History of social media: prior 1900-2000

Email

1966

An email is messages distributed by electronic means from one computer user to one or more recipients via a network. AUTODIN and SAGE allow electronic text messages to be transferred between users on different computers.

Compuserve

1969

Access to the Internet, email, instant messaging, and an integrated contact list are all available through this online information service. CompuServe, which began as a timesharing service in 1969, is one of the first online services, having introduced email in 1979 and online chat a year later.

Listserv

1986

The software that handles e-mail lists and transmits and receives email that travels over the internet is known as Listserv. This method of administration streamlines the process of sending and receiving messages to groups, saving time.

IRC

1988

Internet Relay Chat was invented in 1988 as a protocol for real-time text messaging between computers connected to the internet. Although it enables private messaging between two users, data transfer, and other server-side and client-side commands, it is primarily used for group discussion in chat rooms called "channels."

Six degrees

1997

In 1997, Andrew Weinreich established the first online social network. Six Degrees was the first online social network, allowing users to create profiles in a database and connect with their real-world relationships. Andrew Weinreich, an entrepreneur, came up with the idea.

Moveon

1998

MoveOn was founded in 1998 around one of the first enormously popular email petitions and has since evolved to become one of the greatest grassroots progressive advocacy networks in the US, with millions of members.

Livejournal

1999

Brad Fitzpatrick, a computer science major at the time, founded LiveJournal in 1999. Fitzpatrick turned a journaling software he made and used for himself into a website that others could use as well. Each user has their own journal on LiveJournal, which may be customized with varying levels of privacy.