The History of Social Media - Where did it all start?
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Six Degrees: The Origins of Social Networking and How It Changed Our World
In the early days of computing, long before most people had ever heard of Facebook, there was a little-known program called Six Degrees. Six Degrees, also sometimes referred to as SixDegrees.com, was one of the first social networking platforms on the web.
In the early days of the internet, people were fascinated by the concept of connectivity. This led to the development of Six Degrees, the first social networking site. It was designed to mimic real-life social interactions.
Founder of Six Degrees
Andrew Weinrich, an American computer programmer, developed the idea for Six Degrees after he was unable to find an online directory that listed all his friends’ email addresses. The original premise was that anyone could connect with anyone else on the site by way of six degrees of separation. Weinreich himself tested this theory by sending out invitations to random people he found in the phonebook and then connecting with them online. and allowed users to connect with friends and family as well as colleagues. Have you ever wondered just how close we all are to one another? According to research conducted by Stanley Milgram in the 1960s, we're all just six degrees of separation apart. Six Degrees was originally developed by a company called Macro View, which is renamed as six degrees. Andrew Weinreich, the CEO of Macro View founded the site in May 1996. In early 1997, Andrew Weinreich launched SixDegrees.com
In the early days of computing, long before most people had ever heard of Facebook, there was a little-known program called Six Degrees. Six Degrees, also sometimes referred to as SixDegrees.com, was one of the first social networking platforms on the web.
In the early days of the internet, people were fascinated by the concept of connectivity. This led to the development of Six Degrees, the first social networking site. It was designed to mimic real-life social interactions.
Founder of Six Degrees
Andrew Weinrich, an American computer programmer, developed the idea for Six Degrees after he was unable to find an online directory that listed all his friends’ email addresses. The original premise was that anyone could connect with anyone else on the site by way of six degrees of separation. Weinreich himself tested this theory by sending out invitations to random people he found in the phonebook and then connecting with them online. and allowed users to connect with friends and family as well as colleagues. Have you ever wondered just how close we all are to one another? According to research conducted by Stanley Milgram in the 1960s, we're all just six degrees of separation apart. Six Degrees was originally developed by a company called Macro View, which is renamed as six degrees. Andrew Weinreich, the CEO of Macro View founded the site in May 1996. In early 1997, Andrew Weinreich launched SixDegrees.com
The Six Degrees of Separation Theory
The notion of six degrees of separation, which claims that any two persons are related by no more than six acquaintances, was first proposed by Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy in a short tale called chain-links in 1930.Weinreich believed that everyone is connected to everyone else by six or fewer degrees of separation. What differentiates Six Degrees.com from predecessors such as Classmates.com and Friendster is that it was based on the idea of acquaintanceship rather than friendship.
Six Degrees allowed users to connect with friends and colleagues using nothing more than their name and email address. Users could search for other users based on their name, occupation, or school, and then send them an email invitation to join the site. Six Degrees allowed users to create profiles, connect with friends, and send messages to other users. It was also one of the first websites to use the friend recommendation feature, which is now a common staple of social media networks. With its simple user interface and powerful search capabilities, Six Degrees quickly became popular, attracting around 3.5 million users from around the world. The platform was very basic compared to today's social networking sites; it only allowed users to connect with others who were already within their network of contacts. However, Six Degrees played an important role in paving the way for future social networking platforms and helped to redefine how people interact online. It changed the way we think about online relationships.
Reasons for failure of Six Degrees
Six Degrees failed because:
Six Degrees allowed users to connect with friends and colleagues using nothing more than their name and email address. Users could search for other users based on their name, occupation, or school, and then send them an email invitation to join the site. Six Degrees allowed users to create profiles, connect with friends, and send messages to other users. It was also one of the first websites to use the friend recommendation feature, which is now a common staple of social media networks. With its simple user interface and powerful search capabilities, Six Degrees quickly became popular, attracting around 3.5 million users from around the world. The platform was very basic compared to today's social networking sites; it only allowed users to connect with others who were already within their network of contacts. However, Six Degrees played an important role in paving the way for future social networking platforms and helped to redefine how people interact online. It changed the way we think about online relationships.
Reasons for failure of Six Degrees
Six Degrees failed because:
- It was ahead of its time. At the time, the internet was still in its infancy and people weren’t ready for a social networking site
- People were happy using chat rooms and bulletin boards to communicate with others
- The internet was not ready for a site that allowed people to connect with complete strangers
- Six Degrees was expensive to use because it charged users to send messages to other people
- The site failed to support itself financially
- The site was plagued by security issues. Users could easily access other user profiles and post personal information without consent
Famous Social Media Platforms
Some of the very famous social media platforms are as follows:
1. LINKEDIN
LINKEDIN is a social networking platform where users can create profiles and they are able to communicate with an online social network that have real-world professional links. Its members can invite anyone (either existing or non-existing) to connect with them. One can also use LinkedIn to plan their offline events, join any group, writing articles, posting photos and videos, and can do several other tasks.
