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Twitter acquires Periscope
Twitter acquired Periscope to better develop live-streaming video capabilities.
I chose this event because Periscope was considered a major social media platform on its own and at this point Twitter bought it. -
Twitter rolls out "Quality Filter"
Twitter rolls out a new "Quality Filter" to verified iOS users to keep hateful comments out of their feed.
I chose this event because Twitter allowed a form of user censorship that I think should be noted. -
Snapchat users
Snapchat reaches 100 million users. I chose this event because Snapchat was very popular at this time and significant in social media use. -
Pinterest announces "buyable pins"
Pinterest creates a new feature that allows users to view "buyable" pins on iPhone and iPad.
I chose this event because it created a form of revenue for Pinterest. I remember seeing buyable pins around this time and I engaged with the new feature. -
TikTok is created
TikTok is created by by Douyin for the Chinese market, it was later launched on iOS and Android outside of China.
I chose this event because this was the start of an app that would gain significant popularity down the road. -
The death of Vine
Twitter announces that it will be discontinuing the app.
I chose this event because Vine was a popular app and a lot of people were sad to see it go. -
Facebook user surge
Facebook user numbers surged to covering around 30% of the world population. I chose this event because at this point a significant amount of the world is connected via Facebook. A huge milestone for the social media platform. -
Writing a longer Tweet
Twitter announces that Tweets can now be 280 characters instead of 140.
I chose this event because this update was kind of a gamechanger for Twitter. Users can now write longer Tweets and share more information than before. -
Instagram introduces fact checking software
Facebook announces that the sites fact checking software would expand to include Instagram. I chose this event because another major social media platform is acquiring some form of a fact checking software. I think this is notable since social media is connected to the spread of false information. What kind of information will Facebook deem false? -
TikTok
TikTok hits one billion downloads making it one the most downloaded apps of 2019. I chose this event because the app has become so popular. It is one of the main social media platforms and contributes to remix culture. -
Death of Google+
Google+ shuts down due to low user engagement. I chose this event because the social media platform was designed to succeed but ultimately failed even though it was attached to Google. -
Instagram introduces Reels
In light of TikTok being banned in India and potentially banned in the U.S, Instagram introduced their own version. I chose this event because Instagram saw an opportunity and took it. Now they are more competitive with TikTok and it will be interesting to see how things play out.