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BBS
Bulletin Board Systems- First form of social media that allowed communication with others through simple messaging boards. -
sixdegrees.com
Creation of the first social media site. Users were able to upload a profile and connect with others.
Fun Fact: The name comes from the idea that everyone on the planet is separated by no more than six degrees of separation. -
AOL Instant Messenger
Aol instant messenger was released. -
Hot or Not
AmIHotorNot.com? was a website that allowed users to upload photos of themselves and others to rate them on their attractiveness levels. Many say this website was inspiration of Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook. -
Friendster
Friendster took it further than sixdegrees.com and allowed users to meet new people within online social circles. The site took off because it enabled global communication and it was ahead of its time. Friendster was later shadowed by the rising Myspace and Facebook. -
Linkedin
Business social networking site, Linkedin was launched. This site still holds value as a professional business networking/connection platform -
Facemash
Mark Zuckerberg created facemash as a rising rival of "Hot or Not". The site was created at Harvard and initially only for the use of Harvard students. -
The Birth of Facebook
Zuckerberg's "Facemash" officially becomes "Facebook" after gaining it's one-millionth user. -
The rise of Twitter
The first tweet every posted was by co-founder,@JackDorsey. Meant originally for chatting, twitter became a place for people to share thoughts, feelings and minor life updates. -
The hashtag was born
Twitter stood out for its 140 character limit for posts and also when it adopted the hashtag. Hashtags are still commonly used today to spark movements like #metoo and #Blacklivesmatter. -
Snapchat
Founded by Evan Spiegel, snapchat was very common within the youth communities. Snapchat features disappearing messages that made it unique amongst competitors.The app has managed to survive evolving media trends and still has over 500 million active monthly users. -
Twitter Doubles Character Limit
With twitter falling behind, they chose to double their original 140 character limit that initially set them apart. -
Tiktok
Started in China as "Douyin" and later rebranded as "Tiktok" for international markets. Tiktok took the pandemic by storm and had many people in a chokehold.The app now has over 1 billion monthly users. -
Facebook Data Privacy Trial
It was leaked that Facebook allowed a reporter from Cambridge Analytica to harvest data from over 50 million users without their consent.