The Evolution of Social Media by NATAN ROCHA OLIVEIRA

1978 Bulletin Board System (BBS)

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-29 23:45:12 UTC

It was not a “social media”: in fact, it was a series of software that allowed an operator to register his friends as a member of his “bulletin board system” – so that, through telephone lines, modems, passwords and IDs, to establish connection between them. And being able to stream and download files, chat by text and exchange messages (as well as receive comments from other participants).

1995 ClassMates.com

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-29 23:54:06 UTC

It was the first social networking site that aimed, as the name suggests, to reconnect with friends with whom we had studied in high school or college in the United States and Canada. And it's still active today!
https://www.classmates.com/

1995 mIRC

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-29 23:59:26 UTC

Released exclusively for Microsoft Windows, at a time when the internet was still charged by the pulse, mIRC functioned as a chat room. But using this program was not so simple, as people had to enter codes, choose servers and only then join a chat group. It was also possible to call a person for a private conversation.

See how mIRC worked in the following link: https://youtu.be/vBTvB9RkS6M

1996 ICQ

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 00:05:02 UTC

The three letters that, said in English, sounded like “I'm looking for you”. Created by the company Mirabilis, it was something quite simple (but revolutionary): just install its program on the computer to find people and, through chat rooms, chat with people from all over the world (the precursor of WhatsApp…). And it was so innovative that, in 1999, it launched a mobile version – and it was deactivated in the year 2024.

https://icq.com/mobile/pt#android

1997 Six Degrees

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 00:13:48 UTC

The SixDegrees website is considered the first social network on the web, launched in 1997, when the connection was still dial-up.
In the literal sense of a social network like creating today, perhaps this is a pioneer: allowing the creation of profiles, inviting friends, groups... The name comes from the theory of six degrees of separation (which says that any human being is separate from any other - another only by six degrees).

1999 MSN

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 00:23:20 UTC

An internet classic that became a trend among Brazilian teenagers. In addition to exchanging text messages, the features allow you to send emoticons, stickers, allow you to put the music you listened to in your status and even had features to draw the attention of flirts.The service was discontinued in 2013, after having marked the lives of internet users in the 2000s. Currently, MSN offers email, search, groups, discussion forums, news, etc.

2002 Friendster

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 00:27:11 UTC

Just like Six Degrees offered contact with other users, share different content (videos, photos, messages) and even flirt or just comment on other users' posts.

2002 Fotolog

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 00:36:36 UTC

Ancestor of Instagram, it was a pioneer in photo sharing – which we can consider as a booster of selfies, even in a time when digital photo cameras were the most. In May 2018, he returned with a new design and a one-photo-a-day proposal to “promote real connections between nodes rather than algorithmically generated connections.”

In 2019 the website was deactivated and went offline.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fotolog.webapp.fotolog

2003 Myspace

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 00:46:18 UTC

By bringing music as a common theme among users and as a differential (with many artists sharing their schedules and new music, for example),it became the largest social network on the planet. The platform continues with a proposal similar to that of its heyday, but there was a loss of many old files.
https://myspace.com/

2004 Orkut

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 00:50:44 UTC

Created by Google in Turkey (its name is that of the creator, the company's chief designer, Orkut Büyükkökten), it was responsible for the explosion of social networks in Brazil, allowing the creation or adhesion to the famous "communities", that became a trend (there was one for every thing that could be invented, believe me). In September 2014, it went offline, leaving many orphans here in the country…

2004 LinkedIn

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 00:59:34 UTC

The first social network specifically for the professional and business world, it plays an important role in establishing a network so that professionals can see and be seen, in the search for new job opportunities or closing deals. It is there where companies also seek new professionals for their selection processes. And LinkedIn is exclusively dedicated to the interaction of professional contacts. It exists and is still used today.
www.linkedin.com

2004 Facebook

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 01:07:17 UTC

Created at Harvard by Mark Zuckerberg and some Harvard colleagues Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, it was originally called Facemash – and it became the giant we all know. To the point of being considered the second largest media company on the planet (behind Google). The platform is still used, and has exclusive features, but it also invests today in gamer streaming.
https://m.facebook.com/

2005 YouTube

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 01:24:51 UTC

It went on the air with the video of one of its creators, Jawed Karim: "Me at the zoo", of only 19 seconds. It was bought by Google and, today, it is also a great player of the video streaming system. The site allows users to share videos and interact with their authors through comments.
https://m.youtube.com/

2006 Twitter

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 01:31:33 UTC

The trend of 140 characters (which today is 280) boosted this social network that also acts as a server for microblogging - that is: short, direct and objective communication. It has become an ideal place for journalistic and hard news vehicles, as well as the medium for spreading news from politicians and artists.
https://mobile.twitter.com/home

2009 WhatsApp

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 01:52:16 UTC

Finally all dreams of instant communication have come true in one place: text, images, memes, audio, voice and image calls, and in the latest updates it is also possible to make payments directly in the app. However, it also became the most fertile ground for the spread of fake news. And the platform has a web and also the app version.
https://web.whatsapp.com/

2010 Instagram

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 02:00:47 UTC

Place where you can tell about your days and your life with images. This is basically what “Insta” allows its users to do. With the addition of IGTV, Stories, Reels has faced other powerful networks, such as Youtube, TikTok (and has become an excellent place for advertising, mainly using influencers as spokespersons.
https://www.instagram.com/

