Social Media

BBS Bulletin Board System Allowed users to communicate with a central system where they could download files or games (many times including pirated software) and post messages to other users Accessed over telephone lines via a modem Often run by hobbyists who carefully nurtured the social aspects and interest-specific nature of their projects (usually technology related) Usually locals-only affairs that in turn spurred local in-person gatherings

Compuserve Began life in the 1970s as a business-oriented mainframe computer communication solution, but expanded into the public domain in the late 1980s. Allowed members to share files and access news and events send a message to your friend via a newfangled technology dubbed “e-mail” Join any of the thousands of discussion forums to talk with thousands of other members on virtually any important subject of the day.

AOL Member-created communities

Classmates.com Early users could not create profiles, but they could locate long lost classmates Today the service boasts some 57 million registered accounts

SixDegrees.com 1997 Based on the theory somehow associated with actor Kevin Bacon that no person is separated by more than six degrees from another Allowed its users to create profiles, invite friends, organize groups, and surf other user profiles Pushed members too hard to bring other friends into the site and membership declined

Friendster 2002 Promoted the idea that a rich online community can exist only between people who truly have common bonds A dating site that isn’t a dating site Within a year it boasted more than three million registered users and a ton of investment interest Technical difficulties and questionable management practices led to its North American demise Currently exists solely as online gaming

LinkedIn 2003 More serious, sober approach A networking resource for business people who want to connect with other professionals 297 million members

MySpace 2003 Once the perennial favorite Tempting the young adult demographic with music, music videos, and a funky, feature-filled environment Today the site exists now as a social networking site targeted to bands and musicians

Facebook 2004 Founded by university students who initially peddled their product to other university students Harvard-only exercise and remained a campus-oriented site for two full years Finally opening to the general public in 2006 Currently boasts more than 1.3 billion active users

Facebook Promoted honesty and openness Easy to use Multitude of easily accessible features

Facebook Success Facebook platform launched in 2007 Made it possible for third-party developers to create applications that work within Facebook itself “Like” button popularity Broke free from Facebook and went everywhere

Mobile Technology Allows user to effortlessly utilize functionality once reserved for multiple devices wherever they go The most popular social media platforms of the past several years hinge on the capabilities of smartphones Photo and video-sharing applications such as Snapchat and Instagram exist almost entirely on mobile Specialize in a specific kind of interaction service that involves Sharing of public images (Instagram) Private sharing of images sharing (Snapchat) Augmented reality (Foursquare) Location-based matchmaking (Tinder)

Mobile Technology The registration process for hundreds of applications such as Snapchat, Instagram, Foursquare, and Tinder can be completed using already-existing Facebook, Gmail, or Twitter accounts People now exist on multiple platforms, and instead of fighting against this trend, larger companies are tapping into this new environment

Virtual Reality Provides the possibility of people sharing their name, interests, relationship status and mutual friends all within a digital sphere

Originality 2012: Social media forced to take note of the video format Facebook and Twitter had become less personal and more viral videos, memes, GIFs and click-bait articles 2015: Meercat live-streaming Twitter purchases rival, Periscope Facebook launces Live Video streaming in late 2015 Live-Streams have viewers feeling “in the moment” and allows social media to lay claim to something original