Timeline of social media

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The content on this page is forked from the English Wikipedia page entitled "Timeline of social media". The original page still exists at Timeline of social media. The original content was released under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License (CC-BY-SA), so this page inherits this license.

This page is a timeline of social media. Major launches, milestones and other major events are included.

Overview

Decade Description
1970s–1980s The PLATO system developed at the University of Illinois and then commercially marketed by Control Data Corporation, offers early forms of social media with Notes, PLATO's message forum application; TERM-talk, its instant messaging feature; Talkomatic, perhaps the first online chat room; News Report, a crowd-sourced online newspaper and blog; and Access Lists, enabling the owner of a notesfile or other application to limit access to a certain set of users, for example, only friends, classmates, or co-workers.
1980s–1990s As Operating systems with a graphical user interface, such as Windows 95 and Mac OS begin to emerge and gain popularity, this created an environment that allows for early social media platforms to thrive and exist.[1][2]

Bulletin board systems (BBS) and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) were popular during this time period, and IRC is still widely used today.[3][4]

1990s–2000s Various notable social media platforms are developed and released such as Myspace and Facebook, and blogging begins to gain popularity. Instant messaging platforms such as AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and Windows Live Messenger also become increasingly popular.[5]
2010s Many social media platforms that have remained are now thriving, and new ones are appearing sporadically. This includes popular blogs, instant messaging servers, and various social networking platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter.[6]

With advances in smartphone technology, almost all social media services now have their own mobile apps.[7]


Timeline

Year Event Type Description
1973 Invention Talkomatic is created by Dave Woolley and Douglas Brown at the University of Illinois, as a multi-user chat room application. It is an instant sensation among users in the PLATO System's online community.
1973 Invention TERM-Talk is created by the staff at the Computer-based Education Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, as an instant-messaging application enabling any two users on the PLATO system to conduct a live, character-by-character typed conversation on the bottom of the screen of their PLATO terminals. Soon many features would be added to it including "Monitor Mode," enabling one user in the TERM-talk to share their own screen with the other user, to ask questions or point out something that they're seeing. Years later this concept would be introduced as "Screen Sharing" or Remote Desktop Software.
1973 Invention PLATO Notes is created by 17-year-old student Dave Woolley at the Computer-based Education Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, as a conferencing and bulletin board forum system for communicating with the user community. In 1976, Notes expanded to enable any user to create a "notesfile" on any subject. PLATO Notes would serve as the inspiration for Lotus Notes developed by former PLATO users Ray Ozzie, Len Kawell, and Tim Halvorsen.
circa 1980 Milestone BBS emerges as one of the earliest known forms of social media, and remains popular and under development until the late 1990s.[8]
1988 Invention IRC rises from the roots of BBS (and was initially intended to extend it), offering a similar service and experience.[9][10] It has remained in use until this day.

An example of a popular IRC client today is mIRC.

