Social media has existed since 1978 when the first electronic social board called “BBS” was created. The program allowed its few number of users to share games, files, send other users messages. The popularity of BBS grew as computer ownership grew in the 80 's and 90 's. In the late 80 's, a new social technology was created called "CompuServe", also known as e-mail, which allowed users to send direct messages to each other for the first time. The software later allowed it 's users to participate in forums, discussing different topics. By the mid-90 's, Yahoo and Amazon had been created and the amount of computers in homes was growing quickly. In the late 90 's, "Classmates.com" was created and was the first to allow users to add former classmates,
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1997 saw the first "true" social media emerge. SixDegrees.com was the first site that allowed users to create profiles, make groups, and browse other user 's profiles. SixDegrees.com went out of business in 2000. In the early 2000 's, more and more social media websites were created such as Friendster in 2002 followed by LinkedIn and MySpace in 2003. MySpace was extremely popular among young people. It allowed its users to create personalized profiles, add friends, and share music among other things. MySpace was the dominating social media when it peak with 76 million users in December of 2008. MySpace was booted from the number one spot a few months after its peak by the site Facebook.com. Facebook was originally launched in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg as a Harvard-only social media, but soon opening to other colleges. In 2006, the ultra-successful campus only site was opened to the public. Facebook was a hit among the public and now boasts 1.35 billion users. 2009-2014 saw many more social media websites come up. Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram, which have all been created in the past five years, all rank among the top social media sites …show more content…
57% of small businesses are using social media (“BD’s”). Because social media is becoming such a big part in everyday life, many companies are hiring social media strategists to create brand awareness and boost sales (Adler). The outlook for the social media strategist is good. Constantly changing technology is requiring more tech-savvy professionals to run the social media area for companies (Drago). Terrorists are not being left out of the social media boom. Extremist groups like ISIS and Al-Shabbab are using social media to recruit, raise funds, and spread their message. According to the head of GCHQ Robert Hannigan, "Extremists have embraced the web". ISIS has proven to be the most fluent terror organization on the web. The radicals are frequently posting content on YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, even using memes. At ISIS 's peak, they posted 40,000 tweets in one day. Twitter has responded by taking down over 1,000 accounts suspected to be linked with terrorists (“Terrorists”). Al-Qaeda, not to be forgotten, has been using social media for over twenty years. The Taliban 's Twitter account has over 1,000 followers and has been active since May of 2011. Besides terrorism and business, 72% of the general population is using social media. By far, the largest social media is Facebook. Approximately 71% of internet users check Facebook to share and see what
1997 saw the first "true" social media emerge. SixDegrees.com was the first site that allowed users to create profiles, make groups, and browse other user 's profiles. SixDegrees.com went out of business in 2000. In the early 2000 's, more and more social media websites were created such as Friendster in 2002 followed by LinkedIn and MySpace in 2003. MySpace was extremely popular among young people. It allowed its users to create personalized profiles, add friends, and share music among other things. MySpace was the dominating social media when it peak with 76 million users in December of 2008. MySpace was booted from the number one spot a few months after its peak by the site Facebook.com. Facebook was originally launched in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg as a Harvard-only social media, but soon opening to other colleges. In 2006, the ultra-successful campus only site was opened to the public. Facebook was a hit among the public and now boasts 1.35 billion users. 2009-2014 saw many more social media websites come up. Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram, which have all been created in the past five years, all rank among the top social media sites …show more content…
57% of small businesses are using social media (“BD’s”). Because social media is becoming such a big part in everyday life, many companies are hiring social media strategists to create brand awareness and boost sales (Adler). The outlook for the social media strategist is good. Constantly changing technology is requiring more tech-savvy professionals to run the social media area for companies (Drago). Terrorists are not being left out of the social media boom. Extremist groups like ISIS and Al-Shabbab are using social media to recruit, raise funds, and spread their message. According to the head of GCHQ Robert Hannigan, "Extremists have embraced the web". ISIS has proven to be the most fluent terror organization on the web. The radicals are frequently posting content on YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, even using memes. At ISIS 's peak, they posted 40,000 tweets in one day. Twitter has responded by taking down over 1,000 accounts suspected to be linked with terrorists (“Terrorists”). Al-Qaeda, not to be forgotten, has been using social media for over twenty years. The Taliban 's Twitter account has over 1,000 followers and has been active since May of 2011. Besides terrorism and business, 72% of the general population is using social media. By far, the largest social media is Facebook. Approximately 71% of internet users check Facebook to share and see what