History of Social Media timeline.

The telegraph itself is not a form of social media because it does not fit the definition of connecting a network of people through the internet. However the telegraph revolutionized communication much like social media has in that it allowed people near instantaneous connection suddenly making the world a much smaller place. The idea behind the telegraph is the same behind almost all social media platforms, to allow people to instantaneously communicate their thoughts with others.

CompuServe initially sold excess computer capacity to other corporations. However in 1978 the company began selling their services to owners of personal computers, by doing this they started the trend of people going online to connect with each other. One major area of CompuServe's services was online newspapers which also included bulletin boards and forums where people could chat with one another. CompuServe
Iml.jou.ufl.edu
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/carlson/history/compuserve.htm

GEnie or General Electric Network for Information Exchange was an online service created by General Electric that offered discussion areas called "RoundTables". A "RoundTable" contained a message board, a real time chatroom, and a library for permanent files. GEnie offered hundreds of "RoundTables" on various subjects and was one of the first major competitors of CompuServe. GEnie
En.wikipedia.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEnie

Live Journal and other blogging sites started popping up in the late 90's. LiveJournal was created by Brad Fitzpatrick as a way of keeping his high school friends updated on his activities. LiveJournal is similar to modern social media sites in that it was built around constantly updating posts and encouraged users to create groups and follow each other. LiveJournal
En.wikipedia.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiveJournal

Friendster was not the first social media site but it did achieve mainstream success unlike those before it. Friendster offered a feature that showed how you were connected to other people which made you feel closer to them without ever having to meet. Also the site was used for dating and as a band/event discovery service. However the site was unable to grow as fast as users demanded and thus faced technical problems which caused many users to switch to MySpace.

Last.fm was one of the first online music streaming sites, which is the main way music is consumed today. Last.fm offered users the ability to like and dislike songs to tailor the user's "stations" to their liking. Also the friend service allowed users to share what they were listening to with other users. Last.fm Was the Only Music Social Network That Made Sense
Vice
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a37x9g/lastfm-was-the-only-music-social-network-that-made-sense

LinkedIn was a revolutionary social media site in that it is a professional social media site that connects people purely in a professional setting. LinkedIn had user setup their profiles in a resume style allowing the user to showcase their job experience and professional skills. A Brief Overview and History of LinkedIn - CandyBitSocial
Candybitsocial.com
https://candybitsocial.com/news/history-of-linkedin

At the time MySpace was the go to social media site with people logging in every day to play music, share photos, and write friends. From 2005 to 2008 MySpace was the most visited social networking site in the world, it even trumped Google in number of visitors per day. New Life: How MySpace Spawned A Start-Up Ecosystem
Forbes.com
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorikozlowski/2012/05/15/how-myspace-spawned-a-startup-ecosystem/#7964c6b140ba

When YouTube opened up in 2005 video sharing was nothing new on the internet, however YouTube revolutionized it. Before YouTube there were not many video hosting sites available and many people would have to download videos to view them. YouTube allowed users to upload and stream their own videos. With the emergence of cell phones with video cameras the site took off. The Evolutionary History of YouTube
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhoWEXeBia8

Twitter, another social media giant is a micro blogging site that allows users to create their own networks and share brief message to their "followers". Twitter is unique in the way it limits the users upload content, this provides a better experience for the user in that by viewing less information from 1 specific user they in turn will be interacting with more users. Twitter | History, Description, & Uses
Encyclopedia Britannica
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Twitter

A social media platform that allows user to post on their "wall" and comment on other user's posts as well, is one of the most dominant platforms to date with over 2.41 billion active monthly users. At it's public launch in 2006 Facebook gained over 12 million users within the year. Zephoria.com
https://zephoria.com/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/

Google Plus is an example of a failed social media platform. Many social media platforms rise and fall throughout history however Google Plus was very different in that it was not created my a startup company like most platforms are. Google Plus was created by Google a multi billion dollar company and offered "circles" as a way to separate interactions between family, friends, and co-workers. Many people were reluctant to leave their current platforms (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

Invention of Telegraph

CompuServe

GEnie

LiveJournal

Friendster

Last.fm

LinkedIn

MySpace

YouTube

Twitter

Facebook

Google Plus