From letters to the origins of social media

First recorded handwritten letter

500 BCE

First recorded letter written by a woman was the Persian Queen Atossa.

Invention of printing press

1440

Invented by Gutenberg between 1440 and 1450. This piece of technology allowed for the mass production of books, beginning with the mass production of the 'Gutenberg Bible'.

First Telegraphic Message Sent

May 24, 1844

The first telegraphic message was sent by its creator, Samuel F.B. Morse to Baltimore over an experimental line from Washington D.C. The message said: "What hath God wrought."

First telephone call

Mar 10, 1876

The first telephone call made was between the phones inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, and his assistant, Thomas Watson. It is recorded that the first words spoken were by Bell who said: "Mr. Watson -- come here -- I want to see you."

First Wireless Radio Broadcast

Dec 24, 1906

First broadcast was for entertainment as it transmitted music from Brant Rock in Massachusetts to the general public.

First successful electronic television demonstration

Sep 7, 1927

First successful demonstration occurred in San Francisco on a system designed by its 21 year old inventor Philo Taylor Farnsworth.

First programmable computer

1938

A German inventor, Konrad Zuse, created the first programmable computer, known as the Z1, in his parents' living room between 1936-1938.

First transatlantic live television broadcast

Jul 23, 1962

New Telstar satellite allowed the first live transatlantic television transmission to be exchanged between Europe and America.

First email

1971

Sent by computer engineer Ray Tomlinson; it was a message sent to himself as a test.

Invention of WWW

1989

The World Wide Web was invention by the British scientist, Tim Berners-Lee, at CERN and was originally intended for information sharing between scientists at universities and institutions world wide.

First SMS

Dec 3, 1992

Sent be an engineer, Neil Papworth, from his computer to Vodafone's directors' , Richard Jarvis, cellphone. The message said: "merry Christmas".

First social media site

1997

The first site which can be classified as 'social media' allowed users to create profiles with an image of themselves and become 'friends' with other users. The site was called Six Degrees.