A history of social media

As social media boasts a huge 4.7 billion users globally it seems quite frankly impossible to imagine a world without it.  Looking back to the earliest traces of social media, where scientists were simply tapping out electric dots and dashes on telegraph machines, times have dramatically changed since then (thankfully!).

1977 saw the birth of the first official social media platform, SixDegrees.com. Users had a simple profile page and were able to connect and communicate with other users. Something that now seems so simple, paved the way for creating other platforms like MySpace and LinkedIn to follow.

In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg in his university dorm room created TheFacebook, completely changing the social media sphere. Originally developed for his university network, at the end of that year the site had one million users and continues to grow at an unimaginable rate to this day. 

Not only did Facebook set the mould for social networking, it kick-started social media marketing. Facebook Ads gave brands and businesses the opportunity to broadcast their message to the masses with much less effort.

Fast-forward a few years, household names like YouTube, Twitter and Instagram were becoming more and more common, with each providing a new way for businesses to enhance their brand image and giving them a way to instantly communicate with customers.

More recently, Snapchat was developed, and along with it the iconic stories feature – which many platforms have since tried (and some failed!) to replicate, and six second looping clip video service, Vine rose to fame in 2013 but, to much dismay, discontinued after a mere three years. However, this gap in the industry didn’t last for long with the tremendous success of TikTok which was born in 2018. 

For some, TikTok is dismissed as an app for young people doing trending dances, however in reality the app is becoming popular among brands. Thanks to the app’s unique algorithm, adapting to user preferences allows any niche to be achieved, meaning your ads can be targeted to the exact consumer group you are aiming for. 

For so many businesses, social media has become an integral aspect of their marketing strategy, allowing them to increase brand awareness, better customer relationships and reach a wider audience in a more relatable way than ever before.

If you feel your business could be enhanced with some strategic social media, get in touch. Our social media team is on hand and love to chat!