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Talkomatic
A multi-user chatroom application known at "Talkomatic" was created by Dave Woolley and Douglas Brown at the University of Illinois. -
PLATO Notes
Dave Woolley created PLATO Notes at the University of Illinois which serves as a computer based conferencing and bulletin board system to help coordinate with the community. -
FidoNet
Bulletin board systems start to use email in North America as FidoNet forms. -
Internet Relay Chat
The Internet Relay Chat was created which allows group communication, private messaging and file sharing. -
Classmates.com
Classmates.com was launched in December of 1995 by Randy Conrads as a way of helping former and current classmate contact each other online. -
LunarStorm
LunarStorm, a Swedish social networking site, was created by Richard Eriksson which is known as the world's first social media on the internet. -
AOL
AOL instant messenger known as America Online was released, which helped pioneer instant messaging and chat rooms for the future. -
SixDegrees.com
SixDegrees.com was create which is arguably one of the first big social networking websites where you could create a profile, build connections and send messages. -
Friendster
Friendster was created which was one of the first dating sites that would allow users to be set up with others in common. -
LinkedIn, Skype and MySpace
LinkedIn launched on May 5, 2003, which is a business oriented social networking service.
Skype launches on August 29, 2003, which is a video and voice calling service.
MySpace launched on Aug 1, 2003, which was a social networking service that reached a global audience and made a significant impact on pop culture. -
TheFacebook & Flickr
TheFacebook launched on Feb 4, 2004, which is the most popular social networking service as of today. It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg among others.
Flickr launched on Feb 10, 2004, which is an image/video hosting service. -
Youtube, Reddit
YouTube launched on Feb 14, 2005, which is a video sharing website still popular today. It was founded by three former PayPal employees, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim.
Reddit launched on June 23, 2005, which is an American discussion website. Founded by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian.
Facebook launched a photos feature in 2005 and changed its name to just "Facebook". -
Twitter & Paid Premium Packages
Twitter launched on March 21, 2006, by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams. This platform allowed users to send text message updated between friends/followers.
In 2006, LinkedIn was the first service to offer paid premium packages for users to find jobs and subscribe. -
The #Hashtag Was Created
Twitter created the hashtag which helped define them in the social media market. This helped find and organize tweets as well as sprout movements such as #blacklivesmatter and #metoo. -
YouTube Influencers & Tumblr
After YouTubes launch in 2005, the site grew in viewers drastically. In May 2007, YouTube introduced partnerships which marked the beginning of social media influencers. The site paid individuals to make content once they attained a certain number of subscribers.
Tumblr was created in 2007 by David Karp which is a microblogging and social media website. -
Instagram, Pinterest & Quora
Instagram launched on July 16, 2010, which is a photo/video sharing website and social media platform. It is now one of the most downloaded apps globally.
Pinterest launched in March 2010 and serves as a photo sharing website for users.
Quora launched on June 21, 2010, and serves as a question-and-answer platform for users. -
FourSquare, Weibo & Grindr
Foursquare was launched in 2009 which allows users to share their location including favorite cities or restaurants.
Weibo launched in 2009 which is China's hybrid for Facebook and Twitter. This is because the apps were banned in China. This app remains one of the most popular social networks in China.
Grindr launched in 2009 which was one of the first gay dating apps for men which helped them meet others nearby. It paved the way for geolocation dating apps and revolutionized hookup culture. -
Snapchat & Twitch
Snapchat launched in 2011 and appealed to the teen demographic, which allowed users to post content that would disappear after 24 hours.
Twitch launched in 2011 which is a video game live streaming site. -
Tinder and Milestones
Tinder launched in 2012 which is a social networking dating app.
Facebook reached 1 billion users after 8 years and bought Instagram for $1 billion.
Snapchat adds a feature that allows users to take 10 second videos. -
Vine, Slack, Google Hangouts & Patreon
Vine launched in 2013 and was quickly bought by Twitter for $30 billion. This was a video sharing app that allowed for 6 second videos but did not last long due to apps like snapchat and Instagram.
Slack and Google Hangouts launched in 2013 which helped bring social media to the corporate world by offering a place to socialize online in work groups.
Patreon launched in 2013 which allows users to pay for exclusive content from creators on apps like YouTube and Twitch. -
TikTok & YikYak
TikTok launched in September 2017 which is a video sharing social media platform very popular today.
Yik Yak is shut down due to a decline in users, accusations of bullying and banning in some schools.
Twitter increases its character limit on tweets from 140 to 280 characters. -
Facebook's Data Privacy
In 2018, it was found that Facebook allowed a researcher to harvest data from 50 million users without their consent. Founder Mark Zucherberg participated in multiple hearings and those whose information was leaked are being encouraged to take legal action. -
BeReal & Social Commerce
BeReal launched in 2020 which allows users to share a photo of their lives once a day during a 2-minute timeframe.
Facebook and Instagram introduced shops which allows for users to purchase items in the app and helps businesses sell. -
Gettr, Truth Social & Facebook in Poland
In 2021, Gettr was launched which is an alt-tech social media platform aimed at Conservatives. Jason Miller, a former aide to Donald Trump created this.
Donald Trump launched Truth Social in 2021 which is an alt-tech social media platform.
NK.pl, a popular social media in Poland was shut down after 15 years. It was noted that the arrival of Facebook to the Polish market was reason for the turnover. -
Elon Musk Buys Twitter
In 2022, Elon Musk acquires Twitter in a $44 billion deal. This is followed by updates to the app including a name and logo change to "X", paid verification and visible view counts.
YikYak relaunches on the Appstore in 2022. -
Telegram Business and First Post on "X",
In 2024, "Telegram Business" launches which is a business focused option for telegram users.
In 2024 the first post was made on "X" which was formerly Twitter bought by Elon Musk.
The US president joined the Fediverse as @potus@threads.net