1996 Launch ICQ is released by Israeli company Mirabilis.[11]
1997 Launch, Milestone Social networking website SixDegrees.com is created, which is said to be the first ever social media website.[12]
1997 Launch AOL Instant Messenger is released.[11]
1998 Acquisition ICQ is acquired by AOL, and the service is patented.[13]
1999 Acquisition SixDegrees.com is purchased by YouthStream Media Networks for $125 million.[14]
1999 Launch Yahoo! Messenger, another popular instant messaging service, launches.[11]
1999 Launch MSN Messenger (also known as Windows Live Messenger), a popular messaging, video and voice calling service, launches.[11]
2000 Launch Habbo, a game-based social networking site, launches.
2001 Defunction SixDegrees.com shuts down.[8][12]
2001 Launch, Invention Windows Messenger is released, and is shipped with Windows XP. This is an integrated version of MSN Messenger.
2002 Launch Social networking and gaming site Friendster launches. The service would be popular in Asia and the Pacific Islands.[15]
2002 Launch Business-oriented social networking service LinkedIn launches.[16]
2003 Launch Social networking website Hi5 launches.[6]
2003 Launch Another business-oriented social networking website, XING, launches. This service is more popular in Europe.[17]
2003 Launch Myspace, one of the most popular social networking sites ever, launches.[18]
2003 Launch Skype, a very popular instant messaging and video/voice calling service (VoIP), launches.[19]
2004 Launch Facebook, the most popular social networking service to-date, launches. It now features a voice and video calling service, as well as a widely used instant messaging service.[20]
2004 Launch Flickr, an image and video hosting website, launches. Many users use Flickr to keep personal photos, and it is also widely used as a platform for hosting images and videos that are later embedded in other websites and services (such as blogs).[21]
2004 Launch Orkut, a social networking website owned by Google, launches.[22]
2004 Launch Tagged, a social discovery website, launches.[6]
2005 Launch Bebo, a social networking website, launches.[23]
2005 Acquisition Myspace is acquired by News Corporation for $580 million.[24]
2005 Launch Qzone, a Chinese social networking website, launches.[25]
2005 Launch Renren, a Chinese social networking website, launches.[26]
2005 Launch YouTube, a video sharing service that allows users to post virtually anything, from music, let's plays, and vlogs, launches. Users can then comment on these videos. Users used to be able to make video replies, but that feature was removed in 2013.[27]
2005 Acquisition Yahoo! acquires Flickr.[28]
2005 Launch Facebook launches its photos feature with no restrictions on storage (but without the ability to tag friends).[29]
2006 Launch Twitter, one of the most popular social networking sites worldwide, launches. This website was very popular in Brazil and India.[30]
2006 Launch VK (VKontakte), a extremely popular Russian-based social networking service that resembles Facebook, launches. This service is very popular in Europe.[31]
2006 Launch 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.[32]
2006 Acquisition YouTube is acquired by Google for $1.65 billion.[33]
2007 Launch Tumblr, a popular microblogging and social networking website, launches.[34]
2007 Launch FriendFeed, a real-time social media feed aggregator, launches.[35]
2007 Launch Justin.tv, a live-streaming that allowed anyone to broadcast video online, launches.[36]
2008 Acquisition AOL buys Bebo for $850 million.[24]
2009 Acquisition FriendFeed is acquired by Facebook for $15 million in cash, and $32.5 million in stock.[37]
2009 Launch Sina Weibo, a Chinese microblogging website, launches.[38]
2010 Launch Pinterest, a photo sharing website, launches. This services allows users to submit images or "pins", then other users can "pin" them on personalized "pinboards". Users can then comment on each other's content and interact with it.[39]
2010 Acquisition AOL sells ICQ to Mail.Ru (formerly known as Digital Sky Technologies) for $185 million.[40]
2010 Acquisition Bebo is sold by AOL to Criterion Capital Partners.[41]
2010 Launch Instagram, a photo/video sharing and social media service, launches.[42]
2010 Launch Quora, a popular question-and-answer platform, launches.[43]
2011 Launch Snapchat, a photo/video sharing and social media service, launches.[44]
2011 Acquisition Microsoft acquires Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion.[45]
2011 Launch Google+, a widely popular social networking service, launches.[46]
2011 Launch Keek, a video sharing and social media service, launches.[47]
2011 Acquisition Myspace is sold to Specific Media by News Corp. for $35 million.[48]
2011 Launch LinkedIn files for an IPO and trades its first shares under the NYSE symbol "LNKD", at $45 per share.[49]
2011 Launch Twitch.tv, a live-streaming service that is popular worldwide, launches. This service is a spin-off from Justin.tv, as it is more focused on broadcasting users playing video games.[50]
2011 Launch Twitter overhauls its website to feature the "Fly" design, which the service says is easier for new users to follow and promotes advertising. In addition to the Home tab, the Connect and Discover tabs are introduced along with a redesigned profile and timeline of Tweets.[51]
2012 Milestone, Launch Facebook goes public, negotiating a share price of $38 apiece, valuing the company at $104 billion, the largest valuation to date for a newly listed public company.[52]
2012 Launch Snapchat launches video sharing, allowing users to share 10 second videos.[53]
2012 Launch Tinder, a widely popular dating-oriented social networking service, launches.[54]
2012 Acquisition Facebook acquires Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock.[55]
2013 Launch, Acquisition Vine, a widely popular video sharing and social media service, launches shortly after being acquired by Twitter for $30 million.[56][57]
2013 Launch Twitter files for its IPO, and begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The share closes at US$44.90, giving the company a valuation of around US$31 billion.[58]
2013 Launch Instagram launches video sharing.[59]
2013 Acquisition Bebo is purchased from Criterion Capitol Partners for $1 million by Bebo's founders.[60]
2013 Launch Instant messaging and video/voice calling service Google Hangouts launches.[61]
2013 Launch * Myspace re-launches, coming out with a re-designed website, and a mobile app.[62]
2014 Defunction Justin.tv shuts downs to focus work on Twitch.tv.[63]
2014 Launch Snapchat launches collaborative timelines based on events.[64][65]
2014 Acquisition Amazon acquires Twitch.tv for $970 million.[66]
2014 Defunction Orkut is shutdown by Google.[67]
2015 Defunction, Milestone Friendster shuts down due to "the evolving landscape in our challenging industry" and lack of engagement by the online community.[68]
2015 Launch Pinterest announces the launch of Buyable Pins, a special type of pin that can be used to make purchases within Pinterest itself. When users select a Buyable Pin, they have the option of choosing the item they wish to buy (for instance, choosing between different dress sizes and colors), and they can then make the purchase within the app using a variety of payment methods, including Apple Pay. Launch partners include Shopify and Demandware. The buyable pins are free to use, and Pinterest does not take a cut of the purchases made. However, Pinterest intends to allow sellers to promote buyable pins just as they can promote other pins.[69][70][71]
2015 Launch, Acquisition Periscope, a live video sharing app, launches shortly after being acquired by Twitter.[72]
2015 Launch * Bebo re-launches as a messaging app for iOS and Android.[73][74]
2015 Launch Meerkat, an application similar to Periscope, launches.[75]
2016 Acquisition Microsoft says it will be acquiring LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, and is expected to finalize the deal by the end of 2016.[76][77]
2016 Acquisition Time Inc. buys Myspace and its parent company.[78]
2016 Defunction, Milestone Yahoo discontinues its services for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Solaris clients in early August 2016. It will now only support Yahoo Messenger on Android, iOS, and web clients.[79]