2011 Snapchat

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 02:17:44 UTC

Initially an app to exchange images and short videos that would disappear in 24 hours? It became a fever – until Instagram adopted all the functions created by "Snap". But nowadays it is still very useful in the United States as a chat app, where it has more than 100 million users, according to data from Snapchat. The app announced in 2023 that it has around 750 million monthly active users on the network, worldwide.

https://www.snapchat.com/pt-BR

2013 Telegram

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 02:29:28 UTC

Russian instant messaging application created by brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov. It was seen by many as more secure than its competitor WhatsApp. Telegram is available for smartphones or tablets, computers and also as a web application. And the users can make video calls, send messages and exchange photos, videos, stickers and files of any kind.
https://web.telegram.org/

2016 Tik Tok

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 02:40:28 UTC

Called "Douyin" in China, his country of origin, he was involved in controversies around the planet – mainly because of the persecution that Donald Trump promoted in the United States. Nothing that has affected the fever that has become this space to create and share short videos, the famous trends that happen in the app are a success around the world. Even Journalism is already in this network.
https://www.tiktok.com/pt-BR

2020 ClubHouse

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 03:48:23 UTC

Social network for audio chat that bets on exclusivity: only guests can enter and initially needed to have an iPhone. Because it was only in 2021 that the audio chat app was released globally for Android, so users from all over the world with a device running Google's operating system can download the platform. It became a trend among artists, communicators, executives and entrepreneurs in 2021, drawing even Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, into its conversations.
https://www.clubhouse.com/

2022 the return of Orkut?

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 03:56:39 UTC

The official website of Orkut was reactivated in 2022 with a message from its founder, the Turkish engineer Orkut Buyukkokten. In the page, he says he is building something new, which hints at a possible reactivation of the defunct Google social network, which was created in 2004 and lasted 10 years.

http://www.orkut.com/index_pt.html

LOADING NEW UPDATES...

natanrocha_ — 2022-04-30 04:14:22 UTC

2023 Threads

natanrocha_ — 2024-07-25 13:28:33 UTC

Threads is a social media app created by Instagram that allows users to share text updates and participate in public conversations. The app was announced on July 5, 2023, and quickly became the most successful social media platform launch in history, surpassing 150 million downloads. Users can log in to Threads with their Instagram account and create posts up to 500 characters long, with the option to include links, photos, carousels, and videos up to 5 minutes long. Threads also allows users to reply to others and follow profiles.

Threads has been called a "Twitter killer" and looks similar to Twitter, with a feed of mostly text-based posts where people can have real-time conversations.

https://www.threads.net/?hl=pt-br

2019 BeReal

natanrocha_ — 2024-07-25 13:43:46 UTC

BeReal is a photo sharing app that allows users to post one photo a day so that followers can see what they are up to in real time. The app was created in 2019 in France by Alexis Barreyat and Kévin Perreau and aims for authenticity and asks users to be real. BeReal has been very popular, especially among Gen Z users, and won "app of the year" at Apple's 2022 App Store Annual Awards.BeReal has been very popular, especially among Gen Z users, and won "app of the year" at Apple's 2022 App Store Annual Awards. However, the app also has some critics, with some users noting that it sends alerts at inconvenient times, such as funerals, surgeries and breakups.

https://bereal.com/pt-br/

2023 Tik Tok Now

natanrocha_ — 2024-07-25 14:04:43 UTC

TikTok Now is a feature of the TikTok app that prompts users to share what they're doing at the moment by taking a photo or recording a video. Users receive a daily notification at a random time to post a photo or 10-second video using both the front and back cameras within a 3-minute window. The goal is to encourage users to share spontaneous moments without overthinking or over-curating their content.You can access TikTok Now by using the Now button, which looks like a lightning bolt, in the bottom navigation bar of the TikTok app. You can also download the TikTok Now app for free from the Apple App Store, Google Play, or Amazon. Once you've posted something, you can see what your friends have posted by tapping the Friends tab, which is now called Now Online. You can also view other users' posts by tapping the Explore tab. Other users can like and comment on your posts, and you can share them on other platforms. Some say that TikTok Now is similar to the social media platform BeReal, but with a few differences. For example, with BeReal, you can share your post with friends or send it to the Discovery feed, where other users can see it. With TikTok Now, only your friends can see your content. The new feature was launched in September 2022 and will soon be disabled. Since July this year, users have reported receiving notifications from the app saying that the company is updating the TikTok experience and it's deactivating the app.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ss.android.ugc.now

2024 Whee

natanrocha_ — 2024-07-25 14:14:46 UTC

Whee is a social photo network created by ByteDance, the same company responsible for TikTok. The app was launched in June 2024 and is similar to Instagram, allowing users to share photos and interact with friends through likes, comments and messages. However, Whee stands out for its focus on privacy and exclusive sharing with close friends. Whee is not yet available in Brazil, but it is believed that the platform is being released gradually.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bytedance.snail

2023 AirChat

natanrocha_ — 2024-07-25 14:25:33 UTC

Airchat is a social network that describes itself as a “social walkie talkie,” a platform where users primarily communicate through voice messages. Launched in 2023 by Naval Ravikant and Brian Norgard, Airchat quickly caught the attention of the tech world, attracting not only avid users but also major investors like Sam Altman from OpenAI. The basic concept behind Airchat is simple: instead of typing messages, users record audio to share with their followers. These audio messages are then automatically transcribed by the platform's artificial intelligence, creating a written version of the message to accompany it. This allows users to get an idea of the audio content without having to listen to it, making it easier to navigate the feed. Airchat is invite-only, and users need an invitation from an existing user to join. Once they have an invite, they can download the app on their iOS or Android device.

https://www.air.chat/