Emergence of Social Media

The Invention of the Internet set the way to Emergence of Social Media. Media is an Instrument of Communication; so Social Media would be a Social Channel of Communication.

Social Media depend on Mobile and Web based Technologies to create highly Interactive Platforms through which Individuals and Communities Share, Co-Create, Discuss and Modify User Generated Content.

Social Media Technologies take on many different forms including Social Networks, Internet Forums, Weblogs, Social Blogs, Micro blogging, wikis, Podcast, Magazines etc. Social Network aggregations can Integrate many of the Platforms.

Nowadays, It has become a fancy way to describe the Zillions of Conversations People are having Online 24x7.

1994 : The First Blog

Justin Hall, A Swarthmore College (U.S.A) Student Creates what (web-based diary “Justin's Links from the Underground”) is considered to be the Very First Blog. A pioneer blogger Justin Hall is an American Journalist and entrepreneur.

Blog (Short for “Web log”) is a Web Page that serves as a Publicly Accessible Personal Journal for an Individual or Community. Online media, such as Discussion Forums and email are considered to be predecessors to the blog.

1997 : The First Social Networking Site

“SixDegrees.com” is widely considered to be the very First Social Networking Site founded by Andrew Weinreich in May 1996 and Launched in 1997.

1999 : Blogger Launched

Blogger, A Blogging Site or Blogging Platform launched on August 23, 1999, Blogger was Pyra Labs as one of the earliest dedicated blog-publishing Service tools. It is credited for helping popularize the format. In February 2003, Pyra Labs was acquired by Google. It allows multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. Generally, the blogs are hosted by Google at a subdomain of blogspot.com. Blogs can also be hosted in the registered custom domain of the blogger (like www.example.com). A user can have up to 100 blogs per account.

2002 : Earlier Social Networking Site “Friendster” Launched

Friendster, An earlier Social Networking Site was created in 2002 by Peter Chin, Jonathan Abrams and Dave Lee to find a way for people to meet new friends on the Internet, keep in contact with already existing friends and to expand Personal Networks in a safe manner.

2003 : Social Networking and Bookmarking Sites Appear

Linked.in, Photo Bucket, Delecious, My Space, etc. Launched

2004 : facebook Launched

on 4^th February 2004, Mark Zuckerberg launched "thefacebook.com". It became facebook.com in August 2005. Mark Zuckerberg, 23, founded Facebook while studying Psychology at Harvard University. A keen computer programmer, Mr. Zuckerberg wrote a program called "Facemash" on October 28, 2003. He had already developed a number of Social-Networking Websites for fellow students, including Coursematch, which allowed users to view people taking their degree, and Facemash, where you could rate people's attractiveness. Later, it began to Spread Worldwide. The Site remains Free to Join, and makes a profit through advertising revenue. 

On 26^th September 2006, facebook was opened to everyone at least 13 years old with a valid email address.

2005 : YouTube Launched

The PayPal (an American company operating a worldwide online payments) employees created a Video-Sharing Website www.youtube.com where users could upload, share and view content. The Internet domain name www.youtube.com was activated on February 14, 2005.

The first YouTube video, titled “Me at the zoo”, shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. The video was uploaded on April 23, 2005, and can still be viewed on the site.

YouTube was founded by Chad Meredith Hurley ( an American co-founder and former CEO of YouTube and MixBit), Steve Chen (a Taiwanese-born American internet entrepreneur), and Jawed Karim (a German-American Internet entrepreneur).

On 13^th November 2006, Google acquired YouTube.

2006 : Twitter, Slideshare Launched

Twitter is an Online News and Social Networking Service where Users Post and Reead short 140-character Messages called "tweets". Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams and launched in July 2006, whereby the service rapidly gained Worldwide Popularity.

SlideShare, a web based slide hosting service through which Users can upload files privately or publicly in the following file formats : Power Point, PDF, Key Note or Open Document Presentation. SlideShare was officially launched on October 4, 2006. Jonathan Boutelle is the CTO of SlideShare and came up with the initial idea behind the website. Rashmi Sinha was the CEO and co-founder. On May 3, 2012, SlideShare was to be acquired by linkedln.

2007 : Mobile Apps Revolutionized Communication

Mobile apps (a software application developed specifically for use on small, wireless computing devices, such as smart phones and tablets, rather than desktop or laptop computers) came into existence and revolutionized the Communication.

It was during this period the first “time-waster” games begin to appear.  Nokia was famous for putting the 1970s video game Snake on some of its earliest phones. Other followed, adding games like Pong, Tetris, and Tic-Tac-Toe, etc.

Apps that are not preinstalled are usually available through distribution platforms called app stores. They began appearing in 2008 and are typically operated by the owner of the mobile operating system, such as the Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store, and BlackBerry App World. Some apps are free, while others must be bought. Usually, they are downloaded from the platform to a target device, but sometimes they can be downloaded to laptops or desktop computers. 

2008 : Google Play

Google Play (formerly known as the Android Market) is an International Online Software Store developed by Google for Android Devices. It opened in October 2008. Any One can download the number of apps via the Google Play Store. As of September 2016, according to Statist the number of apps available exceeded 2.4 million.

2009 : WhatsApp

WhatsApp Messenger is a Free, Cross-Platform, end-to-end encrypted instant messaging,  proprietary and social media application for smart phones incorporated in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum, both former employees of Yahoo!.

WhatsApp Inc., based in Mountain View, California, was acquired by Facebook in February 2014.

App Stores

Apple’s App Store was not the first App distribution Service, but it ignited the mobile revolution and was opened on July 10, 2008, and as of January 2011, reported over 10 billion downloads. The original AppStore was first demonstrated to Steve Jobs in 1993 by Jesse Tayler at Next World Expo.

Others

2009 : BlackBerry World, Samsung Apps, Ovi (Nokia), Windows Phone Store (2010), Amazon App Store (2011) and many more alternative applications store for the Android operating system was opened and continuously Developing.

2011 : Google+ launched

In June 2011, Google+, an Interest-based Social Networks Service Launched. It is owned and operated by Google. Its Features included the ability to Post Photos and status updates to the stream or interest based communities, group different types of relationships (rather than simply "friends") into Circles, a multi-person instant messaging, text and video chat called Hangouts events, location tagging, and the ability to edit and upload photos to private cloud-based albums.

TECHNOLOGICAL CONVERGENCE

The Technological Dimension of Convergence is the most readily understood. With the World Wide Web, Smart Phones, Tablet Computers, Smart Televisions, and other Digital Devices, billions of people are now able to access media content that was once tied to specific communications media (print and broadcast) or platforms (newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and cinema).

These developments have Transformed Communication and Journalism as well by breaching longstanding boundaries, with an ongoing existence.

Social Media became a new driver of the Convergent Media Sector. The term social media refers to Technologies, Platforms, and Services that enable Individuals to engage in Communication from One-to-One, One-to-Many, and Many-to-Many.