A (Non-Boring) Recap of Social Media History

"People must know the past to understand the present, and to face the future." - Nellie L McClung

Aw, imagine saying "Non-Boring" right in the title and then starting off with a quote...Oops! But the quote is so true, understanding the history of social media is essential for us to know the past, and we don't have to make this the world's most boring history lesson (un-que the yawns!). Consider this is the fun and wacky Ms. Frizzle adventure of history lessons - let's dive in!

1997 - The first ever social media site was Six Degrees! It was founded on the idea that all people are six or fewer connections away from one another and essentially helped you create and message a list of contacts. But, it ended four years later due to it not being engaging enough.

2001 - Friendster was launched in 2001, followed by LiveJournal. LiveJournal is more based on blogging, while Friendster originally was the same premise as Six Degrees. Friendster (despite the cooler name tbh) slowly declined when Facebook was on the rise and eventually turn into a gaming site.

2003 - MySpace AND LinkedIn Launched. (Fun fact: MySpace was actually later purchased by Justin Timberlake for $35 Million in 2011)

2004 - Facebook. Changed. The. Game. If you haven't already, you have to watch 'The Social Network’ movie and learn about how Facebook was founded. It might make you seriously dislike a certain Facebook mogul....but once you pop back on Instagram you might get over it a little.

2005 - Reddit entered the chat!

2006 - Twitter was released.

2007 - Tumblr was founded. What would we all be like without a Tumblr phase?

2010 - Instagram! It was later purchased by Facebook in 2012.

2010 - Pinterest...and, our newfound love for crafts (that look way better when someone else DIYs them) and our wedding dream boards were born.

2011 - Snapchat

2012 - Google+, Google already is second to running this world after girls, but they ALSO wanted to step into social media...and kind of flopped honestly.

2013 - Vine (RIP 2017)

2016 - TikTok was launched and originally called Musical.ly It makes me wonder what kind of brain capacity did I have 6 years ago if I didn't always have TikTok audio stuck in my head…

What does this timeline mean?

Social media was formed on the basis of creating a community and it STILL has those same values. Think of the whole network and community you met and all the friends/family you're able to keep up with because of social media, not to mention, that it's a whole career for many of us! Ever since 1997, social media has been in our lives and it's definitely here to stay and continue to grow. 10 popular platforms within the 10 years of 2003-2013 - that's crazy. We can't even imagine all the updates, trends, and growth that will continue to hit the industry from here!

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