Social Media Transformation: From Connection to Influence

Social media has become a powerful part of our everyday lives, shaping how we communicate, learn, and see the world. It allows us to stay connected with people across distances, share ideas instantly, and access information at any moment. At the same time, it influences opinions, lifestyles, and even self-esteem, especially among young people. Social media has made communication faster and more interactive, giving individuals a global voice and enabling movements, trends, and ideas to spread within minutes. It has also reshaped marketing, news consumption, and personal identity, allowing users to create content rather than just consume it. However, this revolution comes with challenges such as misinformation, privacy concerns, and digital addiction. The advancement of social media reflects a major shift in human interaction, redefining how we connect, express ourselves, and understand the world around us. 

The past of social media began in the late 1990s when the first online networking sites were created. One of the earliest platforms was Six Degrees, launched in 1997 by Andrew Weinreich, which allowed users to create profiles and connect with others through friend lists. In the early 2000s, social media started growing with platforms like Friendster (2002), MySpace (2003), and LinkedIn (2003), which introduced online communities and professional networking. The real breakthrough came in 2004 with the launch of Facebook, followed by YouTube in 2005 and Twitter in 2006, making social media a global phenomenon.

Today, social media has become a major part of everyday life across the globe. Around 5.66 billion people nearly 68 to 69 percent of the world’s population are active on social media platforms. On average, users spend more than 2.5 hours each day engaging with different networks. Social media is not only used for communication and entertainment but has also grown into an important space for discovering brands, products, and trends, particularly among younger generations. This highlights how strongly social media influences modern lifestyles and global digital culture. The recent information on the leading social media platforms for 2026 is taken from the analysis and rankings presented by UK-based digital marketing expert Adam Connell in his article on social media platform statistics.

Two decades ago, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, along with his friends and roommates, created Facebook in their college dorm as a social networking site exclusively for Harvard students. It quickly expanded to other universities in North America and eventually spread worldwide, becoming the largest social media platform under the ownership of Meta. Today, Facebook claims over three billion monthly active users and two billion daily active users, while Facebook Messenger alone has almost one billion monthly users. Its audience is diverse, with 56.8% male and 43.2% female, and the largest age group being 25–34 years old. On average, users spend nearly 20 hours per month on Facebook.

YouTube is the second most used social media platform in the world, with approximately 2.49 billion monthly active users who visit the site to watch and share videos. Launched in 2005 by former PayPal employees and it was acquired by Google in 2006. In late 2020, YouTube introduced YouTube Shorts in response to TikTok, focusing on short-form video content alongside its traditional long-form videos. About 63% of brands that post video content share it on YouTube, making it the second most popular video distribution channel after Facebook.

WhatsApp, owned by Meta, is the world’s leading instant messaging app and the third most popular social network globally, with at least 2 billion monthly active users. Founded in 2009 by former Yahoo! Employees and acquired by Facebook (now Meta) in 2014. WhatsApp became the world’s most-used messaging platform a year later. In 2018, Meta launched WhatsApp Business, an app. Globally, WhatsApp users send more than 100 billion messages daily and make over 100 million voice calls, with a user base of 54.5% male and 45.5% female across 180 countries. Instagram, a popular social media platform has at least 2 billion monthly active users, making it the fourth-largest social network globally. Launched in 2010 and was acquired by Meta in 2012. Its user base is nearly balanced with 50.6% male and 49.4% female, and the largest age group is 18–24 years old. On average, users spend 15 hours and 50 minutes per month on Instagram.  

Tiktok, a short-form video-sharing app owned by China-based company ByteDance, has rapidly become one of the world’s leading social media platforms since its launch in 2017. TikTok continues to grow rapidly, with its Chinese counterpart known as Douyin. With around 1.562 billion monthly active users, it is the fifth most-used platform globally. The platform has a nearly balanced user base of 52% male and 48% female, and the average user spends 34 hours per month browsing content.  WeChat, also known as Weixin in China and owned by Tencent, is the sixth-largest social media platform in the world, with around 1.336 billion monthly active users, over one billion of whom are in China. The app is overwhelmingly popular in China.  

Telegram is a cloud-based, encrypted instant messaging service and social network with over 800 million monthly active users, founded in 2013 and headquartered in Dubai, UAE. The platform is known for its strong focus on privacy and security. Telegram is particularly popular in Russia, receives 36.7 million downloads monthly. X (formerly Twitter) is a leading social media platform with around 619 million monthly active users. Originally launched in 2006 and in 2022, Elon Musk acquired the platform, rebranded it as X. LinkedIn is the leading social media platform for business and professional networking, with around 1 billion total users. Launched in 2003 and acquired by Microsoft in 2016, LinkedIn is primarily used for recruitment, job seeking, and professional connections. Its user base is 56.4% male and 43.6% female, and because the platform is focused on professional rather than entertainment content, users spend relatively little time on it—an average of just 51 minutes per month.

Social media in the USA and China reflects two very different digital worlds. In the United States, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, and TikTok promote open expression, personal branding, and political debate, with relatively fewer content restrictions. In contrast, China operates a closed digital ecosystem where global platforms are banned and replaced by local apps such as WeChat, Weibo, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu. Besides the United States and China, Countries like India, Brazil, Indonesia, Russia, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, and Vietnam currently have the highest social media usage due to large populations and widespread internet access.

Social media acts as an alternative to traditional media by changing how information is created and shared. It provides real-time updates, diverse viewpoints, and direct interaction between the public and information sources. Social media helps to strengthen democracy by giving people a stronger and more direct voice in public life. It allows citizens to express opinions freely, share information, and participate in political discussions beyond the limits of traditional media. Political leaders and institutions are also more accessible, as people can question, criticize, and engage with them openly. However, to truly ensure democracy, social media must be used responsibly, as misinformation and manipulation can weaken its positive impact.


 Razib Pervez is founder of 
Governance Policy Explore 
Center based in England. He can be reached at [email protected]