You might be curious to know how different social media started working. When they started and who created them. There is a long history behind starting social media, which is well worth knowing. The idea of gathering people and make them contact each other is not new, and it goes back to more than 20 years ago.
Social media timeline
If you study history, you see that there has always been a place that people could share their ideas like Roman forums. Thanks to technology and the modern world, that has changed the way we do all things, including communication. If you search the internet, you realized that nothing like technology and the internet changed the world in the past century.
Creating forums and social networks become the new methods people could share their idea virtually without seeing each other. It was exciting for users to communicate with one another without knowing them or finding people from different parts of the world.
Now, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest, and Twitter are the most prominent social networks all over the globe. In this article, we assess the origin and revolution of each one and social media as a whole. Let’s start with the social networks and see which the pioneers are of this competitive market.
When did social media start?
Of course, social media wasn’t what we see today when it first started. There were many concepts and app written before the most popular social media (like Facebook) more than twenty years ago. Most of them were kind of software that allowed users to connect. social media is used for many purposes such as an income source for Influencers, businesses, retailers, etc. so, it is worthy to know more about it.
However, what I mention here is a form of network that people could connect from the web and share their thoughts. Here is the list of different types of social media and their history. You can follow the blog to know about other aspects of social media such as social media marketing.
1973 – Talkomatic
Dave Woolley and Douglas Brown created it at the University of Illinois, as a multi-user chat room application.
1996 – Bolt
Bolt.com was launched as the first social networking and video website SixDegrees.com
1997 – SixDegrees.com
SiXDegrees.com is the first social media, which was created in 1997 on which people could add friends and create a profile. It was sold out for $125 million and closed in 2000.
1997 – AOL
Instant Messenger
1998 – Open Diary
Open Diary launched the first social blogging network, inventing the reader comment and friends-only content
2000 – Hot or Not?
The site for rating others picture founded on by two October 2000 by James Hong and Jim Young, young Ph.D. students of UC Berkeley and engineers at Silicon Valley.
1999 – Yahoo! Messenger
1999 – MSN Messenger
MSN Messenger (Windows Live Messenger), a messaging, video and voice calling service, launched
1999 – LiveJournal
LiveJournal, a blogging platform and social network
2000 – Habbo
A online game-based social networking site
2001 – Windows Messenger
2002 – Friendster
2003 – LinkedIn
A business-oriented social networking service
2003 – Hi5
Social networking website
2003 – XING
A business-oriented social networking website
2003 – Myspace
2003 – Skype
2004 – Facebook
2004 – Flickr
2004 – Orkut
A social networking website by Google
2004 – Tagged
A social discovery website
2005 – Bebo
A social networking website
2005 – Qzone
A Chinese social networking website
2005 – Reddit
An American news and discussion website
2005 – Renren
A Chinese social networking website
2006 – DetroitCity
The first social networking site focused on a local area
2006 – Twitter
2006 – VK (VKontakte)
Russian-based social networking service
2007 – Tumblr
A microblogging and social networking website
2007 – FriendFeed
A real-time social media feed aggregator launched
2007 – Justin.tv
A live-streaming allowing users to broadcast video online
2009 – Sina Weibo
A Chinese microblogging website
2010 – Pinterest
Photo sharing website
2010 – Instagram
Photo/video-sharing and social media
2010 – Path
Messaging service for mobile devices and social networking-enabled photo sharing
2010 – Quora
A question-and-answer platform launched
2011 – Snapchat
Photo/video-sharing and social media
2011 – Google Plus
Social networking
2011 – Keek
Social media and video sharing
2011 – Twitch
Live-streaming service
2012 – Tinder
Dating-oriented social networking service
2013 – Google Hangouts
Instant messaging and video/voice calling service
2014 – Musically
Lip-syncing app
2015 – Periscope
Live video sharing app
2015 – Beme
Short video sharing app by Casey Neistat and Matt Hackett
2015 – Discord
Video/voice calling and free instant messaging for gaming
2015 – Meerkat
Application similar to Periscope
2017 – TikTok
Social media and short video sharing
The history of Instagram
Here the common questions about Instagram history. From the first person started working on Instagram, and what was the first photo on Instagram, and also the most critical events on Instagram.
When was Instagram created?
Instagram first launched in October 2010 by Kevin systrom and Mark Krieger. Kevin started working on the Burbn project in 2010, and Krieger joined him in 2010 to complete the project. They first launched Instagram for ios devices, and it reached 100K users in the first week. Soon, Instagram reached 1 million users and 100 million users.
who is Instagram founder?
Kevin started working on the Burbn project, which later changed its name to Instagram, and Mark joined the project, and they both launched the app in October 2010.
What was the first photo on Instagram?
Kevin published the first photo of Instagram, which was the photo of his dog.
Instagram history timeline
Here is a summary of all critical events on Instagram from 2010 to 2020.
| 2009 | October 21 | Kevin Systrom started Burbn project |
| 2010 | May 19 | Mike Krieger joied the Burbn project |
| 2010 | October 6 | Systrom and Krieger) launched instgaram and hits 100K users in one week |
| 2010 | December 12 | Instagram reached 1 million users |
| 2011 | January | Instagram introduced hashtags to help users find posts |
| 2011 | June | Instagram reached 5 million users |
| 2011 | September | Instagram reached 10 million users |
| 2012 | April 3 | Android app for Instagram realized |
| 2012 | April 9 | Facebook acquired Instagram for US$1 billion in cash and stock. |
| 2012 | April 30 | Instagram reached 50 million users |
| 2013 | February | Instagram reached 100 million users |
| 2013 | May | tagging and “Photos of You,” introduced on Instagram |
| 2013 | June 13 | Instagram launched video sharing |
| 2013 | July | links added to embed photos and videos |
| 2013 | September | Instagram reached 150 million users |
| 2013 | November | Instagram introduced sponsored post advertising targeting US users |
| 2013 | December 12 | Instagram introduced directly to send posts privately |
| 2014 | March | Instagram reached 200 million users |
| 2014 | June | editing tools added |
| 2014 | December | Instagram reached 300 million users |
| 2015 | September 9 | Instagram allowed 30-second ads for all advertisers – twice the 15-second limit given for users |
| 2015 | September | Instagram ads went global |
| 2015 | September | Instagram reached 400 million users |
| 2015 | October | Instagram launched Boomerang |
| 2016 | February | Instagram started enabling users to switch between multiple accounts easily |
| 2016 | March 15 | The Instagram algorithm changed the feed from chronological to algorithmically-driven best posts first |
| 2016 | May 11 | Instgaram icon changed |
| 2016 | May | Business analytics was added |
| 2016 | June | Instagram reached 500 million users |
| 2016 | June | Instagram translation added |
| 2016 | July | Comments could be filtered |
| 2016 | August 2 | Instgaram stories launched |
| 2016 | October 13 | Instagram launched a desktop version on the Windows 10 |
| 2016 | November 21 | Live video launched |
| 2016 | December 15 | Instagram had 600 million active users monthly |
| 2017 | February 22 | Instagram launched a feature allowing users to post multiple photos in one post, in a slideshow-like fashion |
| 2018 | May 22 | Mute feature added to hide posts and stories of users |
| 2018 | June 20 | IGTV launched on Instgaram |
| 2019 | October | Following activity tab was hidden |
| 2020 | July | Instagram announced shopping for business would be easier |
All in all
The history of social media is exciting, and I believe that everyone using social media should be aware of its changes over time. If you are keen to know more about social media and its effects on mental health, kids, or social media spending time, you can refer to the articles. It helps us to manage how and why we use social media like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and youtube.
