Timeline: A history of social networking sites

In a nutshell, social networking sites are web-based services that enable people to create a public profile, allowing them to communicate with both strangers and people already in their existent social network (Boyd & Ellison 2007).

They began in 1997 with the birth of SixDegrees.com which encouraged people to send messages to each other electronically.

From there they blossomed and became one of the world’s most popular ways of communicating, particularly among young people.

Here is a timeline detailing their relatively short but intriguing history.

1997: SixDegrees.com

Although it was innovative in that it combined many features other social networking sites did not, the site failed to sustain itself in the long run. This was partly due to the low number of people with an online presence and partly to the site’s limited interactive applications.

2001: Ryze

A niche business-oriented social network site, aimed at strengthening professional and personal bonds across companies, without that air of competition. Yet the site’s personalization caused its downfall and it never attracted mass appeal.

2002: Friendster

An online dating site which focused on introducing friends-of-friends rather than strangers because it believed they would prove better matches. Although the site was initially popular boasting 300,000 users, it encountered many technical and social difficulties. These included slow servers and a restrictive design, which led users to create fake profiles of celebrities and fictional characters, to expand their reach. The site’s deletion of these ‘Fakesters’ caused an outrage and resulted in many users leaving the site permanently because of its failure to meet user interest.

2003: MySpace

Hit off by indie-rock bands alienated by Friendster, MySpace rapidly grew by accommodating a band-and-fans relationship, creating a personal ’space’ for this. Users needs were also met, unlike with Friendster, by allowing them to personalize their profiles using HTML. In 2004, teens started joining Myspace en masse which was accelerated by News Corporation purchasing the site for $580 million in 2005 and attracting mass media attention.

2004: Facebook

Initially intended for college networks (Harvard, US) to create a sense of an intimate online community, Facebook spiralled into serving mass communities in 2005. Unlike other sites, Facebook allows users to determine the extent to which their profile is public, assigning them their long sought after independence and flexibility. Much like MySpace, users can also personalize their profiles through ‘Applications’ such as the sending of virtual gifts. It is now the most used social networking site, boasting over 350 million users worldwide.

2005: YouTube

An Adobe Flash video sharing website, displaying a broad range of user-generated content including film and TV clips, music videos and original, amateur blogs or videos. Although unregistered users can still watch content, registered viewers are free to upload, rate and also comment on videos of their choice. Bought by Google in 2006, media companies such as the BBC and Universal Music Group (UMG) also share their material via the site. It has been ranked the fourth most visited website, following Google, Yahoo and Facebook. Despite some of its copyrighted material and inappropriate content, its simple interface and diverse collection of topics has won it many awards including the George Foster Peabody Award (2008).

2006: Twitter

A new microblogging site, originally called twttr, allowing users to send messages of up to 140 characters known as tweets to their subscribers, known as followers. Like Facebook, Twitter accommodates restricted and open delivery. Another attractive quality of Twitter is its intertexuality; the ability to send tweets via the website and Short Message Service (SMS) – it’s been crowned ‘SMS of the Internet’. Although it has been labelled ‘modern narcissim’ and an absurdity which drains phone credit, Twitter has proved immensely successful, with a ‘remarkably simple’ interface and 14 millions users in the US alone.

2010: Google Buzz

Building on the idea of Twitter, Google Buzz targets a more niche market of Gmail users, allowing them to automatically and conveniently follow existing friends. Like Twitter, intertextuality is integrated in the form of photos (Flickr), videos (YouTube) and links (Twitter) where privacy can also be altered accordingly. With its recent extension to Google Apps and mobile phones, you can now tag your exact geographical location with Google Maps and easily, yet uncomfortably, track your friends. However, this concept of privacy settings has already been heavily criticised, attacking the way that Google Buzz publicly lists the user’s Gmail contacts by default. Within just days, thousands have been manically blogging on Technorati; most arguing that the concern over privacy is a ridiculous overstatement, revealing people’s ignorance of the way social networking sites truly operate.

[Via http://dman3.wordpress.com]

President Obama Wants YOU… to Twitter for Him

Think you’re such a social media expert that you could tweet for a living? Well, President Obama is looking for an official social networks manager, and you might be just the tech whiz for the job.

According to President Obama’s website, The Democratic National Committee and Organizing for America is in the market for a new hire. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mia Cambronero, who currently holds the position, said, “[I] will be stepping down from my infamous role as ‘Barack Obama’s twitterer… We’re looking for someone who is available to start immediately.”

