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Compuserve
Compuserve came into being in the 1960s. Emails first appeared during this time in 1966. There was further refinement and development in the 1970s; 1970 was the advent of UserNet which allowed people to communicate through a virtual newsletter, articles or posts to newsgroups. This is the decade of home computers- with social media developing soon after.
“A Chronological History of Social Media.” Interesting Engineering, 3 Dec. 2018, interestingengineering.com/a-chronological-history-of-socia -
The Well and GENie are born
GENie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) was an online service created for GE. This was critical in the history of social media in business. It continued to be well used into the late 1990s, it even had 350,000 users at its peak.
“A Chronological History of Social Media.” Interesting Engineering, 3 Dec. 2018, interestingengineering.com/a-chronological-history-of-social-media. -
Six Degrees: “First Social Media” Site
SixDegrees.com was the very first recognizable social media site. It enables users to upload profile pictures and connect with others. It also let users make friends with each other and expand their social groups. Users were able to send messages, post bulletin board items to others in first, second and third degree connection (where the name originated).
“A Chronological History of Social Media.” Interesting Engineering, 3 Dec. 2018, interestingengineering.com/a-chronological-history-of-social -
Moveon.org
Moveon.org was one of the first activist social media sites. It was initially formed as an email group by passing around petitions opposed to the impeachment of Bill Clinton. It later went to promote general internet activism i.e opposing U.S military actions, supporting party candidates, as well as fundraising.
“The History of Social Media.” The Rise of Social Media - Group 3, COMP 380, groupthree.web.unc.edu/rise-of-social-media/. -
Creativity and Status Blogs
LiveJournal was a platform where users could blog as a form of keeping friends updated with their lives, later used by Facebook for their status. McFadden, Christopher. “The History of Social Media: Social Networking Evolution!” Highly Cooperative, 16 Oct. 2018, interestingengineering.com/a-chronological-history-of-social-media. -
A New Competitor
In 2002, the site Friendster emerged to compete with Six Degrees. Like Six Degrees, it allowed users to make contacts and save them as part of a personal network. People could also share videos, photos, and messages with other users, and they were also able to leave comments on other people’s profiles.
McFadden, Christopher. “The History of Social Media: Social Networking Evolution!” Highly Cooperative, 16 Oct. 2018, interestingengineering.com/a-chronological-history-of-social-media. -
Linked Up
LinkedIn have users a place to post their resume and private message people about business. It also became a popular way for businesses to find new employees and for users to search for jobs. By 2004 the number of users would reach 1 million, 13 years later they would break 500 million users.
McFadden, Christopher. “The History of Social Media: Social Networking Evolution!” Highly Cooperative, 16 Oct. 2018, interestingengineering.com/a-chronological-history-of-social-media. -
People Love MySpace
Out of all the original social media sites, MySpace became the largest social media site in the world. By 2005, it was clear that MySpace was here to stay, surpassing Google as the top visited website in the world. After MySpace was sold to News Corp., it continued to grow and by 2009 it was generating around $800 million in revenue.
“The History of Social Media.” The Rise of Social Media - Group 3, COMP 380, groupthree.web.unc.edu/rise-of-social-media/. -
The Birth of FaceBook
FaceBook was founded February 4th, 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and some of his affiliates. It started as a site exclusive to Harvard students then it quickly spread to the rest of the Ivy League. However, after 2006. FaceBook was available to anyone claiming to be over the age of 13. After it’s launch and expansion, FaceBook grew quickly, surpassing MySpace in 2008 as the most visited site in the world.
A Chronological History of Social Media.” Interesting Engineering, 3 Dec. 2018, -
The Rise of Twitter
Twitter was created in March of 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. It distinguished itself by limiting users to only 140 characters up until 2017. Its ability to allow users to interact directly with celebrities was almost unheard of previously. A Chronological History of Social Media.” Interesting Engineering, 3 Dec. 2018, interestingengineering.com/a-chronological-history-of-social-media. -
IG Comes Into the Picture
Instagram was launched on October 6, 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krueger. It was different from other competing sites because it focuses exclusively on videos and photos and by only allowing photos to be framed in a square (removed in 2015). Instagram grew quickly after its launch, surpassing one million registered users in just two months. It currently has 1 billion active users which makes it the 6th most popular media site in the world.
McFadden, Christopher. “The History of -
SnapChat: Keeping Social Media Youthful
Snap chatted wa started by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown in September 2011. Its distinguishing feature was that it allowed users to send photos to one another that would dissappear shortly after being opened. Today, Snapchat also allows people to chat with one another as well as share a “24-hour story”. Currently it has around 186 million active users- expected to grow in the coming years.
A Chronological History of Social Media.” Interesting Engineering, 3 Dec. 2018
