If you're wondering who actually won the social media wars, the answer is pretty clear: Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) and Meta Platforms (META). Everyone else is fighting for scraps.

New data from Pew Research conducted in early 2025 shows just how dominant these two tech giants have become. YouTube, which Alphabet bought for $1.65 billion back in 2006, now commands 84% of U.S. social media users. That acquisition, which generated some skepticism at the time, now produces over $35 billion in annual revenue and looks like one of the smartest deals in tech history.

The Big Players Keep Winning

Right behind YouTube sits Facebook at 71%, followed by Instagram at 50%. Both are Meta properties, of course. WhatsApp, yet another Meta platform, grabbed fifth place at 32%. When you add it all up, Meta owns four spots in the top platforms, which is a pretty comfortable position to be in.

Here's how the complete landscape shakes out:

• YouTube: 84%
• Facebook: 71%
• Instagram: 50%
• TikTok: 37%
• WhatsApp: 32%
• Reddit: 26%
• X (Twitter): 21%
• Threads: 8%
• Bluesky: 4%
• Truth Social: 3%

The survey marks the first time Pew tracked Threads, Bluesky, and Truth Social. None of them cracked 10% adoption, which has to sting a bit for Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT), the company behind Truth Social. Despite being owned and frequently used by President Donald Trump himself, the platform barely registers with American users.

What Happened to X?

Elon Musk's X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, landed in seventh place at 21%. That's actually a pretty significant drop from its heyday. While X remains popular with investors and news junkies who value real-time information, less than a quarter of Americans now use it regularly. For context, that's less than half of YouTube's reach and trails even Reddit (RDDT) at 26%.

The world's richest person owns a social media platform that can't quite crack 25% adoption. That's the reality of trying to manage a platform through constant reinvention.

Growth Stories Worth Watching

While YouTube and Facebook maintain their dominance with relatively stable numbers, the real action is happening further down the list. Four platforms showed meaningful growth compared to 2021 data:

• TikTok: 37% today versus 21% in 2021
• Instagram: 50% today versus 40% in 2021
• WhatsApp: 32% today versus 23% in 2021
• Reddit: 26% today versus 18% in 2021

The demographic breakdown tells an interesting story. Among 18-29 year olds, Instagram ranks second at 80%, trailing only YouTube at 95%. TikTok captures 63% of that age group, landing in fourth place. These platforms are clearly winning with younger audiences, which probably explains why Meta keeps pouring resources into Instagram and why everyone seems terrified of TikTok's influence.

In the 30-49 age bracket, TikTok held third place at 44%, with WhatsApp right behind at 40%.

X ranked eighth among both 18-29 and 30-49 year olds, but performed slightly better with older demographics, hitting sixth place with 50-64 year olds and fifth with users 65 and up.

Truth Social struggled across the board. It ranked dead last with both 18-29 and 30-49 year olds, managed 10th place with the 50-64 crowd, and eighth with users 65 and older.

Only YouTube and Facebook scored above 50% usage across all four age groups. Instagram's numbers drop significantly with older users, registering just 19% adoption among those 65 and up.

Politics and Platform Choice

You might expect Truth Social to dominate among Republicans given Trump's ownership and constant presence on the platform. Instead, only 6% of Republicans or Republican-leaning users reported regular usage. The platform barely edged out Bluesky in that demographic. Among Democrats or Democratic-leaning users, Truth Social registered just 1%.

Republicans showed slightly higher adoption of X at 24% compared to 19% among Democrats or Democratic-leaning users, but that gap isn't nearly wide enough to define either platform as politically siloed.

The data paints a clear picture: despite all the noise about Twitter alternatives and politically aligned platforms, most Americans are still hanging out on YouTube and scrolling through Facebook. Meta and Alphabet built empires, and everyone else is still trying to figure out how to compete with them.