Myspacenewl

History of Social Media

By JohnT120

  • Sixdegrees Launches

    Sixdegrees opened to the public in 1997, and was the first of modern social media websites.

  • Sixdegrees Fails

    The Sixdegrees social media platform was sold and then closed in 2000.

  • Hot or Not Launches

    The platform AmIHotOrNot released in 2000, where users would rate pictures of each other and heralding some of the less savory aspects of social media. It is still running today, rebranded as the Chat & Date dating app.

  • Friendster Launches

    Friendster initially was meant to be a dating app meant to set up people with friends in common, but the userbase outgrew the servers in 2003, causing the site's public perception to plummet.

  • Youtube Launches

    Youtube launched in 2003 as the first video sharing platform

  • MySpace Launches

    MySpace Launched in 2003 to rival Friendster, and quickly took off.

  • Launch of FaceMash/Facebook

    Mark Zuckerburg initially launched under the name FaceMash, a response to Hot or Not. In 2004 the site rebranded to The Facebook and shortened it to just Facebook in 2005.

  • Reddit Launches

    Reddit launched in 2003, and is still in use to this day.

  • MySpace Sells to NewsCorp

    MySpace reached 25 million users in 2005 and was then sold to NewsCorp, after which the popularity of the site started to fall.

  • Twitter Launches

    Twitter was launched in 2006, intended to be used to share quick updates among friends. Its current status is far more tumultuous.

  • Tumblr Launches

    Tumblr released in 2007 as a microblogging platform, allowing users to maintain their own blog while aggregating several others.

  • Youtube Partners

    Youtube introduced the partner program in 2007 following the acquisition by Google in the previous year, allowing people to make money off of ads on their videos. "Youtuber" has since become a career path for charismatic creatives who don't mind making less than minimum wage.

  • Weibo Launches

    Weibo launched as an alternative to Facebook and Twitter in 2009 following their banning in China, and remains one of the most popular social media sites in China.

  • Grindr Launches

    Grindr launched in 2009, the first dating app to use location services to match users to other nearby users.

  • Instagram Launches

    Instagram launched in 2010, allowing users to share photos. It has since become the most downloaded app.

  • Google Plus Happens

    Google Plus was launched in 2011, attracted several users initially, but quickly failed after failing to compete with Facebook and Twitter.

  • Snapchat Launches

    Snapchat launched in 2011, allowing users to post photos that would disappear after 24 hours. Presumably this feature is meant for drunk people so they don't have to go back later to delete anything they might have posted the night before.

  • Twitch Launches

    Twitch launched in 2011, allowing users to stream themselves playing video games to large audiences. The service was quickly purchased by Amazon.

  • Vine Launches

    Vine launched in 2013, allowing users to share 6 second videos. Vine was successful initially, but couldn't stay open after competitors Snapchat and Instagram copied the video sharing features.

  • Slack Launches

    Slack launched in 2013, allowing for rapid communication within a corporation or within similar Slack groups.

  • Patreon Launches

    Patreon launched in 2013, allowing users to subscribe to creators for exclusive monthly content, giving content creators on other sites a way to make money directly from viewers.

  • Fake News

    The year of 2016 featured a massive disinformation war waged across Facebook, Twitter, and several other social media sites in an attempt to influence the US presidential election. Many articles of "Fake News" (Lying) were posted by Russian agents.

  • TikTok Launches

    TikTok was released worldwide in 2017, previously Douyin in its home country of China. It grew massively in popularity in 2019.

  • Facebook Trials

    In 2018, information was harvested from 50 million Facebook users without their consent. Following an investigation, Mark Zuckerberg was subjected to a five day hearing before congress.

  • Facebook & Instagram Shops Launch

    In 2020, Facebook launched the Facebook and Instagram Marketplace, allowing users to sell items through the platform.

  • Elon Musk Purchases Twitter

    In 2022 Elon Musk purchased Twitter, and then proceeded to commit crimes in multiple countries, leak the site's source code, as well as make several changes to the site's interface that were poorly received.