The Evolution of Social Media

A few decades ago, taking pictures or videos was not accessible. The photos taken from memorable events were just contained on albums, and they could only be glimpsed by other people who’d take time to flick through the album. Who would think that time will come when your photos and videos will be seen by people all over the world after a few minutes of uploading and posting? It is made possible by the Internet and social media.

When and how social media started and evolved?

In the 1960s and 1970s, several private and public institutions were trying to discover how to make computers communicate with one another. But it was only in the 1990s when the Internet became widespread across the globe. It was also the emergence of social media that suddenly changed the world. The arrival of blogging in the 90s was also a part of the growth of social media. People became interested in the idea that they could log on to the Internet and write about their thoughts, feelings, and activities. And these posts could be read by anyone at any time. It was the time that they began to acknowledge the importance of the Internet.

Before the expansion of outsourcing influencer marketing, which is widely used by many companies to promote their brands and reach audiences through the use of different social media channels, there were already some sites and Internet activities that we can consider as earlier forms of social media.

The first recognized social media is the Six Degrees and launched in 1997. It allowed users to make an account via their email addresses, creating a profile, and making friends with other users. It reached its pinnacle of success and had about a million members. But unfortunately, Six Degrees’ popularity decreased and ended its operation in 2001.

Coinciding with Six Degrees, other sites emerged from 1997 to 2001, such as Asianavanue, Migente, and Blackplanet. Like in Six Degrees, users could create personal or professional profiles, and they can add friends.

Social media had progressed tremendously from 2000 onwards. Let’s take a look back at the evolution of different social media channels:

• Photobucket, Flickr — they emerged in the early 2000s, and their purpose was online photo sharing.
• Friendster — the majority of us now know this, and it is considered to be the first in modern social media. It was created in 2002 and gathered over a hundred million registered users, mostly from Asian countries. It is considered to be the older version of Facebook. Users can search for friends and extend their growing network.
• LinkedIn — it was founded in 2003. Initially, it was intended to use mainstream networks for business. It enables posting and interacting by sending private messages. Currently, LinkedIn has added new options like groups, new profile features, forums, video, ads platforms, and others, for easier use and greater scale.
• Facebook — after its launching in 2004 in Harvard University, it quickly expanded to other schools. Facebook became available all over the world in 2006. 2008 when it reached its popularity. And until now, Facebook is still the most popular social media platform. Many outsourcing online marketers are taking advantage of the popularity of Facebook to promote their products, services, jobs, and many more. They know that Facebook is the easiest and the most accessible channel to reach people.
• MySpace — was launched in 2004 and has grown to become the world’s most popular social media platform in 2006. Users could personalize their profiles, upload videos, and post music. It also allows people to communicate with each other through chat.
• YouTube — like Facebook, after its launch in 2005, it is still the most well-known social media channel when it comes to video hosting. People upload their videos for different reasons. But it became an income-generated platform as many individuals (celebrity or not) can now monetize their videos due to advertisements. Many have turned to be influencers, and they are followed by people because of their established reputation in their niches. These influencers, also called YouTubers, have been used in outsourced influencer marketing to promote brands.
• Twitter — emerged in 2006 but was originally designed as a mobile SMS-platform. It has been upgraded and now has over 300 million active users monthly.
• Instagram — it was launched in 2010 for the public domain. It used visual communication and social interaction to connect people around the world. It also enabled users to upload and share photos and video stories.

You can find influencers who are highly-respected in their respective niches in those social media channels. Many e-commerce people are now using social media for their ad campaigns. They know that many consumers are online, and it’s very effective to introduce your products and acquire new customers.

With the unceasing advancement of the Internet and innovative technology, there’s a huge possibility for the emergence of new social media channels that all of us will surely enjoy.