I decided to review a few social media sites chronologically which have surfaced through the developing technology my generation has experienced. To my knowledge, my first encounter with a social media site was Xanga. In a nutshell, each user had a weblog, which was not considered simplistic at the time. In todays phone app days, a 13 year old facebook user wouldn't even consider spending time building a blog. But in 2000, being able to setup your own webpage with newly popular 3d backgrounds, colors, personal photo, font styles, and music.... it was epic.
I actually remember starting mine, and constantly put it off for one of 2 reasons. One was I had to get off the dial up. Second, thinking of it in hindsight, I thought it would last forever and I can always get to it later. Clearly that was not the case, and right before we noticed Xanga was history and in came a new craze: MySpace. It combined what was offered by multiple sites like social networking, fan clubs, and "friendslist-based journal keeping" all into one on a hosted webpage! It was a social revolution. Never had we been so involved with people we didn't meet on a daily basis.
In the next few years there was a major innovation of smart phones which opened room for best social networking site known to date: Facebook. At first thought to be just a copy of Myspace, Facebook quickly overpowered Myspace with a more stronger social connection of its users profile being their actual identity. Facebook features include posts of photos, videos, polls, status updates, pokes, embedded game shares like candy crush and apps like messenger. It works flawlessly as a smartphone app and even includes polls, fan pages, even a market place. Everyone and everything has been linked with Facebook. All major businesses and celebrities you can think of. From kids to adults, Facebook has completely revolutionized social networking.
Another platform that developed through smartphone technology is Twitter. It is geared more towards simplicity. Its created a way to share thoughts, current events, pretty much anything and everything with a limited character space. Often times referred to as microblogging. In a nutshell, its a way to keep contacts informed without actually setting up a blog or webpage.
What will be the next craze?
Wow, you truly were an Internet pioneer. I remember when the Internet was getting big, social media was not too popular until the advent of MySpace. How I remember the wave it caused in school, from decorating the wallpaper and selecting our top friends to choosing a playlist that others listen, we basically were creating our digital living room for others to see. What a time it was, and to see that you were even there before the MySpace days is fascinating.
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