The Most Popular Social Media Networks (2003-2022)

Data Is Beautiful, a self-described data geek, has created a fascinating animated timeline that shows the most popular social media networks between the years 2003 and 2022 in monthly chronological order. The early aughts showed MySpace as the front runner. After that, however, Facebook and YouTube truly dominated the top spots after 2015. Instagram has remained in third place since 2017.

Timeline of most popular social networks from 2003 to 2022. Measured by monthly active users worldwide. Data source: press releases, 10-k sec filings, industry reports.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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