Social Media Timeline

CBBS (Computerized Bulletin Board System) launched

Feb 16, 1978

The "birth" of social media, a computer program that connected users to a single system that was later used for things like paging, emails, reminders, calendars, and more.

AOL Launches

1991

American Online launches on DOS Computer systems and later to Windows. AOL allowed people across the world to chat and interact with each other over the computer.

Simon Personal Communicator Released

Aug 16, 1994

Bellsouth and IBM made the first "smartphone" that had a touch screen, e-mail, a pager, and a keypad.

Classmates.com Launches

Nov 17, 1995

Classmates.com was a website created to connect people who used to go to school together. Although Classmates.com is still around today, it is not as well-known as when it was one of the only networks available.

Google.com Launches

Sep 15, 1997

Search engine Google.com first launches its domain. Google has been a dominant presence in the world of Social Media and the Internet as a whole, with its acquisition of other popular sites such as YouTube, as well as its ever-expanding online enterprises.

First Blackberry Released

Jan 19, 1999

Blackberry 850, an interactive email pager, one of the early concepts of what would become modern smartphones

Friendster Launches

Mar 22, 2002

Social networking site Friendster.com was created to connect people on the Internet who had common interests. One of the first networking sites to have "friends" that you meet online.

MySpace Launches

2003

Myspace.com had a similar concept to Friendster, but was specifically targeted to young adults.

Facebook Launches

Feb 4, 2004

Mark Zuckerberg creates Facebook.com, a social networking site that would come to dominate almost every Internet-literate country in the world today.

YouTube Launches

2005

Youtube.com is created as a social platform to share and create videos. Although the "social" aspect of YouTube is often overlooked, it is one of the most populated networks on the internet today.

Reddit Launches

Jun 23, 2005

Reddit.com is a forum-style social networking site that was relatively unique for giving users a sense of anonymity.

Google Acquires YouTube

2006

Google buys Youtube.com amid its booming popularity 1 year after its launch.

Twitter Lauches

Jul 15, 2006

Twitter.com became popular for it's very fast-paced interface for some people who didn't like the involvedness of Facebook's interface

iPhone Released

Jun 29, 2007

Apple launches the iPhone, a smartphone with fully functional touchscreen and internet capabilities on top of the functions of a normal cellphone.

Pinterest Launches

2010

Pinterest, an image-sharing network was created and quickly became popular with hobbyists.

Instagram Launches

Oct 6, 2010

Instagram launches during the mobile age with a much more mobile-friendly interface for smartphone users

Google+ Launches

Jun 28, 2011

Google creates their own Social Networking Platform to promote inter connectivity when using Google

Twitter Acquires Vine

2012

Vine was bought by Twitter a few months before its official release and a few months after its founding in June of 2012.

Facebook Acquires Instagram

Apr 9, 2012

Facebook buys Instagram fro $1 billion.

Vine Launches

Jan 24, 2013

Vine is an app that let you create and share short, looping videos.

Facebook Acquires Oculus

Mar 25, 2014

Facebook buys Oculus, a virtual reality company, at the beginning of its rise to popularity for the possibility of future social media endeavors with VR.

Vine Shuts Down

Jan 17, 2017

After announcing Vine would no longer be supported as a network, the app was renamed to "Vine Camera" and the service now allowed users to upload videos from the camera to Twitter.

Mark Zuckerberg Testifies before Congress

Apr 10, 2018

Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, testified in front of the U.S. Congress over two days in regards to claims that his website was being used to sell its users' information by companies for the purpose of advertising.