In 2026, the line between “video platform” and “social media” has never been more blurred. With over 2.7 billion monthly users, billions of comments, live streams where creators chat in real time, community posts, and even a Stories feature, most people treat YouTube exactly like they treat Instagram or TikTok. Yet you’ll still find heated debates (especially on is youtube considered social media reddit threads) claiming it’s “just a video hosting site.” So which is it?
The short answer: Yes, YouTube is absolutely considered social media by marketers, academics, regulators, and the platform itself. But the longer answer reveals why the question keeps coming up and how YouTube is actually a hybrid that combines traditional media with powerful social features. Let’s break it down clearly.
What Is Social Media? The Core Definition
Before labeling any platform, we need a solid definition of what is social media.
Most experts and institutions agree on these key traits:
- User-generated content (UGC)
- Public or semi-public profiles
- Ability to follow, friend, or subscribe to other users
- Interactive features: likes, comments, shares, direct messages
- Content feeds or algorithms driven by engagement and relationships
- Two-way communication between users and creators
Sources from Hootsuite to Oxford and the Pew Research Center all use variations of this framework. If a platform ticks most of these boxes, it’s social media even if it started with a different mission.
When Was YouTube Created and How It Evolved
YouTube was created in February 2005 by three former PayPal employees (Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim). The first video (“Me at the zoo”) went live on April 23, 2005. For its first year, it really was just a video-sharing site upload, embed, watch. There were no subscriptions, no comments until late 2005, and no channel pages until 2006.
Google bought it in October 2006 for $1.65 billion, and that’s when the social layer started exploding:
- 2007 → Subscriptions and channel pages
- 2008 → Commenting system overhaul
- 2011 → Google+ integration (RIP) pushed social connections
- 2017 → Community tab (posts, polls, images)
- 2019 → Stories (later rebranded as Shorts)
- 2020 → Live chat, Super Chat, channel memberships
- 2022-2025 → Handles (@username), stronger algorithmic “For You” feed, collaborative live streams
By 2025, YouTube openly calls itself “the world’s largest social video platform” in its own marketing and API documentation.
Direct Comparison: YouTube vs Classic Social Media Features
| Feature | YouTube | TikTok | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| User profiles | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Follow/subscribe mechanism | Yes (Subscribe) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Likes / Reactions | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Comments | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Direct messaging | Limited (2025) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Stories / short-form | Yes (Shorts) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Live streaming with chat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Algorithmic “For You” feed | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Community posts / text | Yes (tab) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hashtags & discoverability | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
As you can see, YouTube checks almost every box.
Common Counter-Arguments (and Why They Don’t Hold Up)
- “YouTube is passive watching, not social.” → False. Live premieres regularly get 100k+ concurrent viewers chatting in real time. Comment sections under music videos or drama channels are some of the most active forums online.
- “There’s no friend system.” → Subscriptions + the Community tab + @handles create the same network effect. You can now tag and mention creators directly.
- “Netflix and Spotify have comments too!” → Is Netflix social media? No Netflix removed its user reviews years ago and has no profiles you can follow or algorithmic social feed. → Is Spotify social media? Only partially Spotify Wrapped sharing and collaborative playlists are social features, but the core experience is private listening. → Is YouTube Music social media? It borrows YouTube’s entire social layer (comments, likes, subscriptions), so yes, it counts too.
- “Google isn’t social media.” → Is Google considered social media? No. Search engines deliver information; they don’t facilitate ongoing user-to-user interaction or identity-based feeds.
- “Pinterest and Reddit are borderline too.” → Is Pinterest social media? Yes pinboards, follows, comments, messaging. → Is Reddit social media? Definitely communities, upvotes, direct engagement.
YouTube sits comfortably in the same category.
Academic and Industry Consensus
- Pew Research (2024) includes YouTube in every “social media usage” study alongside Facebook and Instagram.
- Datareportal’s Digital 2025 report lists YouTube as the second-biggest social platform after Facebook.
- The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and U.S. state laws regulating minors on social media explicitly include YouTube.
- Every major social media marketing course (HubSpot, Hootsuite, Coursera) teaches YouTube as a core social channel.
Why Some People Still Say “No” (The Reddit Effect)
Search is youtube considered social media reddit and you’ll find dozens of threads where users insist it isn’t. The main reasons:
- Nostalgia for 2005-2010 YouTube
- Desire to separate “real content” from short-form dopamine hits
- Technical definitions that require mutual friending (like early Facebook)
Those arguments made sense in 2008. They don’t in 2025.
FAQ
1. Is YouTube considered social media in 2025?
Yes. It has public profiles, subscriptions, likes, comments, live chat, community posts, algorithmic feeds, and creator-audience relationships meeting every modern definition of social media.
2. When was YouTube created?
YouTube was founded in February 2005 and the first video was uploaded on April 23, 2005.
3. Is Netflix social media?
No. Netflix lacks public profiles, following mechanics, or meaningful user-to-user interaction.
4. Is Spotify or YouTube Music social media?
Spotify has limited social features (collaborative playlists, Wrapped sharing). YouTube Music inherits full YouTube social functionality, so it qualifies more strongly.
5. Is Pinterest social media?
Yes profiles, boards, following, comments, and messaging make it a visual social platform.
6. Is Reddit social media?
Absolutely. Subreddits function as communities, upvotes/downvotes drive visibility, and direct engagement is core.
7. Is Google considered social media?
No. Google Search, Maps, and Gmail facilitate information or communication, but they don’t create ongoing social networks or identity-based feeds.
Final Verdict
Is YouTube considered social media? Yes by academics, marketers, regulators, and YouTube itself. It started as a simple video site in 2005, but two decades of feature additions have turned it into one of the most powerful social platforms on earth.
