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Beginning of Social Media
PLATO System developed at The University of Illinois. Considerably the first online chat room -
Emerging Softwares
Operating systems begin to emerge. Windows and Mac OS begin gaining popularity for media to exist in the world. -
Electronic Links
The WELL, created by Steward Brand, short for "Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, still widely used today. -
Finding People Online
Classmates.com became an online software to generate those you may have graduated with. It used school affiliations to help connect these students. -
First Social Platform
Sixdegrees.com became the first of true social media sites where users could set up a profile page and interact within other networks. -
Instant Messaging
AIM and AOL became very popular for instant messaging through contacts of networks. It became a way to chat with users in real time and evolved quickly. -
Email Services
Yahoo! messenger another widely used platform launches. Can connect users and help other users get information out VIA their own profile instantly. -
Dating Online
AmIHotorNot.com becomes the first online dating forum where users could tell other users if they are conventionally attractive or NOT! -
Wikipedia
Wikipedia, a very heavily used platform, created to gain insight on specific topics and considerably to be used to obtain knowledge. -
MySpace
"A Place for Friends" also a place for young teens. A place to publicly make yourself known to the world through music, pictures, and interests. -
Video Chatting
Skype is created. It allows for users to connect now with video. Remarkable because it is in real time and could detect audio and video at the same time. -
Facebook
Orginally, FaceMash, created by Mark Zuckerburg became widely used to share highlights of users lives and also a place to share interests and connect to other users. -
Connecting Networks
In May of 2005, LinkedIn was created for the purpose of workplaces to connect VIA the Web. Also owned by Microsoft. -
YouTube
First YouTube video was posted of a man at the zoo. It becomes a platform where videos can receive millions of views around the world. Video sharing platform that began as a dating app. -
News Platforms
Reddit launches as a place for journalists and regular users to post about drama, news, and celebrities. A place for web ratings and online discussion forums. -
Tweets
Twitter becomes another popular engaging online discussion forum place for users to post what they feel, what they are doing, as well as interests in topics others may be interested in. -
Microblogging
A new form of blogging arises with Tumblr. Another online forum where users can post pictures and connect to other users. -
#Hashtag
Hashtags are dropped following the launch of Twitter. A symbol that has helped political organizers and average citizens mobilize, promote, and create awareness for critical (and not so critical) social issues. -
More Blogging
Pinterest is created. A place to share ideas, DIYS, and microblogging for most creators. -
Insta
Instagram becomes the platform for sharing pictures through captions. It is a place for those to connect and post with (or without) filters. -
Snap!
Snapchat becomes a widely used platform in form of a smart application. Here, pictures were able to be sent in real time and then disappear! -
Facebook Thrives
Mark Zuckerburg celebrates a billion users and thanks them for joining in on networking on his platform. -
Selfies
The year of the selfie! Users on social media make taking a picture of themselves so popular that it became a trend overtime. Everyone was involved in taking selfies if they were online users. -
Live Streams
Facebook becomes the first known application to launch live streams to their network. Here, users are able to video record what is going on in real time for their viewers entertainment. -
Stories
Instagram launches a "story" feature that allows users to post or upload an image. The difference with this feature is that the post only remains on one's profile for 24 hours! -
More to Say
In 2017, Twitter changes their character limit from 140 to 280. This widely attracted more users to the site as it was able to help engage users to their audience more and not to have to create multiple threads under one post. -
TikTok
Perhaps the most widely used application for video streaming, TikTok generates thousands of millions of users to share short videos with a simple scroll.