Social media had humble beginnings as a means of keeping connected with those we care about, regardless of the distance. Since those beginnings, well, let’s just say it has changed a lot. Today, social media is a hub for friends, family, and businesses alike. The term “social media marketing” is used across all forms of business.
Today we’ll look at the rise of three major platforms, followed by an animated infographic that shows just how quickly today’s top social media sites have grown over the years.
Credit: OnBlastBlog
The Meteoric Rise of Today’s Social Media Platforms (Infographic)
Once you’ve learned how to make a blog, the next step is learning all about social media. Let’s take a look at the small beginnings of three massive social media sites:
1. Facebook
The creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, founded Facebook while he was studying psychology at Harvard University. He started small with a few small social media platforms, but he had big aspirations.
If you’ve seen the film “The Social Network” then you know where this is going (good movie, by the way). Mark launched “The Facebook” in 2004 It blew up, as did his personal life, but there’s no denying how far he and Facebook have come.
Why Social Media Really Matters in 2016 and Beyond?
How Social Media Metrics can Boost your Social Signals
Today, Facebook is a marketing hub for businesses. Something as innocuous as Facebook Events are now used by major business. It’s incredible.
Twitter began as the idea of one Jack Dorsey, who had the idea to create a platform that was similar to SMS texting. People could follow others based on their bite-sized updates. The name started at Twttr as a result of a trend at the time to drop vowels in the hope of gaining a popular domain name.
The first tweet was sent on March 21, 2006 at 9:50pm. It simply said: “just setting up my twttr.” Curious as to where the 140-character limit came from? SMS text messages at the time could only be 140 characters long as per the carrier limits.
Instagram, the popular photo-based platform, was conceived by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in October 2010. Facebook purchased the company in 2012, which is a sign of success if there ever was one.
The platform has one million followers within the first two months after it was launched, and it’s been nothing but growth since then. As one of few photo-based platforms, it found a niche that worked out well for everyone involved.
Now that you’ve learned a little more about where today’s platforms came from, check out the animated infographic below to see just how quickly these platforms, and a few others, grew from their inception.
Which social media sites do you prefer?