The evolution of social media has been fueled by the human impulse to communicate and by advances in digital technology. It is a story about establishing and nurturing personal connections at scale. With the advent of social media apps that could run on smartphones, end users can take their communities with them wherever they go, thus making social media usage one of the most popular online activities. In less than a generation, social media has evolved from direct electronic information exchange, to virtual gathering place, to retail platform, to vital marketing tool.
Here is how long it took for popular apps to reach 100 million users.
| Rank | Platform | Launch | Time to 100M users |
| 1. | Threads | 2023 | 5 days |
| 2. | ChatGPT | 2022 | 2 months |
| 3. | TikTok | 2017 | 9 months |
| 4. | 2011 | 1 year, 2 months | |
| 5. | 2010 | 2 years, 6 months | |
| 6. | Myspace | 2003 | 3 years |
| 7. | 2009 | 3 years, 6 months | |
| 8. | Snapchat | 2011 | 3 years, 8 months |
| 9. | YouTube | 2005 | 4 years, 1 month |
| 10. | 2004 | 4 years, 6 months | |
| 11. | Spotify | 2006 | 4 years, 7 months |
| 12. | Telegram | 2013 | 5 years, 1 month |
| 13. | 2006 | 5 years, 5 months | |
| 14. | Uber | 2011 | 5 years, 10 months |
| 15. | 2010 | 5 years, 11 months | |
| 16. | Google Translate | 2006 | 6 years, 6 months |
| 17. | World Wide Web | 1991 | 7 years |
| 18. | 2003 | 7 years, 11 months |
