Time Toast Megan Smith

Six Degrees

1997

Six Degrees allowed users to upload a profile picture and connect with others. This was one of the first social media sites that
showed glimpses resembling that of today's features, like create a profile and adding friends. This social media app allowed users to expand their social groups.

LiveJournal

1999

LiveJournal falls into the blogs and forums category of social media. It was the first to introduce dynamic content and allowed users to create groups and interact with one another.

Wikipedia

2001

Wikipedia is one of the most famous social media sites ever. It's validity and reliability has been questioned through the years but it is still used by many people. The free encyclopedia was launched in 2001.

LinkedIn

2002

LinkedIn was launched in 2002. It is type of social media used for business and it made job searching much easier.

Myspace

2003

Myspace was one of the most successful social media sites when it was launched in 2003. I still vividly remember picking music for my profile page and constantly worrying about who was in my top five friends (customizable profiles). It allowed private messaging and public comments posted to a user's profile. Myspace showed the power of social networking.

Flickr

2004

Flickr was a photo sharing platform launched in 2004. This site made digital camera sales increase exponentially. Photo sharing becomes mainstream after its launch.

Youtube

2005

Youtube was the first organized video streaming and video sharing platform. It paved the way for many more video streaming/video sharing platforms. Youtube opened an entirely new platform of communication. Users began to face copyright issues when they tried to upload music/videos that didn't belong to them.

Reddit

2005

Reddit was launched in 2005. It was a entertainment and social networking platform. Members could submit content and converse with other users.

Facebook

2006

Facebook becomes the best performing social media platform with 1.44 billion users. Also, Facebook "Newsfeed" goes live in 2006. The content on what Facebook's users can post and see is broadened.

Twitter

2006

Twitter was launched as a microblogging platform with a question and answer format. Tweets were only allowed to be 140 characters long. Twitter also goes live in March 2006.

Tumblr

2007

Tumblr was launched in 2007. It was a live-streaming and microblogging platform. It was launched by a web designer named David Karp.

Snapchat

2011

Snapchat was launched in 2012. It was a new platform for chatting by posting pictures. I think that Snapchat is one of the most influential social media applications of our generation. It continues to evolve and improve every day.

References

2018

A Chronological History of Social Media. (2018, March 12). Retrieved from https://interestingengineering.com/chronological-history-of-social-media
Colaiacovo, K. (2018, April 13). An Interesting Timeline of the Evolution of Social Media. Retrieved from https://www.pepperitmarketing.com/facebook/evolution-social-media
The history of social media: A timeline. (2018, September 05). Retrieved from https://phrasee.co/the-history-of-social-media-a-timeline/