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Release of Commodore 64 PC
Enabled home users to access Q-Link (internet service) which allowed them to send basic text messages to other users.
De Hoya, B. (2019, May 21) IRC, ICQ, AIM and more: A History of Instant Messaging. http://lifewire.com -
AOL- Quantum became AOL
Internet is now available for everyone not just college students.
Rothman, L.(2015, May 22) A Brief Guide to the Tumultuous 30 year History of Aol. http://www.Time.com -
Chat rooms became popular in the mainstream.
Popular in the 90's and allowed multiple users to communicate in virtual "chat rooms" in real time.
Dewey, C. (2014, Oct. 30) A Complete History of the Rise and Fall- and Reincarnation!- of the Beloved 90's Chatroom. http://Washingtonpost.com -
SMS now available on Nokia phones
SMS allowed users to send texts as long as they had the same carrier.
Gayomali, C. (2012, Dec. 3) The Text Message Turns 20: A Brief History of SMS. http://theweek.com -
AIM released
AIM was an AOL instant messenger program to instantly send messages between users. (Wikipedia) There was a popular romantic comedy "You've Got Mail" made in 1998 based on this, -
Six Degrees
First social site where users were able to make profiles of themselves and "friend" others.
Hendriks, D. (2013, May 8) Complete History of Social Media: Then and Now. http://smallbiztrends.com -
Launch of AT&T Wireless inter-carrier text messaging program
This would allow all wireless carriers to connect to allow texting between them leading to the major growth of texting in the U.S.
Lizak, J. (2019) When did texting start?. http://sendhub.com/blog -
Launch of Blackberry's integrated phone
This phone boasted a web browser as well as emailing and texting capabilities.
CBS News (2013, April 3) 5 Major Moments in Cellphone History. http://CBC.ca/news -
Launch of LinkedIn
Professional networking site which allowed users to search for and build professional networks online.
http://ourstory.linkedin.com -
Launch of MySpace
Social networking site that gained popularity and became the number one website in 2006.
CBS News. (2011, July 6) Then and Now: A History of Social Networking Sites. http://cbsnews.com -
Launch of Facebook
Gained over 2 billion monthly active users by 2015.
Greener, A., Flegerman, S., Sherman, T., & Baker, T. (2019, Feb. 1) Facebook at 15: How a College Experiment changed the world. http://www.cnn.com -
Launch of first generation iPhone
First touchscreen smart phone despite predictions of failure.
Silver, S (2018, June 29) The Story of the Original iPhone that nobody thought was possible. http://appleinsider.com