And what exactly are they looking for over at the White House? According to the job posting:

“The Social Networks Manager is responsible for maintaining the Democratic Party and Organizing for America accounts on all social networks (such as Facebook(), Twitter() and MySpace() accounts, etc.) The Social Networks Manager works closely with the rest of the New Media department to execute grassroots campaigns to advance the President’s agenda for change.”

Said person must also be willing to work hard — “this isn’t a 9-5 job,” the posting said — and be “passionate about engaging millions of Americans in advancing President Obama’s agenda and changing the country.” Yeah, that’s not daunting at all.

Social media has been integral to President Obama’s career since the beginning. He launched his Twitter account back in 2007 (although he only really tweeted for the first time last month to support Haiti relief efforts after admitting back in November that he was too clumsy to use the microblogging tool), and recently used YouTube() to engage with the nation after the State of the Union address.

Although both the Obama and White House Twitter feeds used to read like a stream of press releases, the tweets have become much more lively in the ensuing months. Whoever fills this new position will have to continue to up the ante when it comes to engaging with the American people. Will you apply?

[Via http://lmd308.wordpress.com]

MySpace Shakeup: Van Natta Out, Hirschhorn Stays

In an interesting turn of events, MySpace CEO (and former COO of Facebook) Owen Van Natta has suddenly stepped down from his position. He will be replaced by two newly created co-Presidents, COO Mike Jones (founder and CEO of Userplane) and Chief Product Officer Jason Hirschhorn (formerly of MTV and Sling fame). Both will report to Jon Miller, Chairman and CEO of Digital Media for News Corp.

But let’s back this up….on Feb. 4rth, TechCrunch reported that, in fact, it was Jason Hirschhorn who was on his way out:

But the real problem may have been a lack of chemistry between Hirschhorn and his fellow executives. CEO Van Natta was supposedly hired by Murdoch directly for the job. Hirschhorn and Jones were hired by Digital chief Jon Miller. Since the whole team was brought in at once, Van Natta didn’t have any say at all in the hiring of his two right hand guys. 

Even FT reported on the troubles between the executives, siting apparent disagreements between Van Natta and Mr. Miller over Hirschhorn’s role in the company. It seems Van Natta wanted Hirschhorn out and Miller refused.    

Too many cooks in the kitchen? Maybe, but can anyone blame Van Netta if he wanted to leave? MySpace is in deep trouble and the numbers are BIG and speak loudly. News Corp paid $580m for the site way back in 2005, and as it stands now, MySpace will miss traffic targets on its $900m search deal with Google, resulting in $100m less than previously thought.   

Ouch. Good luck to Hirschhorn and Jones, they will need it. Many insiders already think MySpace is DOA.

MySpace, R.I.P GigaOM
MySpace chief executive steps down FT
Gossip: Everyone Wants Out Of MySpace Business Insider
Owen Van Natta Out As MySpace CEO; Miller’s Memo paidContent

[Via http://dialmformedia.wordpress.com]

Anoop Desai's online media team needs our help!

Anoop’s online media team is reaching out to us once more with a few specific questions. Fans and street teamers, let’s help them help Anoop. March is just around the corner.

1. Music Festivals: Are there music festivals near your area that are good fit for Anoop? Provide info here. Please note that they are interested in overseas fests as well as US ones: http://anooptroop.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=campaignboard&action=display&thread=385 

2. Do you or someone you know maintain Anoop-related social networking pages (i.e., iLike)? Please come forward here. Anoop’s peeps are interested in potentially helping you update the page with unified branding: http://anooptroop.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=campaignboard&action=display&thread=386 

3. Do you know of social networking sites other than Facebook, MySpace or Twitter (such as orkut, Ning, and Multiply) in which Anoop could benefit from establishing a presence? Please post here: http://anooptroop.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=campaignboard&thread=387&page=1

[Via http://teamanoopdesai.com]

Not a bad week, all in all...

I have run into my first real “stumble along the way” type moment… I have not been to the gym in about a week now. At first it was all due to the fact that I may have overdone it one day by going so often and pushing too hard. Now, it is just because I haven’t gotten back on my routine. There are a couple of reasons for that. I went to see a friend’s band practice on Monday night and was out late, so I slept in the next day, and, we had a hell of a Tuesday at work and I had a few drinks and ended up sleeping in the next day. And, last night, I met up with a fellow DJ and my “brother from another mother” DJ OZ at Silk Stockings, another gentlemen’s club, and got some music from him and hung out for a bit, slept in today. I really need to get back on track. I have slipped a couple times with the type of food and drink I have had too, and I haven’t been eating enough either. Skipping meals is not a good thing, for me anyway, because I will end up being hungry late at night, and that is the worst thing to do.