(*) Such launches are not initial launches, but rather re-launches.

Numerical and visual data

Google Scholar

The following table summarizes per-year mentions on Google Scholar as of October 28, 2021.

Year "social media"
2000 144,000
2002 173,000
2004 203,000
2006 224,000
2008 269,000
2010 409,000
2012 726,000
2014 944,000
2016 896,000
2018 588,000
2020 235,000
Social media gscho.png

Google Trends

The chart below shows Google Trends data for Social media (Help topic), from January 2004 to April 2021, when the screenshot was taken. Interest is also ranked by country and displayed on world map.[80]

Social media gt.png

The comparative chart below shows Google Trends data for Facebook (Social media service), Twitter (Social networking service), LinkedIn Corporation (Social networking service) and Instagram (Social networking service), from January 2004 to April 2021, when the screenshot was taken. Interest is also ranked by country and displayed on world map.[81]

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Corporation and Instagram gt.png

Google Ngram Viewer

The chart below shows Google Ngram Viewer data for Social media, from 2000 to 2019.[82]

Social media ngram.png

Wikipedia Views

The chart below shows pageviews of the English Wikipedia article Social media, on desktop from December 2007, and on mobile-web, desktop-spider, mobile-web-spider and mobile app, from July 2015; to Mach 2021. A data gap observed on desktop from October 2014 to June 2015 is the result of Wikipedia Views failure to retrieve data.[83]

