-
Telegraph by Sir William Cooke and Sir Charles Wheatstone
As one of the first methods of communication across long distances without horse, the use of the telegraph for railroad signaling through Morse Code is important in social media history as the dots and dashes are like the binary code of digital social media.
-History.com Editors. (2009, November 9). Morse Code & the Telegraph. Retrieved from HISTORY: https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/telegraph -
Invention of the Digital Camera at Kodak
Social media such as Snapchat wouldn’t be the same without the invention of the digital camera by Steven Sasson. It originally weighed eight pounds and up to 30 images were held on the tapes it used as people were not used to taking more than that.
-Aldred, J. (2016, August 2). The World's First Digital Camera, Introduced by the Man Who Invented It. Retrieved from DIY Photography: https://www.diyphotography.net/worlds-first-digital-camera-introduced-man-invented/ -
First Image Uploaded to the Internet
Although several people didn’t realize the power of the Internet at the time, sharing photographs across the World Wide Web is one of the foundations of social media. The first photograph was of French parodic rock group Les Horribles Cernettes.
-McGauley, J. (2015, November 13). 16 Internet Firsts, From Instagram Posts to Drug Deals. Retrieved from Thrillist: https://www.thrillist.com/tech/nation/the-first-things-ever-posted-on-the-internet-the-earliest-email-song-and-photo-upload-ever -
First AOL Instant Message Sent
Instant messaging is another foundation of social media today. Ted Leonsis, who later became vice chairman of AOL, sent the first message on AOL to his wife: “Don’t be scared... it is me. Love you and miss you."
-McGauley, J. (2015, November 13). 16 Internet Firsts, From Instagram Posts to Drug Deals. Retrieved from Thrillist: https://www.thrillist.com/tech/nation/the-first-things-ever-posted-on-the-internet-the-earliest-email-song-and-photo-upload-ever -
First Digitally Downloadable Song
Before Napster, Geffen Records offered Aerosmith’s track “Head First” exclusively via download. However, due to the speeds of the Internet, the download took over an hour to finish. Now, music is listened to in seconds via social media such as YouTube.
-McGauley, J. (2015, November 13). 16 Internet Firsts, From Instagram Posts to Drug Deals. Retrieved from Thrillist: https://www.thrillist.com/tech/nation/the-first-things-ever-posted-on-the-internet-the-earliest-email-song-and-photo-upload-ever -
Religious Technology Center v. Netcom
Linking other sites on social media is something people tend to do without a second thought. However, without this lawsuit, linking other sites would be viewed as stealing content from the other site: a violation of copyright laws.
-Stroud, M. (2014, August 19). These six lawsuits shaped the internet. Retrieved from The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2014/8/19/6044679/the-six-lawsuits-that-shaped-the-internet -
Six Degrees Launches
Named after the “six degrees of separation” theory, this is considered the first social media site as it gave people the ability to make individual profiles and create personal networks with others. Six Degrees lasted until 2001.
-Terrell, K. (2015, June 16). The History of Social Media: Social Networking Evolution! Retrieved from History Cooperative: https://historycooperative.org/the-history-of-social-media/ -
LiveJournal: The Creative Status Blog
Created by Brad Fitzpatrick, this blogging service set itself apart from competition by allowing complete and open customization in writing format. Today, blogging is growing in popularity as a social media form with a blog on almost every topic imaginable.
-Hoffmann, J. (2017, October 16). Whatever Happened to LiveJournal? Retrieved from The History of the Web: https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/postscript/whatever-happened-livejournal/ -
Facebook is Founded by Students at Harvard University
One of the biggest social media platforms in the world is Facebook. But did you know its founders Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes were all students at Harvard?
-Hall, M. (2019, May 29). Facebook. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Facebook -
Twitter Shuts Down Vine
Attention spans were getting shorter and people originally thought Vine would last because of this. However, the downfall of Vine started in 2016 and ended with Twitter offering a different video service in 2017. Social Media is ever evolving, and competitors often struggle with keeping up.
-Fiegerman, S. (2017, January 17). Twitter officially shuts down vine. Retrieved from CNN Business: https://money.cnn.com/2017/01/17/technology/vine-shuts-down/index.html -
FTC Fines Google for YouTube Violating Children’s Privacy
Unlike popular belief, social media companies mess up the same as a basic human. YouTube, the largest video sharing platform and is owned by Google, broke the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting information on kids without parental consent based on the videos they watched.
-McGill, M. H. (2019, August 30). Google to pay up to $200M to settle FTC YouTube investigation. Retrieved from POLITICO: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/30/google-ftc-investigation-youtube-1479044 -
Privacy Lawsuit against Facebook will Proceed
Sharing too much personal information on social media is a problem. What about when the platform shares your information for you? A federal judge is allowing the privacy class action lawsuit against Zuckerberg’s company continue.
-Reuters. (2019, September 10). Judge lets Facebook privacy lawsuit proceed, calls company’s views ‘so wrong’. Retrieved from New York Post: https://nypost.com/2019/09/10/judge-lets-facebook-privacy-class-action-proceed-calls-companys-views-so-wrong/
