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Telegraph
Allowed messages to be delivered over a long distance faster than a person can deliver them. They were a revolutionary way to convey news and information.
( https://smallbiztrends.com/2013/05/the-complete-history-of-social-media-infographic.html ) -
CompuServe Information Service (CIS)
The first major commercial online service provider in the U.S. It was known for its online chat system, message forums, and online games. It was also known for its introduction of the GIF format.
( http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/carlson/history/compuserve.htm ) -
Bulletin Board System (BBS)
Bulletin board systems were in many ways a precursor to the modern form of the World Wide Web and social networks. Low-cost, high-performance modems drove the use of online services and BBSes through the early 1990s. It was a collective market much larger than major online services such as CompuServe. -
Six Degrees
The first recognizable social media site and allowed users to list friends, family members and acquaintances both on the site and externally. Users could send messages and post bulletin board items to people. Due to the lack of people connected to the Internet, networks were limited. It would be a few years before the Internet's infrastructure could catch up with the concept of social networks.
( http://historycooperative.org/the-history-of-social-media/ ) -
Napster
Napster was invented in 1999 by Shaun Fanning. It shaped the copyright and music industry that we have today. It focused on the sharing and downloading of music between users. -
Windows Operating System
It came in several versions (similar to the desktop versions of Windows) and was aimed at business and enterprise consumers. By 2007, it was a moderately successful OS on mobile device in the U.S., but this initial popularity faded rapidly, in the following years, and by February 2010, facing competition from rival mobile OSs, including Apple's iOS and Android.
( https://mobiforge.com/timeline/windows-phone-history ) -
Myspace
MySpace is a social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos. It was the largest social networking site in the world, from 2005 to 2009. In June 2006 surpassed Google as the most visited website in the United States. In April 2008, Myspace was overtaken by Facebook in the number of unique worldwide visitors.
( https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/then-and-now-a-history-of-social-networking-sites/7/ ) -
Facebook
Facebook can be accessed from a range of devices with Internet connectivity, such as desktop computers, laptops and tablet computers, and smartphones. After registering, users can create a customized profile. Users can add other users as "friends", exchange messages, post status updates, share photos, videos and links, and receive notifications of other users' activity.
( https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/jul/25/media.newmedia ) -
Twitter
Twitter is an online news and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as "tweets". In 2013, Twitter was one of the ten most-visited websites and has been described as "the SMS of the Internet". As of 2016, Twitter had more than 319 million monthly active users.
( https://www.lifewire.com/history-of-twitter-3288854 ) -
iPhone
Apple’s iPhone has revolutionized smartphones and shaped the industry into what it is today. The first iPhone mixed a capacitive 3.5-inch multi-touch display with touch-optimized software in a simple package that was unlike anything else on the market.
( https://www.theverge.com/2014/9/9/6125849/iphone-history-pictures ) -
Instagram
Allows users to upload photos and videos to the service, which can be edited with various filters, and organized with tags and location information. Instagram has been the subject of criticism, most notably for policy and interface changes, allegations of censorship, and illegal or improper content uploaded by users.
( https://wersm.com/the-complete-history-of-instagram/ ) -
Snapchat
Snapchat has become notable for representing a new, mobile-first direction for social media, and places significant emphasis on users interacting with virtual stickers and augmented reality objects. As of February 2018, Snapchat has 187 million daily active users.
