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The History of Social Media

By Kimberly2711

  • Telephone

    Telephone
    The history of social media would be incomplete without the birth of the internet which is where the telephone comes into play. The invention of the telephone led to the birth of the internet. It was created by Alexander Graham Bell

  • Birth of the Internet

    Birth of the Internet
    Social media wouldn't exist without the internet. The birth of the internet came from four nodes and a test. Kleinrock, a science professor at UCLA and his four graduate students hoped to log onto the Stanford computer and send it date and they succeeded. They were able to get the computer to connect to another.

  • Email

    Email
    Ray Tomlinson invented an email program to send messages online. The first e-mail message ever was, "qwertyuiop." The invention of the email is crucial to social media because you need one to sign up for ever network out there. It also created another form of communication.

  • Six degrees

    Six degrees
    This was the first modern social network site that allowed users to create a profile and become friends with other users. They could also send messages and post on their bulletin board for others to see. It created the template for what other social media sites would later recreate. It was the first of its kind. Source: “SixDegrees.com.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SixDegrees.com.

  • Napster

    Napster
    Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker created Napster to be a music-focused online service that allowed for peer-to-peer file sharing. It emphasized sharing digital files usually in MP3 format. This was the beginning of the emphasis of sharing content with other users. We will later see how important this idea becomes. Source: “Napster.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster.

  • Blogger

    Blogger
    Blogger was the first live journal social network built around constantly updated blogs. It was the first of its kinda as well. Users were encouraged to follow other users with similar interests and to create groups. One of the earliest blog-publishing tools. Essentially all the social media sites we have now are forms of "micro-blogging" take after the idea of Blogger. Source: “Blogger (Service).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogger_(service).

  • Lunarstorm

    Lunarstorm
    Rickard Ericsson created Lunarstorm which was Europe's first digital online community. Users could send messages and follow one another. First it was financed by ads and then later turned to pay-by-sms services. Lunarstorm is important to the history of social media because it was the first site geared towards teenagers. Most of their users were between the ages of 12-17. Source: “LunarStorm.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LunarStorm.

  • Friendster

    Friendster
    This social networking service was based in Malaysia and allowed users to contact other members, share online content and discover new events. It is important to the history of social media because it was the first to put an emphasis on online dating. Source: “Friendster.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendster.

  • Myspace

    Myspace
    Myspace became the most popular social media network in the world just three years after its launch. It allowed for its users to customize their profiles and also allowed user-generate content, blogs, photos and video. In 2006 it surpassed Google as the most visited site in the world. There are 1 billion active and inactive registered users. Source: “Myspace.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myspace.

  • LinkedIn

    LinkedIn
    It was the first mainstream business and employment-oriented social networking site. It is used for professional networking in which employers can post job and recruiters can find talent. LinkedIn has over 500 million members and 106 active users. In 2016 it was the 20th most popular website in the world. LinkedIn changed the way people viewed social media. Source: “LinkedIn.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LinkedIn.

  • Flickr

    Flickr
    Flickr was the first image and video hosting web service. It consisted of user-generated content. Users were able to share and embed personal photography which promoted an online community. Flickr also allowed for bloggers to host an image or embed it on their blog. Source: “Flickr.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flickr.

  • Facebook

    Facebook
    At its' creation memberships were limited to just Harvard students. But it changed the course of social media when it opened its memberships to everyone starting in 2006. Facebook allows for customized profiles, which includes user-generated content like photos and updates on a timeline. One can also join groups based on interests. Facebook has more than 2 billion active users as of June of 2017. Source: “Facebook.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook.

  • Youtube

    Youtube
    Youtube is the first major video hosting and sharing site in which users can upload their own videos and share them. Users can also view, rate, share and comment on other user's videos. Another unique feature is that users can subscribes to people's channels. It was bought by Google for $1.65 billion. Source: “YouTube.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube.

  • Twitter

    Twitter
    Twitter is an online news and social networking services that allows users to post and interact with other members. It plays a significant role in social media history because it changed the way a lot of companies market their brand. It also proved to be the largest source of breaking news the day of the 2016 US president election. With a 280 character limit, users can group posts together with a hashtag. “Twitter.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter.

  • Instagram

    Instagram
    Instagram is a photo-sharing social media network that allows users to edit and share pictures and videos to their followers. Users can also comment and tag other people in their photos. Brand ambassadors use Instagram to promote their products. As of June of 2017 Instagram had 500 million daily active users. It was named one of the most influential social networks in the world. Source: “Instagram.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instagram.