Social media is websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. Social media platforms launched in 1997. In 1987 The National Science Foundation launched a nationwide digital network called NSFNET. [1]
The History Of Social Networking
editThe first social networking site was created in 1994 called GeoCities. The site allowed users to customize their own website. Although that was the first site created, that's not when social networking began. It all began when the first email was sent in 1971. In 1978, the Bulletin Board System was created. The BBS system was the first to let users interact with each other through the internet. Usenet was created later that year by Jim Ellis and Tom Truscott. The first version of messaging was created in 1988 called IRC or Internet Relay Chat. [2]
The Internet and its Founders
editThe internet is a global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols. Vincent Cerf is one of the founders of the internet. He is the vice president and chief internet evangelist for Google. He is the public face of Google. He was known as the "Father of the Internet". Vincent is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols, also is the co-designer of the architecture of the internet. Vannevar Bush was never involved in the making of the internet. He's somewhat involved because of his essay he wrote in 1945 called "As We May Think". In the essay he described a machine which he called a "Memex". A Memex would be used to enhance human memory by allowing the user to store and retrieve documents linked by associations. Associative linking is just like hypertext that we have today.
Social Bookmarking and Social News
editSocial bookmarking sites allow people to save links to web pages that they discover while browsing the web. ITlist was the first bookmarking site and it was launched in April 1996. Slashdot was launched the following year and it focuses on science and technology news. More sites were launched in the 1990's but many shut down when the dot com bubble burst at the end of the decade. A social news site people can post content that interests them and other users can vote on how interesting the story is. Users can also vote on stories to help stories gain recognition such as Reddit and Digg.
- ^ "The Evolution of Social Media: How Did It Begin and Where Could It Go Next?". Maryville Online. 2020-05-28. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
- ^ "History Of Social Networking: How It All Began". 1stWebDesigner. 2016-02-14. Retrieved 2021-05-13.