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SixDegrees.com
The very first social media site where people created a profile page and connected with others by sending messages. -
Are you? Hot or Not
People were able to submit a picture of themselves so others could rate their appearance online. -
Friendster
A dating site where people created a profile, updated their status, and shared their mood in order to get set up with mutual friends. -
Myspace: "a place for friends"
Profiles were public and visible to everyone, and people shared their music, somewhat explicit pictures, and videos on their profiles. -
Facebook, photos, and blogs
From 2003-2005, sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Photobucket, Flickr, del.ici.ous, WordPress, and YouTube emerged and this began a new era of social networks. -
LinkedIn
Coming to the business industry in 2006, LinkedIn makes an appearance where people can see jobs in their area as well as make connections with other people. -
Twitter
Twitter was initially viewed as a text message tool where you would send short updates to friends. Now, it has grown into a huge platform where friends exchange messages, memes, pictures, videos, and more with their profile. -
YouTube Partnership
The YouTube partnership program emerges where YouTube serves as the platform and creators create the content. Therefore, profits can be shared between both and it's a win-win situation. -
The Hashtag
Twitter introduces the significance of the hashtag symbol. This allows different topics to be grouped together to potentially create awareness, promote, and organize social issues. Trends are created and it is still greatly used today. -
Tumblr and Microblogging
Tumblr is introduced where people can upload their images, videos, and text to "reblog" their friends. This means both users are able to exchange content back and forth. -
FarmVille
Families would play a game together where they would help with the upkeep of a virtual farmland and animals through Facebook. This game became addictive to play and its popularity spread worldwide. -
Grindr
Grindr launched in 2009, becoming the first dating app targeted towards gay and bisexual men meeting other men nearby. This revolutionized hookup culture by becoming a foundation for more dating apps focused more towards the LGBTQIA+ community. -
Unicode adopts the Emoji
First appearing in Japan in the late 90s, the popularity of emojis grew quickly by the mid-2000s when Apple and Google adopted these cartoon emotions on a keyboard. Unicode then takes ownership of the emoji in 2010, making a statement that emojis are now a part of a universal language. -
Instagram
In 2010, the very popular Instagram app introduced filters with polaroid corners to add a new way to post pictures and have yet another way for people to express themselves on their profile. -
Pinterest
The social bookmarking site Pinterest surfaced in 2010, introducing a way for people to view and 'pin' lifestyles that intrigue them. These posts included various categories regarding home, arts and crafts, fashion, and more. -
Snapchat
Emerging in 2011, Snapchat allows users to share content that would disappear after 24 hours. This app also has interactive filters that can be put over pictures and videos. -
Google Plus
Similar to the ideas surrounding Facebook and Twitter, Google Plus launched, creating a platform where friends are organized with "circles" through invitations and friend requests. This service, however, struggled and slowly turned into Gmail and Google Hangout, seeing that there were big competitors at the time. -
Facebook hits 1 billion
Only after eight years, Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that Facebook reached one billion users in 2012. It has only grown since then, now having two billion users and three other billion-user platforms (WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram). -
Year of the Selfie
Twitter deemed 2014 to be the "Year of the Selfie" because of a tweet by Ellen DeGeneres at the Oscars. This picture was awarded as the "Golden tweet" of the year, having over three million retweets. This was also the year where the word 'selfie' resurfaced and selfie-taking was popular. -
Periscope and Streaming
Following the first streaming service, Meerkat, Twitter developed Periscope and this became everyone's go-to streaming network to watch live events. -
Facebook LIVE
Facebook came out with its new LIVE feature in 2016, following in the footsteps of Twitter. -
Instagram Stories
Inspired by the very popular Snapchat stories, Instagram introduced the new "Stories" feature where users can post content that would disappear in 24 hours. However, they would still be able to save the content, which, doesn't necessarily make it disappear forever. Users can also enhance their story with filters, sounds, stickers, polls, highlights, and more. -
Disinformation and the U.S. election
Social media was being used to spread false claims and conspiracy theories regarding the U.S. presidential election. Hackers and bots, allegedly Russian agents, would share content through mainstream influencers and politicians, making it hard to decipher what content was real or fake. -
Twitter doubles character limit
Twitter doubled its signature 140-character limit to 280 characters with hopes of attracting more users. -
Instagram IGTV app
IGTV launched in 2018 where users are now limited to posting one-hour videos instead of one-minute videos. This created a direct competition with YouTube and other video apps.