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In 1971, Ray Tomlinson, a pioneering computer programmer, sent himself an email which was marked as the first email ever sent.
http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/6116/First-e-mail-sent-by-Ray-Tomlinson/ -
In the late 70's, Bulletin Board System introduced the first site that had the option to create a login built for interaction.
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/bulletin-board-system-BBS -
File sharing, link sharing and keeping in touch was introduced in 1988.
http://www.pepperitmarketing.com/facebook/evolution-social-media -
Six Degrees, the first ever social media site launched in May of 1996. It included profiles and friends lists. Unfortunately, even with the high amount of users, there weren't enough people connected to the internet at the time so it was sold.
http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/then-and-now-a-history-of-social-networking-sites/2/ -
In November of 1996, ICQ was introduced and this is where multi-user messaging and gaming began, along with the abbrevations "LOL" and "BRB."
http://www.pepperitmarketing.com/facebook/evolution-social-media -
AOL created the first instant messaging site for Microsoft Windows. In 2009 AIM started to lose users rapidly which was caused by the rise in texting.
http://mashable.com/2014/04/15/aim-history/ -
Launched by Jonathan Abrams and Peter Chin, it showed you and strangers' "six degrees of separation" and made meeting people less intimidating and was addictive for users, it was also considered a safe way to meet potential dates online.
http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/then-and-now-a-history-of-social-networking-sites/4/ -
Facebook was created at Harvard initially by student Mark Zuckerberg, until he wanted to bring it to the next level and was joined by fellow students, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. http://mashable.com/2006/08/25/facebook-profile/#pHqVZaEGoiqu
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The first site for video sharing was invented by 3 former PayPal employees in San Bruno, California.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/7596636/YouTube-a-history.html -
Twitter was created by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone, and Noah Glass. The site allows users to post 140 character long posts called "tweets," and has gained a mass amount of popularity since it's major peak in 2012.
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-twitter-was-founded-2011-4 -
Google bought Youtube in 2006, just a year after it's launch for 1.65 billion dollars.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/7596636/YouTube-a-history.html -
Snapchat was created by three Stanford students, Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown. It's a photo sharing app where you can add filters, connect with friends, all while your pictures instant disappear or if they're on your story, they last for 24 hours.
