Social Media Timeline

Facebook was originally named TheFaceboo.com and was created by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, and Dustin Moskovitz. Facebook was created Febuary 4th, 2004 to connect Harvard students. Since the app was limited to Harvard students 1,200-1,500 thousand students registered within 24 hours. This statistic showed the potential influence of the site which led to it expanding to other Ivy League schools like Yale and Stanford.
David Nabors

In 2005 Facebook launched a photo feature that had no restrictions on the storage available. Within the same year, a change to the site allowed individuals to tag people in the photos. Users could tag friends in status updates and comments. This would share a link to other profiles which would make it easier for users to search their profiles and others. When users tagged others in the post it would be added to the taggers timeline and the person being tagged.
David Nabors

In 2006 Facebook membership was open to the public for anyone 13 or older who provided an email address. Facebook had more than 6 million members and a mass audience of 14,000 people were attracted to Procter and Gamble products through advertisements on Facebook. This demonstrated a new marketability that Facebook could provide through direct consumer engagement.
David Nabors

2006 - Twitter founder Jack Dorsey sends the first tweet, officially launching Twitter as a new social network. The full version would be released to the public a couple months later in July 2006. Drew Bailey

August 23, 2007 User Chris Messina is credited as being the first person to adopt the hashtag (pictured above). Messina suggested using the pound sign, now referred to as a hashtag in Twitter circles, to separate groups. The hashtag has allowed users to search content by topic or niche interest and helped to launch various movements such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo. Drew Bailey

Instagram was first launched to IOS users on October 6, 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. The primary focus of Instagram was a photo-sharing platform that allowed users to add filters in app before posting to their profile. Instagram gained popularity extremely quick, within two months of the release over one million users were registered. This is how Instagram has become one of the most used social media sites of all time. Elaina Waseman

In 2011 Facebook increased the limit of characters for posts from 500 to 5000 and two months later it increases again to 63,206. Site updates allow users to subscribe to individuals that are not listed as their online friends. The subscribe function was later renamed “follow”. Users were also able to change notification settings to decide for themself the extent to which they receive information.
David Nabors

2011 - Twitter hits the milestone of 100 million active monthly users, clearly establishing itself as one of society’s most popular social networks. Drew Bailey

September 16, 2011, Snapchat was created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown students of Stanford. The app was a relaunch of a photo app called Picaboo. Snapchat was designed to send photos that disappear after a certain amount of time
Walid Jaffal

In April 2012 Instagram expanded its platform by releasing an Android version to expand its network to both IOS and Android users. This helped grow the platform and expand globally. By accessing the massive Android market, it grew even more quickly, with over one million downloads that same day. This release was key part in helping make Instagram one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. Elaina Waseman

In June 2013 Instagram added a feature allowing users to upload and share videos. At first, Instagram only allowed users to upload fifteen seconds of videos, but later made it was made possible for sixty-minute videos in their feed. The same in-app editing features that users could use for photos could also be used for videos such as editing tools and filters. This gave users an easy way to edit and place personal touches on videos to share on the app. Elaina Waseman

In 2013 Snapchat launched a feature called Stories. Your friends, subscribers, and potentially non-subscribers can view your Story for 24 hours. With your Public Story, you can share what's happening in your world with Snapchatters everywhere.
Walid Jaffal

In August 2016 Instagram launched another new feature called Stories. This feature allows user to upload photos and videos that expire after twenty-four hours.This was extremely similar to another social media platform, Snapchat. Instagram stories also introduced interactive features that allowed users another way to interact with each other. Some of the features that have been added are polls, questions, stickers, and filters.
Elaina Waseman

On May 29, 2016, a Snpachat 2.0 update happened. The update had new features including the ability to text in a chat, watch, listen, video call, send stickers, and gifs, etc. This feature allowed users to chat with each other without sending pictures.
Walid Jaffal

2016 - Twitter introduces the “algorithm.” The machine-learning technology gifted users with a more personalized feed, displaying content that may have been retweeted in the past or from accounts the user did not follow as part of efforts to display “relevant” content. Drew Bailey

2017 - Twitter announces a 280-character limit for all users, a change from the traditional 140-character limit. This lengthened the “microblogs” Twitter has been characterized by.
Drew Bailey

Snapchat's Battle to Stay Alive: Up against the Twin Titans (2017) Once the unchallenged leader in ephemeral messaging, Snapchat was forced to contend with tough competition for Gen Z loyalty in 2017 as both Instagram and Facebook shamelessly copied its iconic "Stories" feature. The bold action taken by the major social media platforms presented a grave danger to Snapchat's brand and user population
Walid Jaffal

In August 2020 Instagram launched their reels feature. Just like with Tik Tok short-form video creation was at an all-time high. Users were able to post short fifteen-second videos in the app as well. This new feature allowed Instagram to keep adapting to what users are interested in and keep their popularity. Elaina Waseman

In 2021 Facebook focused on accessibility and incorporated the update of News Feed pages that allowed easier access when following trends, interacting with friends, and joining discussions. The site had 3.5 billion active monthly users at the time of the name change.
David Nabors

2021, Snapchat, which was once a young novelty, is now fighting for relevancy in the social media world that is changing quickly. In addition to well-known behemoths like Instagram and Facebook, TikTok's explosive growth has spawned intense rivalry and market saturation. But Snapchat isn't going down without a fight. Remember, Snapchat's journey is an ongoing story. Its future success will depend on its ability to innovate, adapt, and engage its core user base while attracting new audiences. WJ