Social media wv.png


See also

References

  1. ↑ "Windows 95 remains most popular operating system". CNET. Retrieved 2016-07-25. 
  2. ↑ "Happy birthday, Windows 95 - the OS that changed it all". Retrieved 2016-07-25. 
  3. ↑ "The BBS Corner - Main Page". www.bbscorner.com. Retrieved 2016-07-25. 
  4. ↑ Williams, Alex. "IRC Has Lost 60% Of Its Users Since 2003, But Life As A Robot Is Just Beginning". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-07-25. 
  5. ↑ "The Rise and Fall of Instant Messengers". 2014-10-22. Retrieved 2016-07-25. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "29 social networks that have at least one million visitors per day". Pingdom Royal. 2011-03-25. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  7. ↑ "The 16 social media apps everyone should have". Retrieved 2016-07-25. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "The history of social networking". 2016-05-14. Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  9. ↑ "History of IRC (Internet Relay Chat)". daniel.haxx.se. Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  10. ↑ Ltd., mIRC Co. "mIRC: Founding IRC". www.mirc.com. Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Petronzio, Matt. "A Brief History of Instant Messaging". Mashable. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "The History of Social Media | History Cooperative". historycooperative.org. Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  13. ↑ "AOL wins instant messaging case". BBC. 2002-12-19. Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  14. ↑ Angwin, Julia (2009). Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America. Random House. p. 52. 
  15. ↑ "Then and now: a history of social networking sites". 2014-02-04. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  16. ↑ "About Us | LinkedIn Newsroom". LinkedIn Newsroom. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  17. ↑ "Nothing found for 2008 10 5 Years Of Xing %25E2%2580%2593 Some Memorable Moments And Milestones". net.work.xing - The corporate blog of XING. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  18. ↑ "MySpace | CrunchBase". www.crunchbase.com. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  19. ↑ Agencies. "Happy Birthday Skype: Even monkeys use it now". Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  20. ↑ "The Only 8 Features Facebook Had When It Launched In 2004". Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  21. ↑ "Photo Site a Hit With Bloggers". Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  22. ↑ "A Look Back at Google's History of Social Media Failures". Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  23. ↑ "Bebo - SEO DIR". Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "AOL acquires Bebo social network". BBC. 2008-03-13. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  25. ↑ "Qzone: China's Biggest Social Network — China Internet Watch". www.chinainternetwatch.com. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  26. ↑ "Renren - HOME". www.renren-inc.com. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  27. ↑ Panzarino, Matthew. "Google Dumps Video Responses From YouTube Due To Dismal .0004% Click-Through Rate". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  28. ↑ "Yahoo actually does acquire Flickr | Flickr Blog". blog.flickr.net. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  29. ↑ Editor, Craig Kanalley Senior; News, Big; Events, Live; Post, The Huffington (2011-08-02). "INFOGRAPHIC: A History Of Facebook Photos". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-08-28. 
  30. ↑ "The Real History Of Twitter". Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  31. ↑ "Russia's Mark Zuckerberg Resigns as VKontakte CEO". 2014-04-02. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  32. ↑ "Facebook Gets a Facelift". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2016-08-28. 
  33. ↑ "Surprise! There's a third YouTube co-founder - USATODAY.com". usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  34. ↑ "About | Tumblr". www.tumblr.com. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  35. ↑ "FriendFeed | CrunchBase". www.crunchbase.com. Retrieved 2016-08-28. 
  36. ↑ "The Many Pivots Of Justin.tv: How A Livecam Show Became Home To Video Gaming Superstars". 2012-06-15. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  37. ↑ Siegler, M. G. "The Cost Of FriendFeed: Roughly $50 Million In Cash And Stock". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-08-28. 
