What Is Social Media?
Let me explain social media directly: it's a form of digital communication where you can form online networks and communities to socialize, share information, and post your own content.
Social media means online platforms where you share information and connect with virtual communities using text, video, photos, and other content. As of 2024, it has more than five billion global users, which equals over 62% of the world population. This covers apps or websites for messaging and chat, social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and community forums such as Reddit and Discord.
Key Takeaways
You should know that social media consists of websites, apps, and platforms letting you share information and ideas with virtual communities through text, photos, videos, and more. It's used by over five billion people worldwide for personal and professional reasons. Social media gets credit for connecting users, building communities, and sharing important information. Critics point out it damages adolescents' mental health, spreads misinformation, and increases chances for child sexual abuse. The biggest platforms are Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, and TikTok.
Origins and Evolution of Social Media
Early social media platforms like MySpace and LiveJournal focused on connecting you with friends and family. MySpace let you create personal profile pages and share details about yourself, becoming the first to hit one million active monthly users in 2004. LiveJournal allowed sharing journal-like entries with public or private networks, reaching over 2.5 million active accounts by 2005.
Social media grew quickly in the 2000s and early 2010s with Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) gaining popularity. Like MySpace, Facebook lets you create profiles to share info, with others leaving comments. It started for college-age socializing but spread to younger and older users.
In 2006, X launched its feed feature, aggregating posts from followed accounts onto one page. Facebook added its News Feed soon after, and this became standard across platforms. You started posting links to external sites for news, events, and products, mixed with personal updates. Interactions like liking, sharing, and commenting became common.
Platforms added business profiles and targeted ads during this period, making them more business-friendly and boosting revenue. You began spending more time scrolling feeds, getting daily news and commentary. By 2024, over half of U.S. adults (54%) get news from social media sometimes or often, with only 28% never doing so. Globally, just 22% get news from news sites or apps, especially younger consumers.
Many social media companies own multiple platforms to target different users. For example, Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp.
How Social Media Is Used Today
As you spend more time on social media, various types have evolved. They fall into categories like social networks such as Facebook and NextDoor; microblogging like X, BlueSky, Mastodon, and Threads; long-form blogging on Substack or Ghost; professional networking via LinkedIn, Behance, or ResearchGate; video and photo sharing on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or Snapchat; visual curation and search on Pinterest, Houzz, or DeviantArt; messaging through WhatsApp, Signal, WeChat, or Marco Polo; and community forums like Reddit, Discord, or Clubhouse.
These platforms suit different uses and users—some for pure socializing, others for professional networking or job hunting. You might connect with others sharing political views or hobbies.
Many users operate professionally: actors and writers connect with fans, politicians communicate with voters, nonprofits promote causes or collect donations, and government agencies inform the public during emergencies.
Posting content can be a job itself, whether sponsored or supported by followers—these are influencers or content creators. One in five users see themselves as professional creators.
Social media is key for business marketing. Companies identify trends, engage customers, collect data, and buy targeted ads. They often pay influencers to promote products to their audiences.
94.7% of internet users aged 16-64 visited at least one social networking site in the last month.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media
Social media has pros like connectivity, building community, and affordable advertising. It also has cons including disinformation/misinformation, sleep disruption, mental health impact, and child sexual exploitation.
Advantages Explained
Connectivity: These platforms let you access global info and connect with distant friends or family. You can find niche communities for interests or needs, like neighborhood forums or job searches.
Build community: Using social media links to more friends and diverse networks, especially in emerging economies. You're more likely to interact with people different in income, politics, religion, or ethnicity.
Affordable advertising: Small businesses and creators reach customers cheaply via targeted ads and influencers. Over 200 million small businesses use Facebook. In 2024, online ads, including social media, made up 59% of global ad spending, projected to hit 61% by 2026.
80% of U.S. teens aged 13-17 said social media helped them feel more connected to friends in 2022. Nearly one in three saw a mostly positive impact, while fewer than one in ten saw mostly negative.
Disadvantages Explained
Disinformation/misinformation: Easy sharing spreads false info, like misinformation about Hurricane Helene in 2024 that hurt recovery efforts.
Sleep disruption: Social media use ties to less and poorer sleep, especially in teens and young adults, leading to health issues like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and depression.
Mental health impact: More use correlates with higher depression rates in teens. Other issues include bullying, peer pressure, rumors, and unrealistic expectations from others' lives.
Child sexual abuse: Over one in six U.S. children face online sexual abuse, with higher rates elsewhere. Platforms enable grooming, stalking, explicit sharing, revenge porn, and nonconsensual sexting.
In 2024, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy urged Congress for warning labels on social media apps about risks to child and adolescent mental health, like those on alcohol and cigarettes.
Top 10 Global Social Media Platforms
You average two hours and 21 minutes daily on social media, visiting 6.8 platforms monthly. As of February 2025, per DataReportal, the top are: Facebook (3.07 billion users), YouTube (2.53 billion), WhatsApp (2 billion), Instagram (2 billion), TikTok (1.59 billion), WeChat (1.38 billion), Telegram (950 million), Facebook Messenger (947 million), Snapchat (850 million), Douyin (766 million).
Notably, X (14th with 586 million) and Pinterest (16th with 537 million) didn't make the global top 10, despite U.S. fame.
The Bottom Line
Since the early 2000s, social media has reshaped online interactions, affecting community, news, politics, entertainment, and advertising. Despite downsides like misinformation and child sexual exploitation, it grows yearly.
With over five billion users spending more than two hours daily, social media is a top way for individuals, businesses, creators, and politicians to connect.
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