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When and how did social networking begin?

Social Networking is today a way of life. The social network design today is used for various applications at workplaces across industries

Social Networking is today a way of life. The social network design today is used for various applications at workplaces across industries. Similar features of Linked-in, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp are now found at collaborative platforms at workplaces. Even healthcare technology is not spared from the social networking application style.
But is social networking history as recent as 2004? Let’s find out.

The widely-known social network history
It is widely believed that that the first recognizable social media site was Six Degrees which was created in 1997. Six Degrees back then allowed users to upload their profiles and make friends with other users – a feature that later on became the famous ‘Friend Request’ of the social network giant Facebook. What’s really interesting is Linked-In had gained prominence much before Facebook in the early 2000s when MySpace was gaining momentum. While Facebook was first launched in 2004 within Harvard University premises and was put to public use in 2006, Twitter became public in the same year and YouTube made its foray into the social network scene in 2005. Online photo sharing had already begun at this time with Flickr and Photobucket letting users to share photos online.

Social network roots offline and online
For this little history to make sense as to how social network itself became a huge phenomenon in the 2000s, it’s vital to understand human interaction. We all know the prevailing systems of BBS – Bulletin Board System. We have seen and used it for many years in schools, colleges and offices. Interestingly enough, sticky notes and BBS became electronic with BBS becoming a virtual meeting place. This system allowed users within an organization to upload, download and share files along with sending messages. BBS was accessed through a modem over telephone lines. Despite limitation, BBSs remained a rage in 1980s and 90s. By the time Internet came into being, there was another interesting social network platform called CompuServe. This platform facilitated sharing of files and accessing news and events. Though it had begun as a business-focused mainframe computer communication solution, it entered public domain in the late 1980s.
However, AOL (America Online) has the credit of being an actual predecessor to today’s social network design. It was like the Internet before Internet. It had member-created communities where users listed their relevant details and were searchable.
The 90s saw the dawn of Yahoo and Amazon that too had one or two social networking features. Another important factor why social networking became a huge rage was the need for reconnecting with old classmates and colleagues. This theory was further strengthened by the success of Classmates.com that didn’t have the profile creation feature but alumni could be located. Today, the service still enjoys 57 million registered accounts.
Of course Google helped the world organize information which was further picked up by several social networking applications. Today social network design is not news anymore. It’s the custom social network that’s fast gaining popularity since it is allowing niche users to connect according to their interests. Social network development today is in constant need of fresh ideas to tap a still untapped population waking up to social networking.

 

About Vinfotech

Vinfotech creates world's best social networks for brands, interest groups and sports fans. We promise initial set of real engaged users to put turbo in your social network growth. Our award winning software vSocial™ allows us to build stellar customized communities faster and better. Our customers include Aston Martin, Burberry, Arabian Gulf League and Snapdeal.

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