The document provides a brief history of social media: - Early social networks existed on phone lines in the 1970s through services like "Phreaking" which allowed users to interact over phone lines. - Bulletin board systems in the 1970s allowed users to interact online, but not simultaneously as only one user could access the system at a time. - Services in the 1980s like Prodigy, CompuServe, and Genie offered early forms of online chat and messaging. - AOL popularized internet access and usage grew rapidly in the 1990s, paving the way for social media. - Early social media sites included dating sites of the 1990s where users could create profiles, and Six

1. A Brief History of Social Media<br />Every now and then, people talk about how people credit social media for the wide usage and popularity of the Internet. I wonder how someone can be so historically incorrect. If you have been anywhere near the field of IT for the last two decades, you would agree to the fact that in truth it is quite the opposite. <br />Little do most people know, but social media has been around since the earliest days of the Internet. It wasn’t until the Internet became a household thing, that social media became the next big thing. That is why social media has quite a lengthy history, but I will try to be precise. <br />Looking back at history, it makes me ‘LOL’ at how man really is a social animal. Can you believe that the very first modern social network was not online, it was in fact on the phone line! And guess what! It was called ‘Phreaking’- from Phone and Hacking. <br />Coming back to the Internet world, most people agree that the very first form of a social network was the Bulletin Board System. The users could interact but not in a simultaneous manner. They say, only one user could gain access at a time and people hardly picked any fight about it. Wow, the 70s was a peaceful time!<br />And then the corporate players stepped in and we got Prodigy, CompuServe and Genie. This was the start of online chat programs. Genie, however, also offered mail, games and forums. Most of the modern users may not be aware of these names, but then came AOL and, eventually, the Internet started to get viral.<br />Probably the very earliest examples of social networks are found in the form of dating sites, where candidates could share certain ‘about me’ info and interact with other members. The very first modern example of a social network was Six Degrees, launched a decade before Facebook and MySpace. It once had around a million users. <br />Than came the time of MMOs, the most exciting form of social networks. They have been around for a decade now and their popularity is still growing. A lot of other networks emerged such as MySpace, Hi5 and Friendster. Linked-In came as the first business oriented network. <br />During the 2000s, media sharing sites were also popularized by the likes of Photo-bucket and Flickr. YouTube came as the first video sharing site and made it possible for anyone to be a star online. No wonder, we have seen a lot of stars in the making. <br />By 2006, MySpace was the most popular social network around the world. It is still quite popular and keeps updating its features. However, Facebook managed to capture around 500 million addictive users by incorporating multiple social media features such as media sharing, marketing and applications. <br />If you would like to learn more about the social media websites, all you need to do is get your own copy of a free report on social media websites. Click on the link below:<br /> One thing that remained the same all the time was that we always thought that it can’t get better than this. Even today it might seem like we have reached the pinnacle of social networking, but a new advancement won’t be very surprising now. Or would they be?<br />