The Evolution of Social Media

Vocabulary flashcards covering key platforms, protocols, and milestones in the history and evolution of social media from 1969 to the present.

ARPANET

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, developed under the U.S. Department of Defense's ARPA/DARPA; in 1969, it connected four host computers, including nodes at UCLA and SRI.

Networked Email

A person-to-person communication technology developed on ARPANET in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson, who introduced the use of the @ symbol in addresses.

Bulletin Board Systems (BBS)

Systems originating in the late 1970s that allowed users to connect over telephone lines and modems to read and leave messages, exchange files, and participate in interest-based communities.

USENET

A distributed discussion system created in 1979–1980 by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis that allowed users to read and post messages organized into topic-specific newsgroups.

Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

A real-time communication system developed in 1988 by Jarkko Oikarinen that enabled live conversations across channels instead of asynchronous posting.

World Wide Web

A system of interconnected webpages and resources accessed via the Internet, proposed by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN in 1989 and made operational with its first web server and site in 1991.

GeoCities

An early web platform launched in 1994 that enabled users to build their own webpages and organize them into thematic online communities.

Classmates.com

A platform launched in 1995 designed to help users reconnect with former school communities and classmates.

SixDegrees.com

A site launched in 1997 widely regarded as one of the earliest true social networking services, allowing users to create profiles, list friends, message, and navigate connections.

Friendster

A pioneering social networking platform launched in 2002 that achieved major popularity by allowing users to create profiles, add friends, and build interactive social networks.

MySpace

A social network launched in 2003 known for personal profile customization, self-expression, and strong popularity among musicians, artists, and young users.

Facebook

A platform launched in 2004 by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, initially for Harvard students before opening to other colleges and eventually the broader public.

YouTube

A video platform founded on February 14, 2005, by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim; originally started as a video dating site before pivoting and being acquired by Google in November 2006 for $1.65 billion.

Twitter

A microblogging platform created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams, launched publicly in July 2006 with 140-character updates, and later acquired by Elon Musk for $44 billion in October 2022 before rebranding to X.

Klout

A platform launched in 2008 that measured and scored users' social media influence.

Instagram

A visual-focused photo and video sharing platform launched in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, later acquired by Meta Platforms, Inc.

Douyin

A video-sharing social networking service launched in China by ByteDance in September 2016.

Musical.ly

An app known for 15-second lip-sync videos created by users called 'Musers,' acquired by ByteDance in November 2017 and later merged into Douyin and TikTok.

TikTok

The international version of Douyin launched by ByteDance in August 2018, recognized for its sophisticated recommendation algorithm that personalizes feeds based on user interactions.

Talkomatic

The first online chat system, which went live in 1973.