social media in the aughts and teens timeline

Jan 1, 1972

email

Email begins competing with snail mail
Jan 1, 1997

AIM

AIM "invents" instant messaging, competes with email.
Jan 1, 2001

iTunes

iTunes disrupted music. Traditionally music had to be bought by album and it spread via word-of-mouth. Now, iTunes users could share songs with one another, they could only buy one song instead of a whole album, and through recommendations, they didn't have to talk to one another any more. A very crude "social media" at the time.
Jan 1, 2003

MySpace

The original social media site, Myspace paved the way for Facebook's broad appeal. MySpace disrupted the music industry by providing a place for bands to share their music for free.
Jan 1, 2003

LinkedIn

LinkedIn was started in '03 and went public in '11. LinkedIn disrupted hiring by creating a social media platform for a professional space. It allowed people to look at others resumes online, recruit those who may not have been looking for a job and more. Before LinkedIn, you either applied for a job, or you were in touch with a recruiter.

email