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The telegraph was the first technology to allow the sending of messages electronically over long distances, though not to a mass group of people specifically. -
This allowed for communication within private groups, such as the first network, ARPANET, which allowed the Department of Defense to communicate within itself during the Cold War. ARPANET specifically would transform into the World Wide Web. -
The Bulletin Board System allowed early communication between civilians, allowing downloads and uploads of software, news reports, and forum communication, as well as direct messaging. -
Once a technology for the government and hobbyists, the internet opens to mass audiences. -
One of the first popular, worldwide social media websites, Myspace was created in 2003. It launched many celebrities into stardom as a way to share music, and was the most popular social media from 2005 to 2007.
https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/03/27/2199691.htm -
Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, originally only to be used by Harvard University students to compare the attractiveness of other students. It was opened up to everyone 13 and over in 2006. In 2008 it became the most visited website in the world and was the most downloaded app of the 2010s and is still as of 2025 the most popular social media website in the world. -
Another app to jump start many careers, YouTube is a video sharing social media that released in 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. -
Twitter, now X, was created in 2006 and was unique with a 140 character limit on posts, which it kept until 2017 and now allows 280 character posts. -
Assisting in how we use social media today, Apple Inc. released the first iPhone after announcing it only five months earlier. -
Instagram, a social media based around photo sharing, was created in 2010. It has since added other features like instant messaging, stories, reels, and threads. -
The most recent social media to get incredibly popular in recent memory is TikTok, an app that hosts short form video content that gained popularity off of dancing videos and music soundbites, after it merged with app musical.ly in 2018. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, TikTok has become one of the most popular apps in an incredibly short time span.