Invention
LinkedIn was established in 2002 in Reid Hoffman's home room and launched on May 5, 2003. LinkedIn has grown into a broad firm under Ryan Roslansky's leadership, with revenue coming from membership fees, advertising sales, and recruiting solutions.
CEO of LINKEDIN
Ryan Roslansky the CEO of LinkedIn. Jeff Weiner, the former LinkedIn’s CEO, has been promoted to Executive Chairman. Reid Hoffman, the company's founder, serves as chairman of the board.
History
Hoffman and members of PayPal's core team launched the company in December 2002. In late 2003, Sequoia Capital led the company's Series A investment. In August 2004, LinkedIn topped one million users. In March 2006, LinkedIn made a profit for the first time. In April 2007, LinkedIn reached a milestone of 10 million users. In February 2008, LinkedIn launched a mobile version of the service. In November 2009, LinkedIn opened its Mumbai office. In 2010, LinkedIn opened a worldwide headquarters in Dublin, and Tiger Global Management LLC invested $20 million in the firm, valuing it at over $2 billion.
LinkedIn filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in January 2011. LinkedIn has expanded from 500 full-time employees in 2010 to over 2,100 by 2011. In February 2016, LinkedIn's shares dropped 43.6 percent in a single day. On that day, LinkedIn's market value plunged by $10 billion.
Privacy Sharks revealed in June 2021 that a hacker site was selling approximately 700 million LinkedIn records. Later on, LinkedIn the stance that it was not a data breach, but the scraped information, that is also against their Terms of Services. Microsoft's LinkedIn activities in China were shut down in October 2021. In July 2012, they paid $4 million for 15 key Digg patents, including one that lets users to "vote up a story by clicking a button."
2. Facebook
Facebook is an online social networking service that allows users to create free profiles and chat with friends, coworkers, and strangers. Users may share photographs, music, videos, and articles, as well as their own thoughts and ideas, with as many people as they choose.
Invention
Meta Platforms owns Facebook, an American online social media and social networking website. Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2004 with Harvard College classmates and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. The word is derived from the Facebook directories that are distributed to university students in the United States on a regular basis. Initially, Harvard students were the only ones allowed to join, but it was later expanded to include students from other North American colleges.
History
University to rate the beauty of their friends in 2003. Because its creator, Mark Zuckerberg, broke university rules in gathering resources for it, the app was withdrawn after two days. Despite its mayfly-like appearance, Facemash received 450 visitors (who cast 22,000 votes). In January 2004, Zuckerberg registered the domain The firm's origins are complex. Facemash originated as an online service for students at Harvard name http://www.thefacebook.com in honour of his success. At that place, he developed a new social network with fellow students Saverin, Moskovitz, and Hughes.
3. Pinterest
Individuals and companies may promote and explore their hobbies by pinning video clips to digital online forums on Pinterest, a graphics social media platform. It’s an online pin board where users could categorize photos, recipes, quotes, or anything visual they wanted to share with the world.
Pinterest is a graphical browser that allows you to look for cuisines, house and styling advice, as well as other topics. With billions of Pins to choose from, you'll never run out of creative ideas on Pinterest. To save all your ideas in one place, save your favorite Pins to networks.
Pinterest is a social networking website user to pictorially share and discover new ideas by pinning clips about their own or others' pins, which are collections of 'pins' with a constant theme, and by looking at what other people have posted.
Inventors
Although the 80% users of Pinterest are Women, the interesting fact is that the co-founders of Pinterest were Men named as Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp. Ben Silbermann after working at google, quit his prestigious job along with friend, Paul Sciarra, worked on Pinterest in 2009 and were later joined by the third co-founder Evan Sharp.
Main Idea
The co-founders of this app's core aim were to make online shopping into a social experience where users could save their favorite items, share them with friends, and be notified when certain products were available in their area.
History
Ben Silbermann and Paul Sciarra teamed up to revolutionize online shopping with their mobile app “Tote”. Despite the app receiving a warm reception, unfortunately online payment services weren’t as advanced as Tote’s browsing features. Resulting in long lists of favorite items failing to be converted into actual purchases. Ultimately, it resulted into closure of app. However, both Ben Silberman and Paul Sciarra were stuck on thousands of images and collections users had shared with each other and how this function could be recycled, and they came up with Pinterest app in 2009.
The site started on an “invite-only” basis aimed at designers who could bring their own unique creativity to the platforms and amassed 10,000 users within a year of launch.
