What is the history of social media?

Before we delve deeper into the history of social media, we need to recognise the phenomenal change online social platforms have had in our lives.  Social media has completely transformed the way we interact and communicate throughout the world.  Although it may seem like social media is a new concept, it has in fact been around for many years, however it’s only during recent years that social media popularity has skyrocketed.

Social media is now impacting the daily lives of millions of people around the world, which means there’s massive opportunity for businesses to influence the decisions online consumers make.   Social media networks have now become a lucrative marketing opportunity where brands can leave powerful lasting impressions.  Social media has also become the ‘go-to’ medium for modern business advertising.  This form of digital marketing is cost-effective, easily accessible and very effective.

Although this article takes an interesting look at the history of social media, the future of all the major social media sites is exciting and growing at an exponential rate.  With this fact top of mind, it’s vital for the survival of modern business to an active participant in the social media boom.  A wise investment of time and resources is to complete a social media marketing course to ensure that you aren’t left out in the cold when it comes to the continued rise of social media.

Social media explained

Almost everyone around the world has experienced the hype surrounding social media, and if not, they’ve certainly heard of how this interactive communication platform has taken the world by storm.

Let’s take a closer look at the basics of social media, so there’s a complete understanding of how these communication platforms work.   Over the past few years the top social media sites have competed fiercely against each other to be number one.  The race is on and shows no sign of slowing down.  The introduction of the pay-per-click (PPC) method of advertising on social media, the most popular platforms continue to move forward at an unbelievable fast pace to keep their spot in the social media ratings.

Although there are many social media platforms, the most popular networking sites are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.  All of these networks have millions of daily users who can spend hours per day browsing their platform, therefore all types of businesses are able to make massive headway in building their brand, increasing customer interaction, attracting potential consumers, improving customer service and ultimately increasing revenue.

Social media marketing has quickly become the most cost-effective form of modern advertising which can yield fantastic results.  Every modern business needs to understand the history behind social media before they’re capable of expanding their digital marketing strategy and become a hit on social media.

The history of social media

There are only a few famous social media platforms, which are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with Facebook having an enormous lead on the other two.  People have been using social media to keep in touch with friends and family around the world, make new connections and above all, social media is the easiest way to interact and stay informed.  Most people now have established profiles on multiple social media sites and have their preferred site top of mind when going online.

With Facebook, Twitter and Instagram being the top three social media platforms, let’s take a closer look at each of these sites.

• Facebook – With its launch in 2004, Facebook has taken people across the world on an interactive journey, which continues to rapidly grow. Facebook allows its users to effortlessly interact with others as well as keep their profile feed up to date with their latest news by posting photos, images, videos and status updates.
• Instagram – Although Instagram only launched into the public domain in 2010 it’s since become one of the most popular image-based social media networks. Part of Instagram’s success is that it gives users the choice to make use of their many filters which enhances their images or videos.
• Twitter – Twitter was launched in 2006 and was initially designed to be a mobile phone SMS-platform. This social media platform has come a long way since then to reach the top three social media networks worldwide.  Twitter has over 300 million monthly active users.

Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing

The Digital School of Marketing’s Social Media Marketing Course is the best course available to teach you the ins and outs of social media marketing. From teaching you the fundamentals of  how each platform works to giving you hints and tips on what to post, the course has it all! For more information about this and our other online digital marketing courses, visit our website.