Evolution of Media
Social media has become an integral part of all of our lives. We use it to connect with friends and family, to catch up on current events, and, perhaps most importantly, to entertain ourselves. Using our definition of social media above, the first two social media platforms were Six Degrees and Friendster, both of which are no longer around, despite playing an influential role in starting what has become a social media revolution. The reason Six Degrees is considered to be the first of the social networks is because it allowed people to sign up with their email address, make individual profiles, and add others to their personal network. A few years later, in 2002, the site Friendster emerged to compete with Six Degrees. Like Six Degrees, it allowed users to sign up with their email address, make contacts, and save them as part of a personal network. People could also share videos, photos, and messages with other users, and they were also able to leave comments on other peopleâs profiles, so long as they were part of each otherâs personal network. However, after 2006, Facebook was available to anyone claiming to be above the age of 13, regardless of whether or not they had an affiliation with a university.After its launch and subsequent expansion, Facebook grew quickly, surpassing MySpace in 2008 as the most visited site in the world. The history of social media is relatively short in terms of time, but this doesnât make it any less exciting or influential. Today, social media is an integral part of the lives of people around the world.
