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The First Computer is Built
In 1937, shortly before World War II, the first electronic digital computer was invented by Dr. John V. Atanasoff and Clifford Berry. It was named Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC). Needless to say, without their first steps into the computing industry, we wouldn't have any of the technological advancements that we have today. http://people.bu.edu/baws/brief%20computer%20history.html -
Ray Tomlinson and the First E-Mail
Computer engineer Ray Tomlinson sent the first email to himself. The email, consisting of random letters (QWERTYUIOP), was a massive achievement for the growth of social media. http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/6116/first-e-mail-sent-by-ray-tomlinson/ -
Timothy Berners-Lee Creates the World Wide Web
Without the creation of the World Wide Web, we wouldn't have the amount of social media sites that we have today. Because Timothy Berners-Lee gifted the World Wide Web to us, by providing it as a global public good and a basic right, inventors are able to create the websites that we take for granted. https://webfoundation.org/about/sir-tim-berners-lee/ -
The Palace: The Birth of Chat Rooms
Before instant messaging was popular, people joined "chat rooms" to talk to one another online. In the early 90s, chat rooms began taking off. One of the first chat rooms to surface was known as "The Palace." It was created in 1994, and still even operates til this day. http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/jbum.html -
Yahoo!
Yahoo was originally founded in 1994 by Stanford students Jerry Yang and David Filo. They originally wanted it to be "Jerry and David's Guide to the Internet" but quickly adopted the domain name "Yahoo.com" shortly after. https://www.webcitation.org/659XT1635?url=http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/22707.html -
The First Social Media Site is Born
Most people agree that Six Degrees was the first social media site that grew a large fan base. There were a few others before it, but nothing to the extent of Six Degrees. Just like Facebook, this site allowed you to create a profile, befriend people, and get connected with friends and family. http://historycooperative.org/the-history-of-social-media/ -
LunarStorm
At the turn of the century, we saw the growth of many new websites. One in particular, LunarStorm, helped pave way for the creation of our modern day social media sites. LunarStorm was one of the first commercial advertisement-financed sites to develop. It grew to a whopping 1.2 Million users, 70% of which, were between the ages of 12 and 17. The site has been shut down since 2010. -
Social Media Grows
From 2002-2003, social media was booming. With LunarStorm taking the internet by storm (no pun intended), we began to see other websites pop up. In 2002, the Malaysian-born site Friendster was born, as well as the American online radio service LastFM. People began to see the benefit of the internet, and that it wasn't just for messaging. You could listen to music, date, explore hobbies, and - after the development of LinkedIn in 2003 - even do business with one another. ourstory.linkedin.com/ -
MySpace Takes Over
In 2003, the website MySpace took over as "the" social media site. People began flocking to this website because it offered customizable profiles that could be embedded. This revolutionized customizable social media sites for years to come. -
Facebook
In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg launched his start-up website for his fellow Harvard classmates. Over the past decade or so, it has grown to be the largest social media site of all time - boasting over one billion users. https://www.poynter.org/news/today-media-history-do-you-remember-beginning-facebook-its-11th-anniversary-we-look-back -
YouTube
In 2005, Paypal employees wanted a way to send videos to one another via the internet. So, they developed a website that could do just that. In February of 2005, they launched YouTube.com to the public. Currently, it is the number one video sharing website on the internet. http://teachinghistory.org/digital-classroom/tech-for-teachers/24867 -
Twitter Makes a Splash in Media
With websites like Facebook and MySpace popping up left and right, it's no surprise that Jack Dorsey's 140-character SMS site made a huge splash with consumers. Much like Facebook, over the last decade, it has grown to a whopping 500 million users.
