HISTORY OF SOCIAL MEDIABY KATIE CHUZIE

1960-1970: IT STARTED WITH THE BBS.• The Bulletin Board System was

essentially an online meeting place accessed over telephone lines via a modem for users to download files or games and post messages to each other.

• In the 60’s, early 70’s, my parents were either just being born or very young therefore I wasn’t even a thought. But little did people know, a couple decades later, my generation would be the one’s to change it all.

1970-1980: THEN THERE WAS COMPUSERVE

• Users could now access news and events and talk to thousands of people on various discussion forums.

• My parents were getting ready to graduate high school and are probably as lost about social media now as they were then.

1980-1990: THE INTERNET BEFORE THE INTERNET

• Along with instant messaging and email in its later days, AOL (America Online) also allowed users to create member profiles.

• When I was 8-10 years old, AOL was still in full swing and I would use the instant messaging to talk to my friend who would go to Mississippi for the summer. We would always battle over who’s font and color was cooler. Little did I know, that was just the beginning.

1990-2000: A FEW NOTABLES

• Sites such as Classmates.com and AsianAvenue.com arose in the late 90’s to provide more specialized services. Users could track down old friends from high school and people of the same race could network easier.

• During this time, I was busy learning to walk instead of learning the ins and outs of social media.

2002: THE LAUNCH OF FRIENDSTER

• Friendster introduced a new “Circle of Friends” concept and revoked the idea of users finding others with common bonds.

• In 2002, I was in kindergarten where common bonds consisted of chocolate milk and naptime.

2003: A MORE SERIOUS APPROACH

• LinkedIn arose in 2003 to allow professionals to network for business purposes.

• While LinkedIn was evolving, I was learning a key skill for succeeding in the professional world: how to read. And 13 years later, who knew how much I would be depending on this site as I enter the professional world.

2003: MYSPACE

• Less serious than LinkedIn, MySpace served as a funky social media site for young adults having a lot to do with music and music videos.

• While I was not using MySpace in 2003, it quickly became the cool thing to have once I reached early middle school in the later 2000’s. I loved the backgrounds and music you could set for your profile and this was where I posted my first selfie.

2004: A KING IS BORN

• In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg pulled his pals together and created Facebook which still remains the king of social media today.

• While I was busy enhancing my math and reading skills in 2nd grade, I remember signing up for Facebook 6 years later and the rest is history.

2007: FACEBOOK PLATFORM

• In 2007, the Facebook Platform is released allowing outside developers to create applications that work within Facebook itself.

• In 2007, I was entering the world of middle school and had no idea that this idea would eventually turn out to be very relevant in my life.

2007: GOOGLE HAS A SAY

• Google+ launched in 2007 standing out with its Hangouts feature allowing users to enter live video chats.

• In 2007, I was also experiencing my first cell phone and the closest I got to Google+’s video chat was sending audio messages instead of text messages.

2010: THE RISE OF MOBILE

• Mobile-based applications such as Snapchat and Instagram surface solely for the purpose of video and photo sharing.

• 2010 was my freshman year of high school and everyone was interested in the latest relationship statuses on Facebook.

2014: THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING

• In March 2014, Facebook acquired Oculus VR, playing a part in introducing virtual and augmented reality which may be the future of overall computing.

• I began college in 2014 and now, two years later, own a Samsung Gear VR and hopefully one day will impact the world of social media as a Software Engineer.

NOW: THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

• What started as a service before the Internet had even taken full effect is now what our worlds revolve around. How we send, receive, process, create is all done online and quite often through the use of social media.