The Rise of social media
As of July 2020 there are 3.96 billion social media users worldwide. We are going to look at how and why this number grown to this size and what is coming next.
Social Media With social audio seemingly being the future of social media, limor is ahead in the evolutionary line up — so this was a particularly interesting one for me to research!
The evolution of social media has been fuelled by the human need to communicate and socialise, we are social beings — and this has all been supported by advancing digital technology. Social media is essentially all about establishing and nurturing personal connections on an exponentially vast scale. It connects us.
In 2019 research showed that 72% of American adults use some form of social media.
14 years earlier, in 2005, the year after Facebook went live, that number was just 5%.
In less than a generation, social media has evolved from a direct electronic means to exchange information, to instead become a virtual gathering place, a retail platform, a vital 21st-century marketing tool: it’s an entirely different realm or world, in our very existence.
But how did it begin?
Technically, you could say social media really started on May 24, 1844, with a series of electronic dots and dashes tapped out by hand on a telegraph machine!
In reality, today’s internet and social media beginnings point to the ARPANET which launched in 1969.
This early digital network, created by the United States Department of Defense, allowed scientists at four interconnected universities to share software, hardware and other data.
In 1987, the direct precursor to today’s internet came into being when the National Science Foundation launched a more robust, nationwide digital network known as the NSFNET.
10 years later, in 1997, the first true social media platform was launched.
In the 1980s and ’90s, the internet’s growth enabled the introduction of online communication services, introducing users to digital communication through email, bulletin board messaging and real-time online chatting.
In 1997, the short-lived Six Degrees profile uploading service was the first form of social media as we know it today…
Then in 2001, Friendster arrived. These rudimentary platforms attracted millions of users and enabled email address registration and basic online networking.
In 2002, LinkedIn was founded as a networking site for career-minded professionals. By 2020, it has grown to more than 675 million users worldwide.
In 2003, Myspace launched. By 2006, it was the most visited website on the planet, spurred by users’ ability to share new music directly on their profile pages.
In 2004 Facebook was launched by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, today it has nearly 1.7 billion users. 69% of US adults use Facebook…
In 2006 Twitter was created, as a microblogging site, by 2020, 22% of U.S. adults are Twitter users.
Instagram was then founded in 2010 by Stanford graduate Kevin Systrom as a photo-sharing site and purchased by Facebook in 2012. It has more than 1 billion users worldwide.
In 2011, Snapchat, which has only just recently had success, was formed by a trio of Stanford students — Evan Spiegel, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphy — this video-sharing service introduced the concept of “stories,” or super short videos, and “filters,” — which has changed how people use social media across all platforms.
And then we have TikTok, founded just 4 years ago in 2016 by Chinese tech company ByteDance, this short-form video-sharing site was merged with the U.S.-based mobile app Musically in 2018 and became popular with American teens and young adults. As of early 2020, it had more than 800 million users worldwide.
It’s wild to see when these social media platforms were first launched and how long it took them to rise to fame! I guess it’s all about everyone else just onboarding with the idea of it all. So here’s to seeing where Limor will be in 10 years time!
Join us on Limor to let us know via the voice comments section what your favourite social media platform is and why — If you have any other interesting facts and stats about the evolution of social media do let us know!
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