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Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC) Created
The first electronic digital computer was finished in 1945 at the Moore School at the University of Pennsylvania. This general-use computer was made for the war efforts. -
IBM Personal Computer
The first IBM personal computer was released for the public -
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986
This privacy act was passed and, "prohibits interception of “any wire, oral, or electronic communication.” -
World Wide Web Introduced
CERN introduced the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web linked many documents throughout the internet. This was developed by Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau. -
Communications Decency Act Passed
This act passed protects Website hosts from defamatory claims that can harm their reputation. -
Pearl Harbor Day
Known in the media industry as Pearl Harbor Day, Bill Gates created a team to build Internet Explorer -
Telecommunications Act of 1996
This Act signed by Bill Clinton was the first telecommunications act to include the internet. This allowed businesses to compete with other businesses in the communication online world and in all markets. -
LinkedIn First Launched
Reid Hoffman and 4 other co-founders officially launched this professional networking site. -
MySpace first Launched
Myspace, a social networking site was first launched for public use. Myspace was based on another social media site, Friendster. -
First Data Breach Notification Law Passed in California
This law required people to be notified if their information online has been tampered with or breached. -
Facebook Launched
Mark Zuckerberg along with 4 other Harvard students developed Facebook and launched it in 2004. -
YouTube Launched
YouTube, a video-sharing service, was created by three former PayPal employees. -
Google buys YouTube
Google acquires YouTube for $1.65 billion -
Twitter Launched
Twitter, a social media and news source site, was created by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. -
First IPhone Released to the Public
The first-generation IPhone was produced and released by Apple in 2007. -
Instagram Launched
Instagram is a video and picture sharing social media site. When it first launched, it was available only for devices with iOS. -
Pinterest Launched
The development of Pinterest began at the end of 2009. Pinterest allows users to find information on the web using mostly pictures and videos. -
Snapchat Released
Snapchat was released in 2011 and is a video, picture, and messaging app where the content disappears after a certain period of time. -
Twitter purchases Vine
Twitter purchased Vine before its initial launch in 2013. Vine is a video sharing social-media site. -
Facebook holds its IPO
Facebook is valued at $104 billion and begins selling stock to the public. -
Facebook buys Instagram and attempts to purchase Snapchat
Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion and attempted to purchase Snapchat for $3 billion. -
2016 Election
Social media is typically blamed for the turn-out of the 2016 election where Donald Trump ran against Hillary Clinton. Many fake news stories and information was released on social media throughout the election. -
Twitter increases it character limit
Tweets were expanded from 140 characters to 280 characters. -
Snapchat Redesign
In 2017, Snapchat announced and released a new design of the app that held differing views throughout the public. -
Equifax Data Breach
Equifax, a credit report agency, had millions of consumers information stolen through a breach with their web site. This showed to the public how easily information online had be breached or discovered. -
Court of Appeals rules that social media sites are "subject to discovery"
A US court of appeals rules that social media sites are private data, but they can be subject to discovery. This can be used if private posts contain information that is relevant in litigation.
