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SixDegrees.com
One of the first true social media sites created that allowed users to create a profile, make lists of connections, and send messages within the network. -
Hot or Not
AmIHotorNot.com was created and allowed users to submit photos of themselves for other users to rate their attractiveness. -
Friendster
Originally created to be a dating site that matched people based on their mutual friends. It allowed users to create their profile, update status and post their mood. It became too popular for the servers and users were pushed elsewhere. -
Myspace
Social network that allowed for customizing of public profiles. You could include music and video and customizable backgrounds. -
Period: to
Facebook and Other Social Networking Sites
Between 2003 and 2005 Facebook and multiple other social networking sites were launched.
LinkedIn- created to target the business community
Photobucket & Flickr- photosharing
del.ici.ous- social bookmarking site
WordPress
Nexopia- social networking site geared towards teens
YouTube- video sharing -
Twitter
Launched as a site where users could send text message style updates to friends. -
LinkedIn
Networking site for business professionals. 2006 was the first year that the site was "in the black". The site was the first to offer paid premium packages. -
Tumblr
The start of microblogging, this social network had users exchanging only small amounts of content at a time. -
YouTube
The video sharing site introduced it's partnership program that would make it possible for YouTubers to make money off of the views their content received. This was the beginning of the social media influencers. -
Rise of the Hashtag #
The Hashtag started on Twitter as a way for people to mobilize, promote, and create awareness around things while staying within the 140 character limit set by the site. The hashtag has continued to be used to help bring awareness and spread movements. -
FourSquare
One of the first applications that gave users the ability to "check in" based on their location. This geolocation API was used for geofilters and location tagging for apps like Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram. -
Grindr
This was the first geosocial networking dating app that was created for gay and bisexual men. It connected them with other men based on their location. This had an influence on future geolocation dating apps. -
Instagram
Social network created to upload and share photo based status updates. -
Pinterest
Pinterest is officially launched and it allows users to create boards and pin posts based on their interests. -
Snapchat
Allows users to post content that will disappear after 24 hours. -
Twitch
Popular video game live-streaming site. Had 45 million unique viewers by 2013 and was quickly acquired by Amazon. -
Facebook
Hits one billion users and acquires Instagram. -
Patreon
Social networking platform that allows users to subscribe to monthly or exclusive content from creators. -
Vine
Purchased by Twitter and launched in 2013, this video sharing app allowed for video uploads of up to 6 seconds. It had quick success at first but eventually failed due to more popular apps coming out with their own video-sharing options. -
Selfie!!
Twitter declared 2014 to be the year of the selfie after Ellen DeGeneres posted her Oscar selfie that went viral, being retweeted over three million times. -
Live Streaming
Meerkat started the trend of live-streaming.
Periscope by Twitter took over for a while.
Live-streaming has become standard in major apps like Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. -
Stories
Instagram launched "Stories" which allow users to photo and video sequences that stay up for 24 hours -
Troll Factories and Fake News
With the 2016 Presidential Election, "troll Factories" began being used across social media to spread misinformation, false claims, conspiracy theories, etc. -
TikTok
Social network that was released outside of China quickly reaching popularity in Asian countries and spreading to North America in 2019 -
Facebook Data Privacy Trial
Facebook went on trial for data privacy after allowing a Cambridge Analytica researcher to harvest data from 50 million users without their consent. -
Period: to
Instagram Videos
2018- Instagram increased its video limit to one hour and launched IGTV
2019- Instagram debuted Reels
2021- Instagram merged IGTV and Feed videos into a single format: Instagram Video.
There are now four different video formats: Reels, Videos, Stories, and Lives. -
Social Commerce
Facebook and Instagram introduce Shops allowing users to purchase in-app and made it easy for businesses to sell on the platforms. This became popular during the pandemic. -
Elon Musk
Purchases Twitter for $44 Billion
Updates app with things like paid verification, visible view counts, and a look into the recommendation algorithm.
Changed the name to X