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Six Degrees founded.
Six Degrees was founded by Andrew Weinreich in May of 1996 and launched the following year. It is largely considered to be the first social media networking site. Due to much fewer people being connected to the internet, the site was slow to grow and rebranded several times over the years. Reference
Ngak, C. (2011, July 6). Then and now: a history of social networking sites. CBS NEWS. https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/then-and-now-a-history-of-social-networking-sites/ -
The Communications Decency Act gave protections to interactive service providers.
These protections allowed social media to flourish as the companies were protected from legal repercussions to something posted by a contributor. This law has allowed for contributions to be both negative and positive. -
Weblogs or Blogs begin to gain popularity and allowed the everyday person a way to contribute to media for public consumption.
Weblogs or Blogs began with the introduction of LiveJournal in 1999.These sites allow users to post thoughts, opinion pieces, news, and any other piece of writing they want, with relative anonymity. Reference
Maryville University. (2020, May 28). The Evolution of Social Media: How Did It Begin, and Where Could It Go Next? https://online.maryville.edu/blog/evolution-social-media/ -
Friendster founded
Friendster was founded by Johnathan Abrams in March of 2002. The idea behind the site was to allow everyday people a place to express themselves, find old friends, and make new friends from around the world. Reference
Ulunma (2020, March 21). Before Facebook there was… Friendster? Yes, that’s right! Harvard.edu. https://d3.harvard.edu/platform-digit/submission/before-facebook-there-was-friendster-yes-thats-right/ -
Myspace launches and allows users unprecedented levels of personalization.
Myspace entered the social media networking world with an unprecedented amount of customization for users. Users were now able to share music, playlists and videos with ease. Reference
Maryville University. (2020, May 28). The Evolution of Social Media: How Did It Begin, and Where Could It Go Next? https://online.maryville.edu/blog/evolution-social-media/ -
Facebook is the first social media networking site to introduce advertising.
Facebook introduced paid advertising and increasing their revenue. This advertising was extremely cost effective for advertisers. -
The Apple iPhone launches and begins the use of social media outside of computers.
The Apple iPhone began a major rise in the amount of time people spent on social media. This new type of phone allowed users to access and participate in social media at all hours and in many more physical spaces. Users could also now upload pictures and video as they were taken.