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Pre-internet Roots
Social media started in the 1840s with Morse Code. Morse code is a code in which letters are represented by combinations of long and short sounds and sometimes by long and short flashes of light. These would have been tapped out by hand using a telegraph machine.- Kalandra Alherimi
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ARPANET Emerged
Most contemporary accounts of the modern origins of today’s internet and social media point to the emergence of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. The main purpose and/or use was for academic and research purposes. ARPANET was the first public "packet-switched" computer network. It was decommissioned in 1989.- Kalandra Alherimi
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NSFNET
The National Science Foundation launched The NSFNET was created to help U.S. research scientists collaborate.- Kalandra Alherimi
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SixDegrees.com
The first true social media platform was launched Users were able to create a profile page, send messages, and create a list of connections.- Kalandra Alherimi
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LiveJournal
LiveJournal was created by computer science major Brad Fitzpatrick. LiveJournal was an online journal service that put an emphasis on user interaction through weblogs and blogs.- Kalandra Alherimi
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Hot or Not ( AmIHotorNot.com)
This site was may have influenced future social networks such as Facebook and YouTube. The idea of getting rated by your looks alone by random strangers on the internet can nurture many insecurities usually more bad than good. It was sold off a few times and the new owners tried to bring it back as a "game" in 2014.
Mayank Bhardwaj -
LinkedIn was Founded
LinkedIn was founded by Reid Hoffman and Eric Ly. It is the world's largest networking platform. It was created to help people interact and connect with other professionals to reach their goals of becoming successful. "By 2020, it had grown to more than 675 million users worldwide. It remains the social media site of choice for job seekers as well as human resources managers searching for qualified candidates."- Kalandra Alherimi
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Xbox Live is Created
Microsoft created Xbox Live for players to play video games and chat from two or more different places. This allows you to connect with friends or just random people from all over the world. You can play games with anyone you want, friends or not!- Matthew Alberson
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MySpace Launched
Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe created MySpace.It allowed users to share music and photographs, express their interests, and, link to other people’s profiles. In 2006 MySpace was the most visited website on the planet. By 2008, Facebook started to overpower MySpace. MySpace then decided to advertise that it was a music-oriented site. In 2011, Myspace was purchased by Justin Timberlake for $35 million.- Kalandra Alherimi
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Facebook Launched
Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes are the creators of Facebook., They all were students at Harvard University. Today Mark Zuckerberg is the CEO of the company. Facebook lets people connect with friends, family members, coworkers, and others they may not know in order to make connections and network. Facebook allows people to share what's on their minds and their interests.- Kalandra Alherimi
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Youtube and Reddit are Founded
2005 was a big year for social media and the internet with the creation of two sites that would later become some of the most popular social media platforms, these being Youtube and Reddit. While they did not initially blow up these platforms are still heavily used to this day with Youtube being one of the biggest in the world.
Joshua Alexander -
Reddit Releases
In 2005, a discussion forum was created for all to discuss whatever they wanted. It’s called Reddit and it can be used for many different things. A lot of people have communities on there. There are different groups for different topics, it really is for everyone. It didn’t become popular until 2011 with one billion page views a month. Today it remains popular and is a place where people can talk.- Matthew Alberson
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Twitter is Founded
In 2006 the widely popular site known as Twitter or, Twttr at the time, was created. The very first tweet took place on March 21st by a co-founder Jack Dorsey. The platform was orignally meant to be a text message based platform but that changed over time to what it is today.
Joshua Alexander -
LinkedIn Introduced First Paid Service
LinkedIn was the first social media platform to start turning a profit from premium and subscription packages. This sparked a huge movement towards paid services in many other services such as Facebook who followed suit a few years later.
Joshua Alexander -
Youtube Introduces Partnerships
Although Youtube has been around since the early years of 2005 it was not until May 2007 that they introduced a partnership program with its users. This allowed popular content creators to make a profit from what they did on the site. This is what eventually turned Youtube into the behemoth it is today with over a million partners.
Joshua Alexander -
Tumblr and the age of the microblog
The rise of this social network was dubbed as “Twitter meets YouTube and WordPress.” It allowed users to curate photos or videos and add a caption that told little stories. This started a trend they labeled as "micro-blogging" where users could share their stories with friends as "tumblelogs."
