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Thomas Anderson Takes Over Marketing for Chris DeWolfe
In 2000, Thomas Anderson responded to an online Xdrive product tester job posting while in need of some extra cash. This posting led to the introduction of Thomas Anderson and Chris DeWolfe. Anderson explained to DeWolfe, the company's head of sales and marketing, why the latest version of the product was so inadequate from the perspective of the user. DeWolfe, who appreciated the direct critique, extended an offer to Anderson to work in marketing for the company. Kiana Pettiford -
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Myspace's Lifetime
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Mark Zuckerberg Creates His First Website
A psychology student at Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg, created a website for Harvard students that allowed them to judge the attractiveness of their classmates. The website would then create rankings. It was taken down within a few days, but it had given Zuckerberg the ability to elaborate due to its success. Peter Walco -
Myspace is Created
On August 1st, 2003, Myspace was created. Myspace is a social networking website that was co-founded by Thomas Anderson and Chris DeWolfe. The original idea behind the site was to facilitate easier connections between musicians by allowing users to rapidly upload their own music files on personal pages. Kiana Pettiford -
Thefacebook Was Created
In February of 2004, Zuckerberg created a program called Thefacebook. This program was first only available to students with a Harvard email. Thefacebook would allow you to create a profile, add a profile picture, share your interests and connect with others. Peter Walco -
Myspace Gains Popularity
Without registering, anyone could browse the website and access all unrestricted content. Early on, Myspace gained popularity among musicians and music lovers. More than 90% of UK teenagers used myspace. Around 2004, 5 million people had myspace. One of the earliest social media platforms that was widely used. Kiana Pettiford -
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Facebook's Lifetime
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Myspace Tom is Friends with Millions of Users
By January of 2005, Myspace had ten million users. Everyone received a welcome message from Anderson, the first Myspace user. Since Thomas Anderson was always put as the first "friend" of newly created Myspace profiles, he became well-known as "Myspace Tom," "Tom from Myspace," or "My friend, Tom." Myspace was the first social media platform for many people. Because of that, he held the record for the most "friends" on the site. Myspace surpassed the well-known search engine, Google. Kiana P. -
Facebook Was Made Public
In August of 2005, Thefacebook was changed to just Facebook. I agree it has a better ring to it. Then in 2006, it was made available to the public, so anyone over the age of 13 that had an email address was able to create their own Facebook account. Peter Walco -
Myspace Creates a Deal with Google
In 2006, Myspace celebrated the milestone of 100 million users. They were immediately seen as attractive to companies for possible collaborations, and Google noticed this. Google then signed a deal with Myspace allowing them rights to provide web search results and sponsored links on the site. Alison Winters -
Facebook Marketplace Was Created
In May of 2007, Facebook had added their own marketplace. This allows the users to sell products and services, kind of like an Ebay. Also, in 2007, Facebook allowed businesses to create their own pages and advertise. 100,000 businesses had signed up with facebook to use this feature. Peter Walco -
Myspace Faces Claims of Sexual Abuse Incidents
Families began reporting incidents of sexual abuse of their daughters by strangers they met on myspace in 2007. The families claim that their teenage daughters were lured to gatherings where they were drugged and sexually assaulted by sexual predators who contacted them over Myspace. A group of state attorneys also threatened to take legal action against Myspace if the website failed to establish a mechanism for confirming the age of its users. Kiana Pettiford -
Facebook Passes Myspace in Ratings
The start of Myspace’s decline was in 2008, when Facebook became more popular on the Alexa ratings. Alison Winters -
The Idea of a Location-Based Check-In App is Thought Of (Burbn)
Kevin Systrom was a Stanford graduate who previously worked for Google. He sought to create a platform called Burbn with his fellow Stanford graduate Mike Keiger (after teaming up with him and getting the funds). Kevin with his fellow Stanford graduate (Mike) wanted to create a location-based check-in app, and this was inspired by Foursquare, which initially was also a location-based app. Amer Kabach -
Burbn the Check-In App is Created
This platform was created to allow the user to log on, make check-ins to locations, and make future check-ins. However, this platform was not mainstream (it did not focus on photo sharing). Amer Kabach -
Facebook Is On The Rise
In 2010, Facebook was worth 41 Billion dollars, as it was the third largest web company in the U.S.. Just the next year, it had gotten 1 Trillion page views, becoming the 2 most viewed sites that year. Zuckerberg had created an absolute goldmine in less than a decade. Peter Walco -
Burbn Started Focusing on Photo-Sharing and Editing
After Kevin and Mike reworked their HTML prototype, they managed to change the process and the outcome. They also focused on the photo-sharing aspect of the platform where the user can add filters alongside with commenting and liking other people's posts. Amer Kabach -
