The evolvement and influence of social media since the online community to the AI era. Transformation of Posts to Reels is the New Era of The Social Media this is The Rise of the Video, AI and The Everything App. In the ‘2020s Social Media Revolution’ takes place.
Early Formations ( (1970s-1990s)
The origins of social media can be traced back to the 1970s when innovative applications such as PLATO and Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) were developed and could allow people to receive messages as well as to share files with others in online community.
By 1985, online sites like The WELL (Whole Earth steady point link) were establishing some of the first computer based communities where people could meet and share ideas and relationships in a computerized arena.
The introduction of GeoCities (1994-1997) in the mid lacked the intense personalised and social experience of the internet.
At last, SixDegrees.com was introduced in 1997, and it is probably the first social networking site. It provided its users with functions to create profiles, develop social lists of friends and connect with other people in ways that are very similar to the current social media.
The Emergence of Social Networking (2000-2010)
It is during the early 2000s that social networking fully established itself and spread to the point of it being extremely familiar to consumers. In 2002, Friendster came, and within no time attracted millions of users. It ultimately fizzled, but it demonstrated to the globe what a strong force online relationships could be.
Then, in 2003, LinkedIn was started, establishing a new world of professional networking, and MySpace became a sensation. MySpace rapidly gained popularity as the site where artists, musicians, and youth who wanted to express themselves online could make its platform their place of choice.
It was in 2004 that Facebook came in vogue–it was initially restricted to students in Harvard, but soon it was expanded to the other colleges and universities and then across the world. it re-engineered the definition of a social network
In the interim, other platforms transformed the digital world in other manners. YouTube opened up in 2005 and allowed people to share videos, altering the consumption and creation of media. In the following year (2006) Twitter has popularized the microblogging style (with 140 characters in each of the Twitter posts or tweets) and now real-time updates and the tenacity of small postings is a new norm.
By 2007, Tumblr became a mixed product-blogging/social networking platform with more space of creativity and fandoms as well as niche communities.
The most significant trends of the period which cross all the platforms are opportunities brought by AI-powered personalization of feeds until they are wholly specific; the use of influencers where audience behavior is manipulated by influencer-inspired marketing and social commerce where social media gateway shopping is fully integrated into social feeds. Collectively, these changes underlie a continuing social media transformation that is generating greater entertainment/communication/commerce integrations than previously.
The Mobile & Visual Age (2010- 2020)
With smartphones gradually becoming the focus of people lives, social media has taken the direction of visual intensive presence and mobile-centric. In 2010, Instagram was introduced which included easy photo sharing and filters that improved upon ordinary photos by turning them into professional-looking photos.
By 2011, Snapchat added an added layer with self-destructing photos and stories trending social media towards a more personal and in the moment socializing. In the same year, Google+ attempted to rival the use of current platforms, but due to the high investment, it never reached any success level, and it was closed down in 2019.
Facebook took over Instagram in 2012, and this further gave it a firm grip in the rising wave of image sharing. Vine was a cultural hit the following year that popularized short looping videos but the app was eventually shut down in 2017.
The next big shift was the one in 2016 when TikTok (previously known as Douyin in China and merged with Musical.ly in 2018) came to raise the whole world. TikTok transformed the face of digital culture and established the way people, and in particular, the younger generations interact with content by providing addictive short-form videos and powerful algorithmic recommendation strategies.
The Present Day Social Media (2020-Present)
Social media in the 2020s took a new form as videos became prevalent, live interactions were provided, and personalization facilitated by artificial intelligence. Platforms rushed to compete over the audiences through short-form video. In 2020, Instagram introduced Reels, to compete with TikTok, and in 2021 YouTube introduced YouTube Shorts, with both clones following similar format to TikTok.
There was also the emergence of new formats. In 2020, Clubhouse, a live audio chat app became popular, demonstrating that conversations in real-time with the voice were what people want much as they want visual content.
In the meantime, Twitter changed its name and branding to X in 2023 as an indicator that they intended to broaden their focus and expand to an everything app.
The greatest trends of this period are AI-enabled personalisation of feeds, whereby feeds are adjusted to individual users, the influence of the marketing-driven influencers, which drives consumer behaviour, and social commerce as a platform where socialising and shopping blend into one another. All these changes reflect the current reformation of social media to an entertainment, communication and business arena more intertwined than ever.
Influence of the Social Media
The emergence of social media has transformed almost every aspect of the contemporary life. It has revolutionized communication that enables individuals to be in contact with one another in real time- either with people nearby or friends or strangers at the other end of the globe.
Social platforms have become effective in mobilization with regards to both politics and activism. Social movements such as the Arab Spring and MeToo have become internationally visible and have gained momentum through online networks demonstrating how voices online can result in real world change.
Social media has proved to be important in business and marketing. It is the main channel to reach audiences by brands which use it to advertise, engage, and even conduct direct e-commerce.
Socially, social media has also led to memes, viral trends and online creators who are now media-makers as well. Online culture has taken the form of short videos to viral challenges, with the way people experience humor, news and creativity being defined by this culture.
In Short
The basis of social media runs back to the 1970s to 1990s in the creation of online communities and message boards.
2000s: Social networking became commonplace through mainstream networks such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
2010s: The advent of mobile-first and visually driven platforms (Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, etc.) gave rise to a new vision of how content was shared and consumed.
Short-form video, AI-generated personalization, and social commerce have all taken the centre stage of the social media market.
Conclusion
- From the early days of online bulletin boards to today’s AI-driven, video-first platforms, social media has undergone a remarkable transformation. What began as small digital communities in the 1970s has grown into a global ecosystem that connects billions of people. Each era—from the rise of Facebook and YouTube in the 2000s, to the mobile-first explosion of Instagram and Snapchat in the 2010s, and the dominance of TikTok and short-form video in the 2020s—has reshaped how we communicate, share, and consume information.
- Today, social media is more than just a way to stay in touch; it is a powerful force that influences culture, drives business, shapes politics, and defines modern life. And as technology continues to evolve, social media will keep adapting—constantly rewriting the way the world connects.
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