  38. ↑ "Special: Micro blog's macro impact". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  39. ↑ "Pinning: These are a few of my favourite things". Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  40. ↑ "FT.com / Media - AOL sells ICQ to Russian internet company". 2010-04-30. Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  41. ↑ "AOL To Sell Bebo to Criterion Capital Partners". Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  42. ↑ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  43. ↑ "Adam D'Angelo". Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  44. ↑ Ang, Sarah. "11 Things You Didn't Know About Snapchat's Founders". Mashable. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  45. ↑ "Microsoft finalizes acquisition of Skype, Tony Bates shares his thoughts (video)". Engadget. Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  46. ↑ "Introducing the Google+ project: Real-life sharing, rethought for the web". Official Google Blog. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  47. ↑ "Toronto's Keek raises $18M for social video networking platform". Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  48. ↑ "MySpace sold to Specific Media by Murdoch's News Corp - BBC News". Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  49. ↑ Byers, Ann (2013-07-15). Reid Hoffman and Linkedin. The Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 9781448895373. 
  50. ↑ Wilhelm, Alex (2011-06-06). "TwitchTV: Justin.tv's killer new esports project". Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  51. ↑ "Twitter 2.0: Everything You Need to Know About the New Changes | Fox News". 2011-12-09. Retrieved 2016-08-28. 
  52. ↑ Caulfield, Brian. "Facebook IPO: Time For A Drink [Update: No Hoodies At The Rosewood]". Retrieved 2016-08-28. 
  53. ↑ Gallagher, Billy. "Snapchat Releases Video Sharing, Is Prototyping Monetization Features (Oh, And It's Still Not For Sexting)". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-08-28. 
  54. ↑ "What Ignited Tinder's Explosive Growth?". Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  55. ↑ "Facebook Buys Instagram for $1 Billion". ABC News. Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  56. ↑ Langer, Eli (2013-06-23). "Instagram Video Taking a Swing at Vine: Study". Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  57. ↑ "Twitter Buys Vine, a Video Clip Company That Never Launched". Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  58. ↑ "Twitter shares jump 73% in market debut - BBC News". Retrieved 2016-08-28. 
  59. ↑ Taylor, Colleen. "Instagram Launches 15-Second Video Sharing Feature, With 13 Filters And Editing". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-08-28. 
  60. ↑ "Bebo founders buy back worthless social network for $1million after selling it to AOL for $850million just five years ago". Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  61. ↑ Summers, Nick (2013-05-15). "Google Launches Hangouts Messaging Service for iOS, Android and Web". Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  62. ↑ "The new, new Myspace leaves beta — launches a revised design, new features, & a mobile app". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  63. ↑ Popper, Ben (2014-08-05). "Justin.tv, the live video pioneer that birthed Twitch, officially shuts down". The Verge. Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  64. ↑ Crook, Jordan. "Snapchat Launches Collaborative Timelines Based On Events". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-08-28. 
  65. ↑ Wagner, Kurt. "Snapchat Rolls Out Group-Sharing Feature for Concerts, Live Events". Mashable. Retrieved 2016-08-28. 
  66. ↑ Welch, Chris (2014-08-25). "Amazon, not Google, is buying Twitch for $970 million". The Verge. Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  67. ↑ "Adeus ao Orkut" (in português). Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  68. ↑ "Friendster.com - Living the Game". www.friendster.com. Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  69. ↑ "Coming soon: Buyable Pins!". 2015-06-02. Retrieved 2016-08-28. 
  70. ↑ Lynley, Matthew. "Pinterest Unveils Buyable Pins, A Way To Purchase Things Directly Within Pinterest". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-08-28. 
  71. ↑ Rao/Fortune, Leena. "Pinterest Wants You to Go Shopping with New 'Buyable Pins'". TIME.com. Retrieved 2016-08-28. 
  72. ↑ "Introducing Periscope | Twitter Blogs". blog.twitter.com. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  73. ↑ "After Selling For $850 Million, Failed Social Network Bebo Is Relaunching As Something Much Cooler". Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  74. ↑ "Bebo Swipe To Chill". Bebo, Inc. Retrieved 26 July 2016. 
  75. ↑ "Meerkat is the biggest hit at SXSW". From the Grapevine. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  76. ↑ Greene, Jay (2016-06-14). "Microsoft to Acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 Billion". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  77. ↑ "Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn | News Center". news.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  78. ↑ Spangler, Todd (2016-02-11). "Time Inc. Buys Myspace Parent Company Viant". Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  79. ↑ "Old Yahoo Messenger App to Shut Down on August 5". Retrieved 2016-07-23. 
  80. ↑ "Social media". Google Trends. Retrieved 14 April 2021. 
  81. ↑ "Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Corporation and Instagram". Google Trends. Retrieved 14 April 2021. 
  82. ↑ "Social media". books.google.com. Retrieved 22 April 2021. 
  83. ↑ "Social media". wikipediaviews.org. Retrieved 22 April 2021. 

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