Six Degrees, Livejournal, and Friendster were the earliest form of social medias. The dot-com bubble of
1995 – 2002
was a critical event that allowed the internet to become a viable marketing tool. It began with search marketing, prompting brands to create websites to establish an online presence.
Believe it or not social media did not start with Facebook, the idea of social media began in
the early 1970’s
as a result of aspects like e-mail, the first e-mail being sent in 1971. With the first solely social interaction site developing in 1997, Six Degrees.
Social media marketing first
started with publishing
. Businesses were sharing their content on social media to generate traffic to their websites and, hopefully, sales. … A business that wants to reach a specific set of audience at scale would run highly-targeted social media ads (social media advertising).
How long has Social Media Marketing been around?
Social media has been around for the best part
of 40 years
– Usenet appeared in 1979 and is the first recorded network that enabled users to post news to newsgroups.
The first social media site was Six Degrees, made by
Andrew Weinreich
in 1997. Six Degrees was pretty popular with users until 2003. That’s when Tom Anderson made MySpace.
May 1997:
Six Degrees
Six Degrees is widely considered to be the very first social networking site. Founded by Andrew Weinreich in May 1996, the site launched the following year and combined popular features such as profiles, friends lists and school affiliations in one service.
The first social media site is born (1997)
On one of the first true social media sites,
SixDegrees.com
, you could set up a profile page, create lists of connections, and send messages within networks.
Is Social Media Marketing the future?
What is the future of social media marketing? A. Social media marketing
is here to stay and grow
. With the rise in popularity of AI-powered chatbots, augmented reality, and social commerce, many marketers are using social media as an effective marketing and sales generation tool, and you should do the same.
For many, social media appears to have a range of benefits. It
provides a way for many of us to connect with others
. We can support other people and feel supported by them. It may even be a useful way for those with social anxiety and those who have a hard time with face-to-face interactions to connect with others.
Life before social media held
a sense of privacy and peacefulness that most people today don’t have
. People went about their days without posting about everything they did, and phones were just for talking.
In 2021, there are
4.48 billion people
actively using social media in the world, and this is an increase of 13.13% year-on-year from 3.69 billion in 2020. Back in 2015, there were only 2.07 billion users – that’s an overall increase in users of 115.59% in just six years.
- Facebook – 2.74 Billion Active Users.
- YouTube – 2.291 Billion Active Users.
- WhatsApp – 2.0 Billion Active Users.
- Facebook Messenger – 1.3 Billion Active Users.
- Instagram – 1.221 Billion Active Users.
- Weixin/WeChat – 1.213 Billion Active Users.
- TikTok – 689 Million Active Users.
With nearly 2.5 billion monthly users,
Facebook
is hands down the largest social media site in the world.
Since it’s a relatively new technology, there’s little research to establish the long-term consequences,
good or bad
, of social media use. However, multiple studies have found a strong link between heavy social media and an increased risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, and even suicidal thoughts.
Social media advertising is defined as
a form of digital advertising that serves paid ads to your target audience
using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
In “Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media”, researchers provide a framework that defines social media, which includes seven functional social media building blocks:
identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups
.