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Bulletin Board System
Bulletin Board System is created. A service designed to allow users to upload and download files while also being able to create public bulletin board posts.
(Michael Matthews) -
Classmates.com
Classmates.com is launched. It is designed to allow classmates to find each other online years after they’ve been out of school. It also was used as a way to update all of your former classmates about your current occupation.
(Michael Matthews) -
Bolt.com
Bolt.com is created as an online community for teenagers. It featured Horoscopes, Message Boards, and Chat Rooms.
(Michael Matthews) -
AOL
AOL instant messenger is launched. A program designed to allow users to communicate with each other online in real time.
(Michael Matthews) -
SixDegrees.com
SixDegrees.com is launched. A website designed to let users list family and friends. Users sent messages and posted bulletin board items to people in their degrees.
(Michael Matthews) -
Yahoo! Messenger
Yahoo! Messenger, an instant messenger service, launches.
(Mackenzie Weakland) -
MSN Messenger
MSN Messenger (Windows Live Messenger), a messaging, video and voice calling service, launches.
(Mackenzie Weakland) -
Hot or Not
Hot or Not (AmIHotorNot.com), a website where people submitted photos of themselves and other users rated their attractiveness. It is rumored that this site influenced the creators of Facebook and YouTube.
(Mackenzie Weakland) -
Six Degrees
SixDegrees.com is shut down.
(Mackenzie Weakland) -
Windows Messenger
Windows Messenger is released and shipped with Windows XP.
(Mackenzie Weakland) -
Friendster
Friendster, social networking and gaming site founded by Johnathan Abrams, launches.
(Mackenzie Weakland) -
LinkedIn
LinkedIn, business-oriented social networking service, launches.
(Mackenzie Weakland) -
Skype
Skype, an instant messaging and video/voice calling service, launches.
(Mackenzie Weakland) -
MySpace
MySpace, a social networking site and rival to Friendster, launches.
(Mackenzie Weakland) -
Facebook
Facebook (originally TheFacebook), a social networking service founded by Mark Zuckerberg, launches.
(Mackenzie Weakland) -
MySpace
MySpace is acquired by News Corporation for $580 million.
(Mackenzie Weakland) -
Facebook
Facebook launches its photos feature with no restrictions on storage.
(Mackenzie Weakland) -
YouTube
YouTube, an online video sharing and social media platform founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim launches.
(Mackenzie Weakland) -
Reddit
Reddit, a social networking site founded by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, launches.
(Mackenzie Weakland) -
Twitter
Twitter launches and the first tweet ever, posted by co-founder @Jack Dorsey on read: “just setting up my twttr.” It was originally envisioned as a text message-based tool for sending updates between friends.
(Hunter Terry) -
Facebook
Facebook launches News Feed. The original news feed is an algorithmically generated and constantly refreshing summary of updates about the activities of one's friends. Facebook also opened registration to everyone and went from an exclusive Harvard-only club to a global network.
(Hunter Terry) -
Tumblr
Tumblr, a popular micro-blogging and social networking site that allows users to curate pictures, videos and text and “re-blog” their friends on their “tumblelogs” launches
(Hunter Terry) -
YouTube
YouTube introduces its partnership program between YouTube, which provides the platform, and its popular content creators which allowed profits from advertising on creators’ channels to be shared between the two parties.
(Hunter Terry) -
Twitter
The hashtag was introduced which is now a symbol that helps political organizers and average citizens mobilize, promote, and create awareness for critical social issues.
(Hunter Terry) -
iPhone
Apple introduces the iPhone on January 9, 2007
(Hunter Terry) -
Justin.tv
Justin.tv, a live-streaming site that allowed anyone to broadcast videos online, launches.
(Hannah Ross) -
Facebook
IOS launched Facebook as a mobile app in 2008. This made the media more readily available for users of iPhone.
(Hunter Terry) -
Grindr
Grindr, the first geosocial networking app for dating geared towards gay and bisexual men, launches.
(Hannah Ross) -
Sina Weibo
Sina Weibo, a Chinese microblogging website, launches.
(Hannah Ross) -
Pinterest
Pinterest, a photo-sharing website, launches. This service allows users to submit images or "pins", then other users can "pin" them on personalized "pinboards."
(Hunter Terry) -
Instagram
Instagram, a photo/video sharing and social media service, launches.
(Hunter Terry) -
Facebook
Android launched the mobile app of Facebook in 2010. This made the app now available for both iPhone and Android users.
(Hunter Terry) -
Emoji
Unicode adopts the emoji. This move is a jump-start for emojis being used as a legitimate language.
