truth Social

Launch Year:

2022

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

6.3M (2025)

Type:

Microblogging

Key Features:

[alt-tech](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-tech) social media platform owned by Trump Media & Technology Group

Platform: Threads

Launch Year:

2023

Status:

Active

Peak Users:

30M Monthly Active Users (2024)

Type:

Text-based social networking

Key Features:

Instagram integration, fediverse plans (*1*) *(1) The **Fediverse** (short for federated universe) is a network of decentralised, interconnected social media platforms that operate independently but can communicate with each other through open standards. Unlike centralised platforms like Facebook or Twitter, the [Fediverse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fediverse) allows users to interact across different platforms without being confined to a single service.*

Social Media Platform History Infographic