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2400 BCE
Pharaohs use couriers
In Ancient Egypt decrees were delivered through a courier system. This was the first written information delivery system known in history. Early History of the Postal System -
Period: 550 BCE to 521 BCE
Assyria develops postal service
In Ancient Persia, a postal system was developed with a series of stations. Men rode to each station via horseback. Early History of the Postal System -
Period: 322 BCE to 185 BCE
Mauryan Empire mail
Mauryan Empire develops a mail service where riders transported mail through India using chariots. Early History of the Postal System -
Tin can telephone
Communication through a wire or string between two tin cans or paper cups os attributed to Robert Hooke, a British physicist. Learn more -
United States Postal Service is established
The Second Continental Congress establishes the US postal system naming Benjamin Franklin as the first postmater general. read more on the history of the postal system -
Optical/Mechanical Telegraph
From 1791 to 1793, Claude Chappe created the first telegraph systems allowing communications to travel faster than horses could deliver messages. View the history of The Chappe Telegraph Systems -
First Telegraphic Message sent by Samuel F.B. Morse
The message was sent over a line from Washington D.C. to Baltimore. Learn more about the transmission -
Period: to
Pony Express
The Pony Express only existed 18 months, but letters could travel across the country 1,800 miles in just 10 days. History of the Pony Express -
Telephone patented by Alexander Graham Bell
Bell beats Elisha Gray within hours to patent his invention of the telephone. Read more how the telephone was invented -
The Pneumatic Post began in Prague
Messages are sent through miles of tubes powered by air pressure and vacuums. Learn more about the Pneumatic Post -
Feasibility of radio communication proven
Inventor, Guglielmo Marconi, sent the first radio signal in Italy proving it is possible to transmit wirelessly. -
Hobo symbols or Hoboglyphs
In the early 1900s, displaced people in America became Hobos wandering the countryside, looking for work, food and housing. They often left symbols communicating with the next Hobo traveler whether it was safe or there was danger to stay away. learn more about the Hobo symbols -
First overseas wireless signal sent
Italian inventor, Guglielmo Marconi sent the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean. read more -
Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS)
Developed at MIT's Computation Center, it was the first time-sharing system allowing users to share resources, creating communication such as today's form of email. -
CompuServe Network
First major commercial online service available in the United States was CompuServe. Various resources could be connected to it such as chat rooms, discussion boards and electronic mail. -
Kenbak-1 - first commercial personal computer invented
The invention of the Kenbak-1 by John Blankenbaker was the first educational personal computer available for commercial use and could be purchased for about $750. About 40 devices were sold and purchased mainly by schools. Read more on the invention -
Email takes on a different look
Ray Tomlinson came up with using an "@" sign to separate the name of the user and the machine creating email addresses as we know them today. -
Talkomatic goes live
Developed in 1973 on the PLATO system, Doug Brown created software that worked like a chat room. Transmissions were instantaneous when a user typed and each person in the room was displayed on the screen. -
Period: to
Personal Computers hit the market
The first personal computers hit the market such as Radio Shack's TRS-80 and IBM 5100 and Scelbi & Mark-8 Altair. In 1975 Paul Allen and Bill Gates write software for the Altair and form Microsoft. In 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak release the Apple I computer. These all are the beginning of personal computing to eventually be social networking. Learn more on the History of Computers website -
Bulletin Board Systems
Ward Christensen developed Bulletin Board Systems, or BBS, which allowed multiple terminals access through modem connected computers. The software enabled users to upload and download files. These were usually extremely large systems connected by multiple wires. -
Usenet becomes publicly available
Developed at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University. Usenet is a service where users can post news messages and it still is available today. learn more about Usenet -
FidoNet created
Created by Tom Jennings, FidoNet was a non-commercial network created to communicate world-wide across BBSs. Read more on the history of FidoNet -
Talkers Chat System
Chat systems were created by Mark Jenks and Todd Krause called Talkers allowing people to talk over the internet instantly. [Learn more}(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talker) -
Quantum Link launches
Quantum Link was an online service for the Commodore 64 and 128 computers. People interacted through email, instant messages and chat rooms. Later it was renamed and known as America Online (AOL). More Info and graphics -
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AOL - America Online
Quantum was renamed America Online (AOL) -
CU-SeeMe
A video conferencing application developed by Cornell University for the Mac allowing video calls over the internet. In 1994 it was launched for Windows.
learn more -
AOL mails compact discs
America Online (AOL) mails discs to residences to with a dial up service software to install on computers in order for them to get online. -
PowWow Launches
Developed by John McAfee, PowWow is the first instant messaging application on Windows. Voice chat, whiteboards and sending messages were also available to offline users.
