We may all be social networked up to the hilt these days, but it wasn’t that long ago that the only way you could get chatting online was through near steam-powered Bulletin Board Systems.
It’s everywhere
Over the last 30 years, social media has come on such an incredible amount that it’s now a integral part of most people’s lives, and this nifty graphic from OnlineSchools.org does a great job of putting a timeline across the big developments.
From the earliest web browsers appearing in 1978, the creation of Geocities in 1994, the launch of AOL Messenger in 1997 to the unleashing of the monster that would become Facebook in 2004, the phenomenal growth of social media is laid out in black and white.
Some didn’t make it
Spare a though for the fallen though: early innovators like Friendster (2002) have all but vanished (it’s now a “social gaming destination of choice”), and you need a long memory to remember the time when Friends ReUnited was the latest internet sensation (such is its fall from grace, it even fails to make the graphic).
Scroll on for a stroll down social media memory lane…
“From the earliest web browsers appearing in 1978” – surely some mistake?
The first web browser was written in 1990, Usenet wasn’t conceived until 1979-80, so I suspect that infographic has a typo.
Yep, it looks that way…
Very interesting infograph. Interesting that myspace was a clone. It appears that businesses can rapidly rise and fall. Not long ago Yahoo seemed invincible. Today Yahoo announced layoffs and Google no longer needs adult supervision. Thanks for sharing.