The brief history of social media (in pictures)

The history of social media

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
2010May 19Mike Krieger joied the Burbn project
2010October 6Systrom and Krieger) launched instgaram and hits 100K users in one week
2010December 12Instagram reached 1 million users
2011JanuaryInstagram introduced hashtags to help users find posts
2011JuneInstagram reached 5 million users
2011SeptemberInstagram reached 10 million users
2012April 3Android app for Instagram realized
2012April 9Facebook acquired Instagram for US$1 billion in cash and stock.
2012April 30Instagram reached 50 million users
2013FebruaryInstagram reached 100 million users
2013Maytagging and “Photos of You,” introduced on Instagram
2013June 13Instagram launched video sharing
2013Julylinks added to embed photos and videos
2013SeptemberInstagram reached 150 million users
2013NovemberInstagram introduced sponsored post advertising targeting US users
2013December 12Instagram introduced directly to send posts privately
2014MarchInstagram reached 200 million users
2014Juneediting tools added
2014DecemberInstagram reached 300 million users
2015September 9Instagram allowed 30-second ads for all advertisers – twice the 15-second limit given for users
2015SeptemberInstagram ads went global
2015SeptemberInstagram reached 400 million users
2015OctoberInstagram launched Boomerang
2016FebruaryInstagram started enabling users to switch between multiple accounts easily
2016March 15The Instagram algorithm changed the feed from chronological to algorithmically-driven best posts first
2016May 11Instgaram icon changed
2016MayBusiness analytics was added
2016JuneInstagram reached 500 million users
2016JuneInstagram translation added
2016JulyComments could be filtered
2016August 2Instgaram stories launched
2016October 13Instagram launched a desktop version on the Windows 10 
2016November 21Live video launched
2016December 15Instagram had 600 million active users monthly
2017February 22Instagram launched a feature allowing users to post multiple photos in one post, in a slideshow-like fashion
2018May 22Mute feature added to hide posts and stories of users
2018June 20IGTV launched on Instgaram
2019OctoberFollowing activity tab was hidden
2020JulyInstagram 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.

Author: Francine Berano

I love blogging that’s why I am a blogger.👌🏻🌟 Freelancing at Inosocial company.

Exit mobile version