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Six Degree's and AOL Instant Messenger
Six Degree's was one of the first genuine social media platforms as well as AOL's instant messenger. -
The Rising Popularity of Social Media
Hot or not, Habbo and Something Awful were launched, offering new ways to communicate comedy, attractiveness, and gaming. -
Six Degree's Falling
Six Degrees was short-lived and shut down after only 4 years. In that same year, Windows Messenger was created. -
Friendster
A gaming media platform that was originally meant to be a dating app. -
The Big Three
LinkedIn, a networking app still used today, MySpace, which was aimed at teen communication, and Skype, a video conferencing app used by many, were all created. -
A Big Year
Facebook was created, which has the most users of any social media platform to date. allowing users to post and share content across the world. -
Strong Competition
Multiple applications were created that year that are among the most popular and commonly used today. YouTube and Reddit were made that year, as well as Yahoo's purchase of Flickr, which was made the year prior. -
Twitter's Uprising
Twitter was created in 2006, along with LinkedIn's premium subscriptions, which were the first social media platform to conduct this action. -
Tumblr, Influencer's, and Hashtag's
Tumblr was introduced this year, which allowed for people to microblog. YouTube also launched its partnership program, forming what is known as an influencer today. The hashtag was also created so people could categorize their videos and allow for a target audience. -
Weibo and The Hookup
Weibo, a blend between Facebook and Twitter, was created once the two apps were banned in China. Grindr also came out that year, which allowed gay men to find partners and people to romanticize with a little easier. -
Pinterest and Instagram
Pinterest is for people to post their ideas, aesthetics, and many hobbies. Instagram also came out that year, becoming widely popular among the younger generations. -
Video Broadcasting
Snapchat, which quickly got sued for being similar to another app, was published for people to send photos and videos to others with various filters. Twitch was created to stream video games for others to watch, creating different communities -
A New Way to Romanticize
Tinder was formed to help people find others to love, of all genders and sexualities, unlike Grindr which had a target audience of gay men. Facebook had also bought Instagram this year for $1 billion in cash and stock. -
Video Sharing
Vine was released, letting people post 6-second comedy clips, which became popular very quickly. Following that, Instagram released video sharing, which created competition. -
Selfies and Lip Syncing
The selfie, just a photo of the front-facing view of a person, has trended to this day, showing people where you are and what your current emotion is. Musical.ly was also formed that year, posting lip-syncing videos and gaining quick attention. -
Live Streaming
Meerkat was the original live streaming service until Twitter created Periscope, which eventually won. Discord, which is still widely used today, was also created this year. -
Vine's Closing
Twitter announced that it would be closing down Vine, which upset many as it closed during a peak in popularity. Instagram came out with stories this same year, allowing for people to post about their day, only lasting 24 hours. -
The Main Star and Characters
Musical.ly was shut down and bought by ByteDance, which later in the year, turned into TikTok. Twitter had also increased their character limit on their posts, giving users the ability to create more content. -
Shutdowns and Scandals
Musical.ly had fully shut down by this year, having its users now use TikTok. Slightly before that, Yahoo! Messenger was also shut down. Facebook faces one of its biggest lawsuits over a data breach of user information. -
Google Plus
Google+ shut down after it had low engagement from users. Verizon also announces that it will be selling Tumblr to Automatic. -
Social Media Stores
Facebook and Instagram released online stores for users to promote their own and others' products. BeReal was also created this year to show in-the-moment photos of friends and family. -
Relaunch
YikYak was relaunched to the app store after being taken off a few years back. -
Twitter Rebrand
Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion, as well as completely rebranding the name to X. -
Threads
Threads is launched by Meta, had 30 million accounts made within the first 24 hours. -
TikTok Suspension
TikTok was suspended for 12 hours in the United States, as there have been data breach scandals in the past that sparked this.