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first social media site
SixDegrees.com is the first social networking site created. It had one million users before it was bought out for $125 million and later shuttered in 2000. -
AmIHotorNot.com
The website AmIHotorNot.com where users post photos of themselves and then rate each other's attractiveness is launched. It was generally harmful but potentially influenced the creators of Facebook and YouTube. -
Friendster
Friendster was a dating site for people with friends in common. -
Myspace
Myspace was the rival for Friendster and was popular among millions of teens. It had customizable public profiles versus Friendster's private ones only for registered users. It was the fifth popular site in the US. -
the start of Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg launched Facemash and later changed it to "The Facebook" in 2004. "The" was dropped when they purchased the fackbook.com domain in 2005. -
YouTube
YouTube launches and posts its first ever video called "Me at the zoo." -
Twitter
Twitter, which started as Twttr, launches. Its first tweet was posted by co-founder Jack Dorsey on March 21, 2006. -
LinkedIn
LinkedIn, the "Myspace for adults," was a site connect the business community and it was the first to offer users paid premium packages. -
Tumblr
17 year old David Karp launches Tumblr from his bedroom in his mother's apartment. This is the start of micro-blogging, or exchanging small elements of content. -
Hashtag
The hashtag is a symbol that has helped political organizers and regular citizens mobilize, promote, and create awareness for social issues like #MeToo or #BLM. It is also used for entertainment and grouping similar posts like #YOLO. -
Farmville
Farmville, an addictive social media game, made the TIME magazine's worst inventions list. -
Grindr
Grindr was the first geosocial networking app for dating geared toward gay and bisexual men. It revolutionized hookup culture for gay people. -
Emoji
Emojis appeared internationally on Apple and Google platforms. It was adopted by Unicode and became legitimized as a language. -
Instagram
Instagram was created by Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg. The first Instagram photo was published by co-founder Mike Krieger. The app receives 95 million posts a day. -
Pinterest
Pinterest went live in closed beta, but "pinning" became popular in 2011. Its most popular categories are home, arts and crafts, and fashion. 2 million people post pins every day. -
Snapchat
Picaboo launches and is quickly rebranded as Snapchat following a lawsuit. It is the first to post content that would vanish after 24 hours. -
Google Plus
Google Plus began with an invitation-only system. It has "circles" for organizing friends without having to send a friend request. -
1 billion celebration for FB
Facebook reaches this significant milestone after 8 years of being launched. -
Year of Selfie
Twitter proclaims the Year of Selfie after Ellen DeGeneres's Oscar photo. -
Meerkat and Periscope
Meerkat was the first live streaming app but Periscope was far more popular. -
Facebook LIVE
ensured its success with live streaming with extra resources and partnerships with mainstream media.