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Original BBS by Ward Christensen.
Each one had their own style and specific content but most included: forum/message board, way to talk to admin, library of shared files, user directory.
Eventually there would be chat features as well as games.
If people with differing interests wanted to connect, one would have to connect to a long distance node, resulting in high prices. -
Tom Jennings created BBS for MS-DOS, the main operating system for a computer in the 80's.
Had a feature that allowed multiple FIDO BBSs to share data. Allowing users to connect over long distances without the cost. -
Steve Case, Jim Kimsey, and Marc Seriff founded AOL.
Sending out free trial discs for people to use. Bundled their discs with Omaha steaks.
Focused on communities.
Had a monthly fee with a limited number of hours of use. -
Added Internet Explorer to AOL.
Flat rate unlimited pricing. 20 bucks a month and could use as much as you wanted.
Usage shot up and caused AOL to go down for 23 hours. -
Originally, Facebook was only for students of Harvard but branched out to other high ranking schools and even received an investment from the co-founder of Pay-Pal.
Within the first year, it hit a million users.
Dropped 'the' after first year. -
Youtube fully launched.
Unlike most video platforms, it was free!
The simplicity of sharing photos was now shared with videos. -
Anyone 13+ or with an email address could use Facebook.
NewsFeed launched that September and led to user outrage. It showed every action you took on the site. -
Users could share short status updates with groups of people. Twitter was a place for everyone no matter the reason they were using it.
Within 6 months, they changed to Twitter. -
In 2006, Google acquired Youtube and the next year they began showing ads before videos played.
Youtube's partner program launched, allowing creators to earn some money from what they upload. -
The pound symbol was first coined a "hashtag" by Stowe Boyd on twitter. The hashtag made it easier to search for familiar topics on the site along with keeping tabs on ongoing events. -
China banned the use of Twitter and Facebook. The spread of misinformation on twitter is rampant and has lead to many riots. Lead to other countries banning Twitter as well. Puts a muzzle on fast paced info spreading. -
Stories are time sensitive and are now on virtually every social platform. Real time documentation of life or just something funny that everyone can see as opposed to only the people you send it to. Reaches more people. -
3 men that were diagnosed with ALS took inspiration from the tradition of dumping gatorade on coaches after a win and turned that into a fundraising challenge. You would nominate and then the people you nominate would make videos and nominate even more people thus having incredible reach over the entire internet as well as television. -
Musically was turned in to TikTok and that is where the concept of a FYp began. A For You Page is exactly what it sounds like. It learns what you like to see and it shows you things that might be of interest to you. The algorithm learns and adapts to your desires. -
Elon supposedly laid off a large number of employees when he bought it. He also changed how twitter really worked and plans on making it an "everything app".