Complete History of Social Media: past And future

Interaction with friends and family has been a concern of humans for centuries. "As social animals, people always rely on communication to strengthen their relationships." When face-to-face discussions are impossible or inconvenient, humans have dreamed of a lot of creative solutions. Avalaunch Media recently unveiled its interactive infographic titled, "The Complete History of Social Media."

History of social media: then and now
The roots of social media go deeper than you imagine. Although this seems like a new trend, sites like Facebook are a natural result of many centuries of social media development.

Social Media Before 1900-2000

Early methods of long distance communication include handwritten correspondence from one person to another. In other words, letters. The oldest form of postal service dates back to 550 BC, and this tribal distribution system will become more widespread and streamlined in future centuries.

In 1792, the telegraph was invented. This allowed the message to be transported longer than a horse and the rider could carry them. Although telegraph messages were brief, they were a revolutionary way of conveying news and information.

Although no longer popular outside drive-through banking, developed in 1865, the pneumatic post created another way for recipients to quickly distribute letters. A pneumatic post uses underground pressurized air tubes to carry capsules from one area to another. Two important discoveries occurred in the late 1800s: the telephone in 1890 and the radio in 1891.

Both technologies are still in use today, although modern versions are much more sophisticated than their predecessors. Telephone lines and radio signals enabled-start people to communicate early over great and perfect distances, something that mankind had never experienced before.

Social Media in the 20th Century

Technology began to change very rapidly in the 20th century. After the first supercomputers were created in the 1940's, scientists and engineers began to develop ways to build networks into those computers, and this led to the birth of the Internet.

The oldest forms of the Internet, such as CompuServe, were developed in the 1960s. Primitive forms of email were also developed during this time. In the 70's, networking technology was improved and Usenet of 1979 allowed users to communicate through virtual newsletters.

1 In the 1980s, home computers became more common and social media became more sophisticated. Internet relay chats or IRCs were first used in 1988 and remained popular in the 1990s.

The first recognizable social media site, Six Degrees, was created in 1997. This enables users to upload profiles and make friends with other users. In 1999, the first blogging sites became popular and created the social media sensation that is still popular today.

Social Media Today 2020

After the invention & trending of blogging, social media it's began to explode in popularity. Sites like MySpace and LinkedIn gained prominence in the early 2000s, and sites like Photobooket and Flickr facilitated online photo sharing. YouTube came a long way in 2005 with a whole new way for people to communicate and share.

By 2006, both Facebook and Twitter were available to users around the world. These sites remain as some of the most popular social networks on the Internet. Other sites like Tumblr, Spotify, Foursquare and Pinterest started popping up to fill specific social networking corners.

Today, there is a huge variety of social networking sites and many of them may be allowed to cross-post. This creates an environment where users can reach as many people as possible without sacrificing the closeness of in-person communication. We can only guess what the future of social networking looks like in the next decade or even 100 years from now, but it is clear that as long as human beings exist, some form or another will exist.