(Hannah Ross) -
Snapchat
Snapchat, a photo/video sharing and social media service, launches originally named “Picaboo” but quickly changed after a lawsuit from a company with the same name.
(Hunter Terry) -
Google+
Google+, a social networking service, launches which was an attempt to compete with Facebook and Twitter.
(Hunter Terry) -
FourSquare
FourSquare app launched which allowed users to “check in” to locations and share recommendations about their favorite neighborhoods and cities with friends and family.
(Hunter Terry) -
Twitch
Twitch, another live-streaming website, launches. This site is a spin-off of Justin.tv, but is more focused on video games.
(Hannah Ross) -
Skype
Microsoft acquires Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion.
(Hannah Ross) -
#Jan25Tahrir Square uprising.
Jan. 25, 2011 was when hundreds of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets of Cairo’s Tahrir Square, to protest 30 years of dictatorship under Hosni Mubarak.
(Hannah Ross) -
Snapchat
In 2012, Snapchat launched video sharing for 10 second videos.
(Reese Young) -
Tinder
Tinder launched in 2012 as a popular dating-oriented social networking service.
(Reese Young) -
Facebook
Also in 2012, Facebook hit 1 billion users, 8 years after being launched.
(Reese Young) -
Vine
Vine was launched in 2013, shortly after being bought by Twitter.
(Reese Young) -
Instagram
Instagram created video sharing in 2013.
(Reese Young) -
Google Hangouts
Instant messaging and video/voice calling service Google Hangouts launches.
(Hannah Ross) -
Twitter
2014 is considered the year of the selfie, after Ellen Degeneres's Oscar photo posted on Twitter. It ended up breaking a record (retweeted over 3 million times) and winning an award for Twitters "Golden tweet" of the year
(Reese Young) -
Justin.tv
Justin.tv shuts downs to focus work on Twitch.
(Hannah Ross) -
Twitch
Amazon acquires Twitch for $970 million.
(Hannah Ross) -
Friendster
Also in 2015, Friendster shuts down permanently.
(Reese Young) -
Periscope
In 2015, Periscope was awarded by Apple for the iOS app of the year, quickly becoming one of the most popular streaming app.
(Reese Young) -
Discord
Discord, a free instant messaging and video/voice calling service, launches.
(Hannah Ross) -
Meerkat
Meerkat, an app similar to Periscope, launches.
(Hannah Ross) -
Facebook
Facebook live is introduced for live streaming purposes.
(Tommy Maroon) -
Instagram
Instagram creates stories, which are still popular today.
(Tommy Maroon) -
Yahoo!
Yahoo! discontinues its services for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Solaris. It now only supports Yahoo! Messenger on Android, iOS, and web clients.
(Hannah Ross) -
Meerkat
Meerkat shut downs and has since been replaced by Houseparty.
(Hannah Ross) -
"Fake News"
The rise of fake news on social media sites correlates with the unusually tense 2016 election.
(Tommy Maroon) -
TikTok
TikTok, a short video sharing and social media service, launches.
(Tommy Maroon) -
Twitter
Twitter extends the character limit to 280.
(Tommy Maroon) -
Co-Star
Co-Star is launched as an astrological social media site.
(Tommy Maroon) -
Instagram
Instagram introduces the IGTV app for longer videos.
(Tommy Maroon) -
Musical.ly
Musical.ly shuts down and migrates its users to TikTok.
(Tommy Maroon) -
Yahoo! Messenger
Yahoo! Messenger shuts down.
(Hannah Ross) -
Cambridge Analytica and #DeleteFacebook
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign took data from 50 million users without their consent. A campaign to #DeleteFacebook swept the internet as users protested by deleting their profiles on the platform.
(Hannah Ross) -
Google+
Google+ shuts down due to "low user engagement and an API flaw".
(Tommy Maroon) -
TikTok
TikTok becomes one of the biggest social networking sites.
(Tommy Maroon) -
Facebook & Instagram
Facebook and Instagram shift their attention to making accounts private.
(Tommy Maroon) -
Zoom
Zoom meetings rise in popularity following COVID-19 stay-at-home orders.
(Tommy Maroon) -
Twitter
Tweets spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 election cannot be liked or retweeted. They also direct individuals to information that disputes these theories.
(Tommy Maroon) -
Google Meet
Google Meets becomes another popular alternative due to the COVID-19 pandemic and more people having to do work from home.
(Tommy Maroon) -
Twitter
Former President Donald Trump is banned from Twitter indefinitely following the Capitol insurrection and promotion of aforementioned theories. Some of his allies and supporters are also banned as well.
(Tommy Maroon) -
Facebook
Trump is also banned from Facebook and will be for at least two more years.
(Tommy Maroon)