Mayank Bhardwaj -
Facebook Messenger Developed
Originally created in 2008, Messenger was a way to chat with friends and make new ones. It was a part of Facebook up until 2010 when it became a stand-alone app. They became two separate apps but we’re still linked. In 2018, Facebook made its portal hardware and Messenger was put into that as well. -Matthew Alberson -
Grindr revolutionizes the Hookup Culture
When we think about online dating today the first app that usually comes to mind is Tinder. However, Grindr was on the scene first and it was the first geosocial networking app for dating. When it first came out it was geared towards gay or bisexual men and helped paved the way for future dating apps.
Mayank Bhardwaj -
Weibo in the West
Weibo is a company created and used in China. It is one their social networks to micro blog on. When Facebook and twitter were banned in their country this app took the forefront and still has about 340 million active monthly users.
Mayank Bhardwaj -
Instagram is Founded
In spring of 2010 the widley popular photo sharing platform known as Instagram was created and on July 16th the first Instagram photo was published by co-founder Mike Krieger. Instagram would grow to be one of the most popular social media platforms with over hundreds of millions of photos and videos being posted.
Joshua Alexander -
Pinterest is Founded
Developed by iPhone app developer Ben Silbermann, Pinterest was a visual "pin board" that became a publicly traded company in 2019 and has over 335 million active users. Joshua Criss -
Kik Messenger is Created
BBC.com writes that "Kik Messenger launched in 2010 and proved popular largely because it lets people register and use it without providing a phone number or other credentials."
Zoe Farson -
Snapchat is Founded
In 2011, founded by three Stanford students, Evan Spiegal, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphey. The app was composed of short video sharing, with "stories" and "filters" in the app itself. Joshua Criss -
Twitch.tv Launched
In 2011, the now widely popular live streaming-service platform launched. Twitch now boasts numbers of more than 2.5m concurrent viewers on Twitch on any given time, with over 30m active users. Joshua Criss -
Facebook acquires Instagram
In 2012, Facebook acquired photo-sharing-social-media app Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock in order to run the platforms in a collaborative way. Joshua Criss -
Vine was Created
searchenginejournal.com claims "the short-form video app was acquired by Twitter prior to its official launch and became the most downloaded free app in the U.S. iOS App Store at its peak in 2013. Up to that point, it was the most popular video app ever to come out."
Zoe Farson -
Facebook Acquires Oculus
In 2014, Facebook acquired the leading iterative gaming company, Oculus. This is a virtual reality headset that puts you into the game you’re playing. They got Oculus for $2 billion and shares of Facebook. Facebook purchased Oculus because they believed that they have the potential to be the best social network of all time. You can meet your friends face to face all the way across the country. -Matthew Alberson -
The Launch of Discord
Discord was launched as a free instant messaging and video/voice calling service centered around the gaming community. It is still mainly used by the gaming community to this day but they have grown exponentially to accommodate anyone who wants to connect and chat online.
Mayank Bhardwaj -
Tiktok is Founded
Founded in 2016 by Chinese tech company ByteDance as a short-form-video-sharing-website was merged with U.S. based app Musical.ly in 2018 and became wildly popular. The app now boasts over 800m active users. Joshua Criss -
Twitter closes Vine
searchenginejournal.com writes that "Vine was unable to adapt as other rivals (e.g., Snapchat) emerged and adapted. Plus, Twitter’s own business fluttered, which forced Twitter to close Vine in late 2016."
Zoe Farson -
BeReal Releases
BeReal, released in 2020 is a photo-sharing app that can only be used once a day. It takes two pictures basically at the same time to show what you’re doing in real-time. Although it has just become popular in the U.S it is a French app that has trickled into the U.S and become prevalent today. -Matthew Alberson -
Facebook launches VR remote work app
technologymagazine.com states that "in August 2021, Facebook launched a test of a new virtual-reality remote work app where users of the company’s Oculus Quest 2 headsets can hold meetings as avatar versions of themselves."
Zoe Farson -
Facebook becomes Meta
technologymagazine.com writes that "in October 2021, Zuckerberg, at the Facebook Connect augmented and virtual reality conference, announced the company’s plans to change its name to Meta to reflect the company’s ambition to create technology to connect people. The name is based on the term metaverse and looks to describe the company’s vision for working and playing in a virtual world."
Zoe Farson