History of Social Media

Social media has been around for a while now and who knows when it truly started but today I am going to talk about different social media sites and when they started.

All the way back in 1997, almost 22 years ago, AOL messenger started. I had an AOL and I absolutely loved it. I would chat with my friends and leave my "going away" messages. AOL helped me stay connected to my friends when we weren't at school. The only thing is that you could only use it if you were on a computer.

In 1998, is when Google search engine was born. This search engine is still the most popular one today. You can "google" anything you want and within seconds you were have tons of results. I can't believe that Google has been around for 20 years now. 

Apple dropped their first product in 2001. Apple came out with a way to make your music portable without using a CD. Apple Ipod's were just the start for this company. They came out with Iphone's in 2008. 

Also in 2001 came Wikipedia. This website can give you information on anyone and anything. I do not guarantee it is all true but I definitely think it is useful when you are trying to find out if your celebrity crush has a wife. 

Something that really surprised me was the LinkedIn came out in 2003 before Myspace, Facebook, or twitter. LinkedIn is a social media for professionals. This website is still very popular today. 

Next came Myspace, this site was the first of its kind. You were able to post, share, and like anything. You could message, add or talk to anyone. This is what I think of when I think of the first true social media site. 

After Myspace came Skype in 2004 followed by podcasting in 2005. 

After podcasting became Facebook. Facebook was published in 2005. This, today, is the most
popular social media website. In 2009, Facebook has 350 million users and in 2011 they added another 200 million more. Facebook has only grown since 2005 and I believe it will continue to grow. 

In 2005 also came YouTube. This is the number one site for sharing videos. Closely after YouTube came twitter in 2006. Twitter is on the rise and I believe it will take over soon.

I hope you guys enjoyed this little history lesson. Were you at all surprised with the order of the social media?