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Instagram's Lifetime
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Burbn Becomes Instagram
Once the adjustments and other features had been added to the platform, they decided (Kevin and Mike) to change the platform's name from Burbn to Instagram. Furthermore, once everything was ready Instagram was launched on Oct 6, 2010, to Apple's App Store. Amer Kabach -
Instagram Gains One Million Users in Three Months
Once Instagram was launched and hit the Apple app store, the results were monumental, with the app reaching 25,000 users on launch day. Before the app reached its 3 months since its launch, it had amassed one million users. This was the beginning of a social media platform that would give meaning to photo-sharing and connecting with others in a whole new way. Amer Kabach -
Myspace is Losing Users... Fast
In March of 2011, market research figures were released that implied Myspace had lost 10 million users in the span of January-February 2011. Previously, it had fallen from 95 million to 63 million users in the previous 12 months. Alison Winters -
Myspace is For Sale
In late 2011, News Corporation officially put Myspace up for sale. The site was estimated to sell for $50-200 million. However, when the bidding date had passed there was no offer higher than $100 million. Alison Winters -
Facebook Goes Viral and Purchases Instagram
2012 was a very big year for facebook. Facebook went public valued at $104 billion, valuing it the largest newly listed company to date. Its users at the time were listed as a whopping 1 billion. Not only that, but in April of 2012 is when facebook had acquired another social network site known as Instagram for a sum of $1 billion. Zackary Storms -
Facebook Purchases Whatsapp
In February of 2014, Facebook put in a bid of $16 billion to acquire the popular communication app Whatsapp. They then acquired Whatsapp as an app under Facebook Inc. Just a few months later Facebook added “like” and “share” buttons to their third-party websites. Zackary Storms -
Facebook Creates Instagram Stories and Facebook Workplace
In August of 2016, Facebook launched their own version of snapchat stories on Instagram which are known today as Instagram stories. Not only that but Facebook also launched their own space for enterprise communication and collaboration. This is known as Facebook Workplace. Zackary Storms -
Instagram Updates Their Logo
In 2016, instagram had updated their logo design. They had updated it to a more “modern” and colorful logo for the consumers to enjoy. They had also updated the app and enabled a way for people to like comments on their own posts as well as like comments on other users posts. There was an increase added to 1080 pixels. Instagram also added messaging features, the ability to include multiple images or videos in a single post, and as well as being able to add a stories feature. Julia Bollinger -
Zuckerberg Faces the U.S. Congress for Data Privacy Issues
In 2018, Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg faced a lot of heat. Facebook allowed a researcher from Cambridge Analytica to gather amounts a data from over 50 million facebook users without their consent. In the end, Zuckerberg had to partake in over 5 days of hearings in front of the U.S. Congress to address facebook’s data privacy. Zackary Storms -
Instagram Is Under New Leadership
In 2018, both Kevin Systrom and Mike Keiger, the creators and owners of instagram, had announced that they would be stepping down from instagram. Within less than a month later, it was announced that Adam Mosseri would now be the new person in charge of instagram. Julia Bollinger -
Instagram Reaches One Billion Users
By June 2018, there were one billion registered users on instagram. This growth within the app has led to some updates and upgrades. Today, there are about 1.4 billion current users on the instagram app. Today, even though instagram was on the rise facebook still has a larger amount of users than Instagram does. Facebook roughly has 2.96 billion monthly active users and Instagram has about 2 billion monthly active users. Julia Bollinger -
Facebook Rebrands to Meta
In October of 2021, Facebook Inc. announced its change of branding as the company would no longer be called facebook, it would be called Meta. 'Meta' means 'after' or 'beyond' in Greek. It announced that all apps under the original facebook company including facebook itself would keep its name and not be affected. Zackary Storms -
Instagram Releases Reels
In 2021, instagram added a new feature on the instagram app called reels. Even after scrolling through the posts from the past 48 hours, Instagram will then display posts related to their interests from accounts they don't follow. They had also added a new feature on the instagram app where four people can go live on the app together. Julia Bollinger -
You Can Now Be Verified on Instagram... for a Price
In 2023, instagram had added a new feature allowing users to browse and post GIFs in their comments. Mark Zuckerburg announced that Meta would now start to sell blue "verified" badges on Instagram to show on a user's profile within the instagram app. The blue “verified” badge on instagram was used to show the authentic presence for that person or brand. Julia Bollinger -
Myspace is Still Here, Just Not the Same
Myspace has never actually shut down their websites. While nobody really uses it anymore, it has a lot of information on music, artists, actors, and movies. However, nothing has been posted on the site since 2022. Alison Winters