1. LINKEDIN
LINKEDIN is a social networking platform where users can create profiles and they are able to communicate with an online social network that have real-world professional links. Its members can invite anyone (either existing or non-existing) to connect with them. One can also use LinkedIn to plan their offline events, join any group, writing articles, posting photos and videos, and can do several other tasks.
Invention
LinkedIn was established in 2002 in Reid Hoffman's home room and launched on May 5, 2003. LinkedIn has grown into a broad firm under Ryan Roslansky's leadership, with revenue coming from membership fees, advertising sales, and recruiting solutions.
CEO of LINKEDIN
Ryan Roslansky the CEO of LinkedIn. Jeff Weiner, the former LinkedIn’s CEO, has been promoted to Executive Chairman. Reid Hoffman, the company's founder, serves as chairman of the board.
History
Hoffman and members of PayPal's core team launched the company in December 2002. In late 2003, Sequoia Capital led the company's Series A investment. In August 2004, LinkedIn topped one million users. In March 2006, LinkedIn made a profit for the first time. In April 2007, LinkedIn reached a milestone of 10 million users. In February 2008, LinkedIn launched a mobile version of the service. In November 2009, LinkedIn opened its Mumbai office. In 2010, LinkedIn opened a worldwide headquarters in Dublin, and Tiger Global Management LLC invested $20 million in the firm, valuing it at over $2 billion.
LinkedIn filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in January 2011. LinkedIn has expanded from 500 full-time employees in 2010 to over 2,100 by 2011. In February 2016, LinkedIn's shares dropped 43.6 percent in a single day. On that day, LinkedIn's market value plunged by $10 billion.
Privacy Sharks revealed in June 2021 that a hacker site was selling approximately 700 million LinkedIn records. Later on, LinkedIn the stance that it was not a data breach, but the scraped information, that is also against their Terms of Services. Microsoft's LinkedIn activities in China were shut down in October 2021. In July 2012, they paid $4 million for 15 key Digg patents, including one that lets users to "vote up a story by clicking a button."
2. Facebook
Facebook is an online social networking service that allows users to create free profiles and chat with friends, coworkers, and strangers. Users may share photographs, music, videos, and articles, as well as their own thoughts and ideas, with as many people as they choose.
Invention
Meta Platforms owns Facebook, an American online social media and social networking website. Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2004 with Harvard College classmates and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. The word is derived from the Facebook directories that are distributed to university students in the United States on a regular basis. Initially, Harvard students were the only ones allowed to join, but it was later expanded to include students from other North American colleges.
History
University to rate the beauty of their friends in 2003. Because its creator, Mark Zuckerberg, broke university rules in gathering resources for it, the app was withdrawn after two days. Despite its mayfly-like appearance, Facemash received 450 visitors (who cast 22,000 votes). In January 2004, Zuckerberg registered the domain The firm's origins are complex. Facemash originated as an online service for students at Harvard name http://www.thefacebook.com in honour of his success. At that place, he developed a new social network with fellow students Saverin, Moskovitz, and Hughes.
3. Pinterest
Individuals and companies may promote and explore their hobbies by pinning video clips to digital online forums on Pinterest, a graphics social media platform. It’s an online pin board where users could categorize photos, recipes, quotes, or anything visual they wanted to share with the world.
Pinterest is a graphical browser that allows you to look for cuisines, house and styling advice, as well as other topics. With billions of Pins to choose from, you'll never run out of creative ideas on Pinterest. To save all your ideas in one place, save your favorite Pins to networks.
Pinterest is a social networking website user to pictorially share and discover new ideas by pinning clips about their own or others' pins, which are collections of 'pins' with a constant theme, and by looking at what other people have posted.
Inventors
Although the 80% users of Pinterest are Women, the interesting fact is that the co-founders of Pinterest were Men named as Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp. Ben Silbermann after working at google, quit his prestigious job along with friend, Paul Sciarra, worked on Pinterest in 2009 and were later joined by the third co-founder Evan Sharp.
Main Idea
The co-founders of this app's core aim were to make online shopping into a social experience where users could save their favorite items, share them with friends, and be notified when certain products were available in their area.
History
Ben Silbermann and Paul Sciarra teamed up to revolutionize online shopping with their mobile app “Tote”. Despite the app receiving a warm reception, unfortunately online payment services weren’t as advanced as Tote’s browsing features. Resulting in long lists of favorite items failing to be converted into actual purchases. Ultimately, it resulted into closure of app. However, both Ben Silberman and Paul Sciarra were stuck on thousands of images and collections users had shared with each other and how this function could be recycled, and they came up with Pinterest app in 2009.
The site started on an “invite-only” basis aimed at designers who could bring their own unique creativity to the platforms and amassed 10,000 users within a year of launch.