On 15 January 2026, we’ll celebrate Wikipedia’s 25th birthday, a milestone made possible by the thousands of humans around the world who for 25 years have made Wikipedia a digital public good and the backbone of knowledge on the internet. People like you can help us reach even more people and inspire them to keep sharing knowledge freely.

As Wikipedia is turning 25 years old in January, we’re taking a moment to celebrate all the amazing things we’ve achieved together over the past 25 years. 25 years of knowledge, 25 years of collaboration, 25 years of consensus, 25 years of humanity at its best! As we look to the future, we invite people around the world to dream with us about the future of knowledge and protect it for generations to come.

There are several ways in which you could join the celebration. Whether through a simple post, a story, a reel, or video post, we want you to choose whatever feels more natural to you. Here are some things you could:

• Share a message on your social media to wish Wikipedia a happy birthday, to tell the world how Wikipedia has changed the way we create and access knowledge, or share your own experience with Wikipedia from the past 25 years.
• If you prefer, you can also reshare any of the messages we’ve created to celebrate this important milestone.
• And don’t forget to use the hashtag #Wikipedia25 and tag @Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is one of the top 10 most-visited global websites in the world, but it’s also run by a nonprofit – the Wikimedia Foundation. We are not funded by advertising, we don’t charge subscription fees, and we don’t sell our users’ data. The majority of our funding comes from donations. That also means that we don’t have the big budgets for communication that would allow us to reach all the people we’d like around the world. Every post, share, or story you create helps explain the value of this open, neutral, free, and human knowledge resource and invites more people to participate in the unique human experiment that is Wikipedia.

Reflect on anything that comes to mind as Wikipedia marks its 25th anniversary and celebrates 25 years of human knowledge. Here are some things you could:

• Share a message on your social media to wish Wikipedia a happy birthday, to tell the world how Wikipedia has changed the way we create and access knowledge, or share your own experience with Wikipedia from the past 25 years. 

Here are some examples of things you could talk about:

• Share a birthday wish
• Talk about how Wikipedia has changed the way we create and access knowledge
• Talk about what Wikipedia and this milestone means to you 
• Don’t forget to tag @Wikipedia and use the hashtag: #Wikipedia25

Here are some tools we created to make participation easier for you:

• Downloadable images you can use as you wish in your posts
• Sample messages you could post
• Video ideas to get you started

Anniversary hashtag: #Wikipedia25

We’ll be  celebrating our anniversary all year in 2026. However, as the 15th of January 2026 marks exactly 25 years since Wikipedia was first created, we would love it if you celebrated with us on that day. 

Don’t worry about having to remember our birthday. We’ll remind you of it closer to the time.

We may feature some of our friends’ posts on Wikipedia’s channels. We’d love to see what you share, so please make sure to tag us in your posts (#Wikipedia25).

Yes! Feel free to post in your preferred language. Wikipedia is global!

Yes. Original content is always welcome.

No, this campaign is not sponsored. You do not need to include any disclaimers or sponsorship tags (e.g. #ad, #sponsored). But we’d love it if you could use the birthday tag #Wikipedia25.

Yes! This is a global celebration that anyone from anywhere around the world can participate in. Wikipedia is everywhere!

Yes. Actually, we’d love that! You can share your posts, stories, reels, and videos across any of the social media platforms you use.

You can spread the word about how Wikipedia is built by volunteers from all over the world, and invite more people to get involved and contribute. You can also support Wikipedia by making a donation here: donate.wikipedia25.org. The future of knowledge is ours to protect! 

Yes! You’re welcome to invite like-minded people to take part in this celebration.

Have fun with your celebration content and make it your own, while staying true to the theme – Wikipedia’s 25th anniversary. Just keep the logos and colors as they are, and try not to make it seem like an official partnership.

For general questions or content guidance, please contact Anita Baker, Integrated Marketing Specialist at the Wikimedia Foundation.