I have, however, not smoked since October 19th, and I am happy to report that I am definitely beginning to feel a difference, though, I don’t think my lung capacity is back to 100%, I don’t know how long that takes. I really need to get back on track, I don’t want to take the chance of falling into old habits, I haven’t yet, but, I don’t want to take that chance! I need to figure out a way that I can manage my time a bit better and still include somewhat of a social life as well. I will be happy when the work week is over and I can get some things done.

I know what I have to do, all I need to do is get my schedule written down and stick to it! Focus, focus, focus! I know I can do it, that’s not the issue at all. My goal, starting tomorrow, is to get back on my pills (vitamins and supplements) and on an every other day gym schedule. I also need to start getting food together in advance so I am eating healthy at work too. Starting tomorrow, I will make sure that I do this for at least 21 days, then, it will become habit and will be a lot easier. It’s not like I don’t enjoy going to the gym, and I certainly don’t mind the healthy food… I just have to do it!

I have to say, not a bad week, all in all. I hope the rest of the week goes as well as the beginning has, at work, I really could use the money! Can’t we all?

Thanks to all of you for your continued love and support.
As always, take care and remember…

Every day is a chance to turn it all around!

- Kenny

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Cyworld Ends its' American Run.

The super popular South-Korean web portal “Cyworld” notified their American users that they will shortly discontinue services here. Cyworld is known as one of the worlds first interactive social networks and public profile sites. In 2006 they tried recreate their South Korean success and expand their services overseas to the US, Germany and China.

However, Cyworld could not recreate the hype that they had in South-Korea. From the start the services Cyworld USA provided were lost in translation. Usage based by nation-only stand-alones made it impossible for members to link overseas Cyworld accounts. The lack of members being able to globally network seemed to handicap users who are usually used to sites that will allow anyone to join, such as ike Myspace, Facebook and Friendster.

There is also the debate that Cyworld USA lost membership do to offensive graphics. Many users who were familiar with their South-Korean portal noticed that the avatars available to the US  had very noticable differences. Avatars were described as too bulky and having funny facial features. Some even said that they were just uglier than their Korean counterparts. Cyworld avatars and avatar rooms were upgradable with dotoris points, which were available for purchase. Americans were lost on why should they buy avatar skins and upgrades when already existing sites were free of charge.

Cyworld USA’s announcement said they will shut down their USA site on February 19th. They apologized to allow the users who are left to gather any data they may have used to design their Cyworld profiles. They are offering refunds for any unused  dotoris points. These are the “acorns” that users purchase to upgrade and design their avatar rooms. However refunds and data backups stop on February 19th 2010.

So if you are a Cyworld US user make sure you get your data back and your acorns refunded!

[Via http://hallyuhoneys.wordpress.com]

flattery will get you nowhere but thanks.

I honestly dislike myspace these days even though i still choose to keep it and check it regularly. I barely answer to people though and only do so if its someone i actually talked to before. Even when i was addicted to myspace i still didn’t like messages. Its like getting people spam and people know you read and get mad when you don’t reply. Oh well. I still do read th ‘ messages i get and this message caught my eye. I get some flattering comments from time to time and i just don’t pay attention but this message was really nice. So, i thought it deserved some special attention even if i didn’t respond back.

“Let me just be real honest, I know this is completely random and I know you have no clue who I am, but I was looking through profiles and saw yours and I was blown away. Absolutely blown away. You are beautiful. Not just the good looking girl you see occasionally, I am talking like the kind of beauty that you don’t see EVER. You know how a person addicted to drugs knows his drugs, he knows the “good shit” from the “not-so-good shit”? Well I know beauty. Its my drug. And you, are good shit. So I guess what I’m saying is…you are my drug…and I’m addicted. Your beauty is insane. Like I said, I know this is random, but I had to let you know. I figured you probably hear it all the time, but hey, I couldn’t let someone as gorgeous as you get away without me at least telling her first. Anyway, congratulations on being so magnificent.Sorry if it annoyed you. If you want though, you should look at my profile, I worked really hard on it, haha, but there is a lot of information on there, so only go read it if you enjoy reading or you could hate your life. I tend to ramble.
-Sebastain
P.S. After I re-read this, I realized it kind of sounds like spam, but I can assure you I’m not spam. *in pinnochio voice* I’m a real boy! I know its pretty lame that this is what I do when I’m bored, but I have nothing better to do. Lame huh?”

Anyways. Thanks Sebastian for th ‘ beautiful message.

[Via http://dearkaye.wordpress.com]