History of Social Media

Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) Created

1958

ARPA was created by the United States government in attempts to bring together qualified professionals to work together towards making strides in the development of new technology.

CompuServe

1969

The first major commercial online service provider in the United States. The company peaked in the late peaked in the late 70s-80s. The server allowed members to share files and access news and events and allowed users to interact. Users were able to send messages similar to a current day e-mail and could even join CompuServe’s thousands of discussion forums to converse with other members.

ARPANET

1969

Developed by ARPA, was a interfacing communications network. It used minicomputers called interface message processors (IMPs) used to interface to the network rather than the large mainframes, laying the framework of the Internet. ARPANET is credited to have introduced e-mails, primarily by using the "@" sign.

First Computer Developed

1977

Three major companies released their own versions of personal computers in 1977; the Apple II, PET 2001 and TRS-8. The Apple II, the first personal computer with color graphics and seemed to be a public favorite.

Bulletin Board System (BBS)

Feb 16, 1978

First public use of BBS was developed by Ward Christensen and Randy Suess in Chicago. This computerized Bulletin Board System (CBBS), kept a count of callers, and reportedly connected 253,301 callers before it was finally retired. A BBS is a computer software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Users can upload and download software and data, read news, and exchange messages with others through email, public message boards, and sometimes by direct chatting.

Chat Rooms Launched

1985

Chat rooms allowed users to send messages back and fourth. Chat rooms became a popular feature on many social network sites and still are popular in networking today.

America Online(AOL)

May 24, 1985

Like past servers, AOL allowed users to interact with one another but introduced some new additions. Aside from the ability to send messages, Member Profiles were used, which users would make and list details about themselves in. According to Vanity Fair's How The Web Was Won, these member-created communities were arguably the service’s most fascinating, forward-thinking feature. AOL also included the first interactive fictional series and first fully automated play by email game.

World Wide Web (WWW) Introduced

1991

The WWW is an information system on the Internet that allows documents to be connected to other documents by hypertext links, enabling the user to search for information by moving from one document to another identified by URLs. Today, the WWW is used by billions and is a common source of information that is easily accessible to many.

Mosaic Launched

1994

The first widely used internet browser that acted as a catalyst to the burst in users of the World Wide Web. It is now discontinued but was instrumental in the popularity of the WWW.

Amazon

Jun 5, 1994

Amazon is an electronic commerce company, starting selling only books. They have developed into buying, selling, and even renting products, music, and videos as well as cloud computing. They have bought out other companies and have had much success building on to their name, launching programs such as amazon prime, and its numerous partnerships with other companies. Amazon has around 224 current users.

Classmates.com

Nov 17, 1995

Website initially allowed users to look up classmates from the past. Members can now make their own profiles. Proved to be immediately popular and stills remains so today with over 50 million members.

SixDegrees.com

1997

The very first website that allow its users to create profiles, invite friends, organize groups, and view other user profiles. It ultimately failed but led to the invention of social media sites that are still widely used today.

Google

Sep 4, 1998

Search engine that became the most widely used and drove people to use the WWW for virtually any search, especially if timing is of the essence. Google has since developed further programs associated with is such as gmail, Google+, google drive, etc. In November 2016, Google was ranked first amongst the most visited multi-platform web properties in the United States with 246 million U.S. unique visitors.

Friendster

Mar 22, 2002

Friendster arguably introduced the idea of social networking effectively. It used a method similar to SixDegrees.com, but labeled it the “Circle of Friends,” and promoted the idea that people who share common bonds can have strong online communities. It ensured there were plenty of ways to discover those bonds from connecting common friends, interests, etc. Friendster faced many obstacles including technical issues and is now solely used as a gaming site.

MySpace

Aug 1, 2003

MySpace offers interactive communication, network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos. The social networking site targeted key young adult demographic with these new features that set it apart from any past social networking site. It is now mainly used in other foreign countries.

LinkedIn

Sep 5, 2003

LinkedIn is a networking resource for business people who want to connect with other professionals. The site has continued to progress, allowing users to post any professional related information, search for jobs, and find current and past co-workers.Today, LinkedIn has more than 297 million members looking to make connections.

Facebook

Feb 4, 2004

Facebook was first launched strictly to Harvard University as an exercise and remained a campus-oriented site for two years before being offered to the general public in 2006. Facebook owes its success to many new innovations and features including the infamous "Like" button and making it possible for third-party developers to create applications that work within Facebook itself. Today, Facebook continues to evolve and has more than 2 billion active users.

Twitter

Mar 21, 2006

Twitter is an online news and social networking service that allows users to post and interact with messages called, "tweets". It has become a primary force in the rise of citizen journalism as time progressed. Twitter currently has over 380 million active users worldwide.

Introduction of Smartphones to the United States

2007

Prior to 2007, Japan was the only country to have success with what we know now as a smartphone. Apple,Inc introduced their version of a smartphone, the IPhone in 2007, which was quickly followed by competing companies in the the U.S. releasing their own versions. The introduction of smartphones to the U.S. cause many social networking sites to become more popular, especially Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and LinkedIn.

Instagram

Oct 6, 2010

Instagram is a mobile, desktop, and Internet-based application that allows users to share pictures and videos either publicly or privately, with their "followers". Instagram has progressed to having features such as stories, live videos, and shortened video clips via an an associated app, called Boomerang. It currently has over 700 million users.

Snapchat

2011

Snapchat is an image messaging and multimedia mobile application used by nearly 173 million users. It has added new features such as filters, video-sharing, and single or group chats.

Google+

Jun 28, 2011

Google+ was created to compete mainly with Facebook and Twitter. Its most notable feature was the use of live video, which has been adopted by many social networking sites today. It is used today primarily by professionals discussing the latest technology news and innovations. Today the site has about 111 million users but only a fraction remain consistently active.