Social media has transformed how people connect, share, and stay informed. From the early days of Six Degrees and Friendster to today’s dominant platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn, each shift has reshaped our digital lives. This timeline highlights the biggest platform launches, viral growth milestones, major acquisitions, and shutdowns that tell the story of social media’s rapid evolution. It is a resource for creators, marketers, and curious minds to reflect on where we have been and where the future may lead.
March – TikTok announces photo-sharing app “TikTok Notes,” aiming to rival Instagram.
January – Meta launches ad-free subscription tiers for Facebook and Instagram in the EU.
October – Twitter is officially rebranded to X under Elon Musk.
April – Bluesky opens to the public as a decentralized social alternative.
March – LinkedIn surpasses 1 billion members globally.
February – BeReal begins sharp user decline, highlighting challenges for trend-driven apps.
July – Threads launches as Meta’s Twitter competitor and gains 100M users in under a week.
October – Elon Musk acquires Twitter, triggering major platform and policy changes.
June – TikTok surpasses 2 billion global downloads.
April 2 – Google+ is officially shut down due to low usage and security concerns.
August – TikTok merges with Musical.ly, rapidly gaining popularity worldwide.
January – Instagram hits 400 million monthly active users.
January – Vine peaks in popularity with short looping videos and viral content.
April 9 – Facebook acquires Instagram for $1 billion.
June 28 – Google+ officially launches as a Facebook alternative.
October 6 – Instagram is launched and gains 1M users in two months.
March – Foursquare launches, bringing gamified check-ins to social media.
May – Facebook overtakes MySpace in monthly U.S. visitors.
March 21 – Twitter launches with its first tweet: “just setting up my twttr.”
February 14 – YouTube is launched, revolutionizing video sharing online.
February 4 – Facebook is launched at Harvard University as “TheFacebook.”
August 1 – MySpace launches, quickly becoming the most visited social site until 2008.
December – Friendster launches, pioneering the modern social networking model.
October – Six Degrees launches, allowing users to list friends and family — often called the first true social network.