Ever wondered which was the first social network? We’ve listed the significant milestones in the development of social media throughout history in a handy infographic.
Social media has changed the world immensely in a minuscule amount of time in historical terms. From how we communicate, consume news and information, research and work, to how we organise ourselves and our lives.
Have we missed anything? If so, let us know and we’ll add it!
As a multi-media advertising agency we have a particular interest in how different forms of media complement each other.
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If you’d prefer this timeline in text form, here it is:
Timeline of Social Media
BC
Carrier pigeon / post
1440
Print Press
1792
Telegraph
1876
Telephone
1895
Radio
1925
TV
1973
Community Memory – The first online social network. A simple bulletin board system where users read and posted messages using keywords and search functions.
1978
Computerized Bulletin Board System – A more advanced system to Community Memory.
1980-1981
Usenet
Prodigy
CompuServe
These networks included news reports, weather reports, sports reports, at home shopping, online games, chat and file sharing.
1991
America Online (AOL) provided a network and paid internet access.
1994
Links.net was the first blog created by US college student Justin Hall. He called it his personal homepage.
1995
Geocities
The Globe
Classmates
1997
The term “weblog” was coined.
SixDegrees was one of the first sites to allow users to create and browse profiles and groups.
1998
Open Diary
2000
Friends Reunited
2001
Wikipedia
Stumbleupon
2002
Friendster
Technorati
2003
Myspace was the first significantly popular social network.
Couch surfing
LastFM
WordPress Blog hosting
2004
Care2 Digg
Gmail Flickr
2005
YouTube
2006
Google acquired YouTube
WikiLeaks
Spotify
2007
iphone – the birth of the smart phone.
Soundcloud
2010
What’s App
2011
Snapchat
Google Plus
2012
Tinder
2015
Periscope
