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PLATO system
Originated as a distributed computer-based learning system at the University of Illinois and was the first generalized computer assisted instruction system anywhere from 1960-1980. -
Operating systems - Windows - Mac OS
Operating systems with a graphical user interface such as Mac OS and windows began to emerge, allowing for early social media platforms to thrive. One of the oldest operating communities revolved around the bulletin board systems and internet relay chat. -
Myspace & Facebook
Notable platforms such as Myspace and Facebook are developed and released. Other social media platforms such as AOL, Windows Live Messenger and Wikipedia emerged throughout the 90's. -
First social media site
one of the first true social media sites was SixDegrees.com in 1997, you could set up a profile page, create lists of connections, and send messages within networks. Over one million users were apart of the first social media website before it was bought out for 125 million. -
2000s social media platforms
trendy social media platforms that took off in the 2000s were Hot or Not, Friendster, LinkedIn, Youtube, Twitter, and blogging websites. -
Friendster
Friendster was originally a dating site to help set up people but after a year, the site's spike popularity in 2003 caught the company by surprised, crashing their services and taking a major toll on their service. -
Gaining Traction
LinkedIn, Youtube, WordPress, Facebook and many other social media sites arrived on the scene. LinkedIn targeted the business community, photo sharing sites emerged, sites for teens and video sharing came onto the scene. -
Myspace "A place for friends"
Friendster rival, Myspace quickly became the go-to site for millions of people. Primarily teens and its attractable customizable public profiles. in 2005, the site had over 25 million users and was the fifth most popular site in the US. -
Twitter
The first tweet ever "just setting up my twttr", set the tone for future users, the freedom to speak your mind... without showing your real identity. Twitters first users were sending breaking life updates and random sayings/realization which allowed for essentially a bash free learning curve for twitter users and the owners. -
LinkedIn "in the Black"
LinkedIn was the first social media platform to offer users paid premium package jobs and subscriptions. The ability to network and build relationships rapidly was appealing to many Americans and -
Youtube
Youtube's early emergence between May 05 and December 05 gathered nearly eight million daily views. Youtube was bought out by google in 2006 & with a bigger budget to promote & fine tune the website, the website grew to 100 million videos watched by 20 million dedicated users. Shortly after, Youtube introduced its partnership program which allowed anyone and everyone to create their own channel with the possibility of gaining revenue through their daily/weekly/monthly engagement from viewers. -
The Hastag
Twitter's significance was defined by its singularity of the Hashtag. A symbol that's helped promote/introduce slogans and movements and the creativity/unique powerfulness behind a hashtag helped not only Twitter and other social media platforms that followed, but the world/community as well. -
Weibo
Weibo was essentially a hybrid of Facebook and Twitter. It was launched in 2009 by China's Sina Weibo the same year that Facebook and Twitter were banned in the country. Weibo still remains one of the most popular social networks in China. -
FourSquare "check in" drops
Foursquare was one of the first location-based apps that allowed users to "check in", while sharing recommendations about all of their favorite neighborhoods and cities. Foursquare is no longer around but the company's tech is still being used on similar apps and apps such as Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter. -
Grindr
Grindr was the first social networking app for dating geared towards gay and bisexual men. Grindr revolutionized hookup culture and paved the way for many geolocation dating apps like Tinder. -
2010 social media platforms
many of the social media platforms that emerged in the 2000s are now doing exceptionally well and new social media outlets are increasing rapidly. Some of the hot social media apps include Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIN, Snapchat, Twitter and other various blogs/apps as the normality of smart phones begin to rise. -
Pinterest
Pinterest introduced the simplicity of pinning items and went live in closed beta in 2010, launching 2011. Pinning became a new trend and has increased worldwide since. As of 2022, Pinterest has had 445 million monthly active users. -
Introducing Instagram
The first instagram was posted on July 26, 2010 and throughout the years has evolved and expanded to be one of the most consistently used apps. Instagram is now the most downloaded app globally and like youtube has introduced the paid partnership aspect of the app. -
Snapchat
In 2011 Snapchat's emergence took over the scene by storm. The app's early success tapped into the creativity, nature, and instant ability to capture moments and post content on their story that would not vanish for 24 hours. The ability to send photos amongst one another that would vanish after viewing was another attractive feature of Snapchat during it's early emergence. -
Twitch
Twitch is a video game live-streaming site that was initially launched as a subsidiary of Justin.tv (a general interest streaming site that launched in 2007) By 2013, 45 million viewers were watching live-streamed games, it wasn't long after that Amazon saw the opportunity and bought out Twitch. -
Vine
Vine launched in 2013 and reshaped the way we viewed video. 6 second clips from comedy to educational and the ability to post your own Vines shaped the app into a hot commodity across the globe. Twitter bought vine quickly for 30 billion but the app faced a hard decline as neighboring apps like Snapchat and Instagram began following with their own video-sharing capabilities. -
Patreon
As social media influencers built followings on places like YouTube and Twitch, the monetization of their followers leveled up with Patreon because of the platforms ability to create an income stream from YouTube videos. The ability to subscribe to monthly/exclusive creator content allowed for viewers to engage in more meaningful content while influencing and allowing creators to produce higher quality content for a higher price. -
Year of the Selfie
Twitter proclaimed 2014 as the "Year of the selfie". Ellen DeGeneres's Oscar photo was retweeted more than three million times and was the beginning of a "life long" inheritance of the "selfie" -
U.S. Election fake news
in 2016, sophisticated information warfare was used to spread disinformation, including false claims and conspiracy theories during the U.S. presidential election. 126 million Americans were exposed to content by Russian agents during the election -
TikTok
Douyin, an app by ByteDance, was released outside of China under the name TikTok. TikTok's popularity and ability to match reels with your interests/familiarities has made TikTok has a household name in today's social media bubble.