Is YouTube Social Media? Let’s Settle This Once and For All

If not social, why social-shaped?

YouTube manages to avoid (or fail?) neat classification, because the question keeps popping up.

So, is YouTube social media? Yes, of course it is.

The problem is when brands forget about this, and think of YouTube as only video, missing the forest for the trees.

While it’s definitely awkward to be posting about this in 2025, we’ll use it as a reminder to not count YT out when planning your social media strategy.

The obvious signs of why YouTube is social media

If YouTube isn’t social media, it’s putting on a convincing act.

Here are the most straightforward, undeniable signs that we identified along years of building brands on social channels.

1. User-generated content

Just like TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn nowadays, YouTube thrives on user content (it was born this way, check YouTube’s first ever video below), and that is something we consistently see in other platforms.

2. Engagement here, there, and everywhere

YouTube has social interactions baked everywhere into the product.

Users can comment, share, and report.

Communities spring up organically around videos, topics, and industries. Are some ethereal and senseless? Of course, but that’s okay.

There are likes, dislikes, subscriptions, donations, and even direct interactions through community polls, posts, and unaided recall campaigns.

3. Sharing and virality

Sharing is a YouTube cornerstone – it’s so powerful, that other platforms have accommodated YouTube integrations natively to avoid users bouncing out to YouTube.

We’re speculating on this, but it’s definitely a possibility.

Platforms like X and WhatsApp have indeed iterated to automatically transform YouTube URLs into native video.

Virality is an even more evident trait.

Hits like MrBeast and all sorts of influencers are accelerated by easy sharing and (usually) original content, as you’d expect from a prime social platform.

4. Shorts (duh)

Short-form vertical video is a social media genre at this point.

YouTube Shorts mirror TikTok and Instagram Reels closely, proving YouTube is aggressively social when competing for attention.

5. Analytics and insights

YouTube analytics are similar and on par with other video-centric platforms like Instagram Reels or TikTok.

Marketers and creators get fairly comprehensive data, including:

• Views.
• Watch time.
• Audience demographics.
• Click-through rates.
• Real-time analytics.

Just like other social channels, you can iterate content based on viewer insights and performance metrics, and also retarget people who’ve seen your ad, watched your videos, or interacted with your channel.

The less-obvious social side of YouTube

Now let’s dig a little deeper. These signs aren’t as flashy, but help us understand the social DNA of YouTube.

6. Endless content

YouTube is famously addictive.

Users often spend hours passively absorbing content, precisely as they would on other social platforms…perhaps with fewer dance challenges (or maybe not).

So, when it comes to doomscrolling, YouTube is right up there with the other social media giants.

7. Advertising products

YouTube’s ad ecosystem is pretty large, including bumper ads, skippable and unskippable pre-rolls, display banners, shopping integrations, and even live-stream sponsorships.

It offers social-style targeting combined with TV-style reach.

Is it too much? Users complain about seeing too many YouTube ads, and that’s not something advertisers like either.

8. Creator culture

YouTube practically invented modern influencer marketing.

Its creator economy dwarfs other platforms, providing brands with to engage audiences authentically through collaborations.

Managing YouTube influencers feels distinctly social (and something we do on the regular here at Sculpt).

Finally, the most obvious sign of all

YouTube’s evolution into a social media platform has been a strategic goal for nearly a decade.

And it’s not even like they tried to hide it!

Back in 2016, YouTube launched the “Community” feature, allowing creators to engage with their audiences through text posts, images, GIFs, and more, directly on their channel’s Community tab within YouTube Studio.

This is where YouTube stopped being a video-sharing platform and moved into social network territory.

Since then, it kept rolling out features commonly found on traditional social media platforms, demonstrating over and again where their north is.

Conclusion: Yes, YouTube is social media (and then some)

Here at Sculpt, we like to think of YouTube as a social media hybrid, part TV, part content marketplace, still growing into a fully socially enabled platform.

For brands, it can be a major source of attention, while also demanding community engagement and large-scale brand awareness efforts.

What social media features would be nice-to-haves in YouTube?

Maybe we’ll see the platform move into enhanced messaging and more profile customization options and requirements, but in the meantime, there’s still plenty of YouTube marketing work to do.