Social media has been around pretty much since the internet revolution started, but it didn’t catch its stride as soon as it was created. As the internet became the primary hub of social interactions worldwide, social media came to the scene as the best tool for doing so, and quickly rose to prominence, as the key aspect of socialization. In this article you can read all about the history, and the evolution of the social media.
The early years
Pretty much everyone thinks only of Facebook when the words social media get mentioned, and basically anyone would guess that Facebook was the very platform which started it all. However, social media has its roots way before Facebook, as it started with a website type called BBS (Bulletin Board System). BBS was an online meeting spot where primitive coding systems gave users the liberty to communicate. BBSes were, needless to say, very unknown and had small user bases, however they soon led to a true revolution. With their popularity rising in the 90s websites like FidoNet helped spark the interest of the mainstream and websites such as CompuServe spread into the public domain as well.
However, CompuServe was still relatively different than today’s social media, and there is one clear answer when it comes to determining the grandad of social networks – America Online, or AOL from short. AOL is considered to not only be the father of social media, but it also helped the internet rise into what it is today as well. AOL was so advanced for that era, and by the end of the 20th century it was established as the first ever social media website.
Rise of popularity
Social networking had its first peak in 2002, when Friendster was launched. Friendster was the first platform to introduce the now mandatory, circle of friends feature, and helped launch the whole social community aspect. The popularity of this website was growing rapidly and by 2003 it already had over 3 million users, as the internet’s popularity rose as well. However, Friendster’s fame didn’t last long as the website had its difficulties and is today a simple gaming hub. One thing it did for sure, though, is helped launch the trend into the stratosphere.
Soon, websites such as LinkedIn, the now defunct MySpace helped pave the way as well, and finally in 2004, the alpha and omega of social media was born.
The age of Facebook and Twitter
Founded in 2004 as a campus exclusive website, Facebook expanded into what we know today about 2 years later. Thanks to some genius decision making by its founder as well as billions of dollars worth of investment from some big companies, Facebook has developed into the worldwide phenomenon as it currently has more than 1.3 billion users. Truly amazing, and soon websites like Twitter, and instagram joined the revolution as well, and today dominate the world of social media.
With the rise of the mobile platform, and VR technology, we are yet to witness what the future of social media has in store for us. Since its infancy, to today, one thing is for sure: Social media is a platform full of opportunities.
Since the evolution of the internet, social media has become the primary way of sharing your life experiences, your opinions, photos, and your overall identity with the world.