The history of social media from 1900-2000

CompuServe

1969

CompuServe was developed in 1969. It was an American online service provider. It launched for consumers as a dial-up online information service It charged people $6 an hour and for long distance, it sometimes went up to $30 an hour. This made it expensive for many people.

UseNet

1979

UseNet was developed was developed in 1979. It allowed people to communicate through a virtual newsletter. UseNet was conceived by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis. It allowed users to post articles and posts to newsgroups.

Listerv

1986

Listerv was developed in 1986. This was a method of communicating with a group of people through email. It allowed people to send one message to a “reflector” email address which then send the email to all of the people in the group.

IRC

1988

Internet Relay Chat, IRC, was developed in 1988. It was used for file sharing, link sharing, and to also keep in touch. IRC’s continued to be popular into the 1990’s.

The Palace

1994

The palace or palace chat was developed in 1994. It was a computer program that gave users access to graphical chat rooms called “palaces” where they can interact with each other using avatars.

SixDegrees

1997

Sixdegrees was developed in 1997. Its a social network service that allowed people to upload pictures of themselves and make friends with others using the program.

LiveJournal

1999

LiveJournal developed in 1999 was a Russian-owned social networking service that allowed people to keep a blog, journal, or diary. It was also a way to keep friends updated on activities.