[learn more](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowWow_(chat_program) -
TheGlobe.com
Considered one of the first social networks, it was developed by Cornell University students in 1994 and went live in 1995.
[learn more]9https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheGlobe.com) -
ICQ
An instant messaging application developed by the Israeli company, Mirabilis. AOL acquired the company in 1998. -
Blogs
The term coined by Jorn Barger which was shortened from weblogs meaning to logging on the web. -
Six Degrees
The website was credited as the first social media site. Named based on the theory of "six degrees of separation" that everyone is connected. It only lasted until about 2001. -
Yahoo! Messenger
The instant messenger application was launched first by using the name Yahoo! Pager. The application shut down in 2018. {learn more -
MSN Messenger/Windows Live Messenger
Microsoft's instant messaging program started as MSN Messenger and was rebranded under Windows Live Messenger in 2005.
learn more -
Blogger / Blogspot
A blog-publishing service that was launched by Pyra Labs who was acquired by Google. learn more -
Friendster
The first leading global social networking service. Many services within social networks today are because of Friendster. The application was developed in 2002 and launched in 2003.
learn more -
Skype
Skype launched as one of the applications to make voice calls over the Internet. Today it is popular for video calls for businesses.
learn more -
MySpace
Social networking site that overran Friendster and became the most popular site from 2006-2008.
learn more -
Facemash
Developed at Harvard University in 2003 as a program to judge the attractiveness of other students. It was shut down by the university shortly after launching. The following year it was developed into TheFacebook as a social network within the college community. -
Linkedin
Developed in 2002 and launched in 2003, Linkedin is a social network targeted towards the business community to connect with professionals.
[read a brief history of Linkedin}(https://ourstory.linkedin.com/) -
Photobucket
An image sharing site launched to share photos. In 2017 it's free hosting platform stopped and users are required to pay an annual subscription to preserve their photos and videos.
learn more -
Wordpress
Software that was developed to allow people to blog easily and create websites. learn more on the history of Wordpress -
Facebook
Launched originally as TheFacebook only members of the college student body were able to join. Developed at Harvard University in by Mark Zuckerberg and his classmates Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. Used only as a social program within the college network, eventually it was launched to the public in 2009 and anyone could join as long as they were 13 years old.
learn more -
Flickr
A photo sharing site launched to host photos and support communities where those images are shared. -
Reddit
A social news site allowing registered users to create accounts and post content. (called redditors)
learn more -
YouTube
Launched in 2005 as a video hosting service. In 2006 Google acquired it as it became one of the fasted growing sites. learn more -
Twitter
A micro-blogging service used to send short messages and status updates known as tweets.
learn more -
Birth of the #Hashtag
The first hashtag was posted by Chris Messina on Twitter, #barcamp, which was created as a way to organize posts for others users to find. learn more -
Tumblr
Launched by 17-year-old David Karp, from his mother's New York apartment. the microblogging platform was used to share photos, videos and text and you could reblog friends "tumblelogs." learn more -
Pinterest
A social media site created to share ideas and inspiration for various interests and projects. visit Pinterest -
Instagram
Instagram was developed to provide a photo sharing. view a timeline history Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012. -
Snapchat
A one-to-one and group messaging app that lets users send photo, video and text messages that disappear seconds later. They also introduced fun filter features in 2015 to enhance the photo or video.
learn more -
Google Plus - Google Hangouts
Launching as Google's social networking site to compete with Facebook and Twitter. It's video chat option was called Google Hangouts. learn more -
Vine
A video sharing/social media service launches for a short life as it was discontinued in 2016. learn more -
Where to go from here?
Third-party social media/networking apps are still emerging as people continue to move toward a mobile, digital society for socialization and news. Many popular apps continue to look towards the future with new innovations.
