Sam Davis 11191519 Introduction

This will be a review of the implementation of social medias and how they affect businesses. I will explain the history, growth and its success. I will also parallel how social media has affected the growth of businesses.

The Beginning of Social Media

From the time the internet launched, people began innovating more ways to connect and network with one another. Only a few years after the world wide web was up and running, the beginning steps to social media networks was created. It was a site called Geocities, a website designed by everley !ills Internet that allowed users to create their own websites that pertained to the area they lived in. This program, now owned by "ahoo search engine allowed people to connect with others close in distance to them. This was a prominent moment in social medias history because it was the first program that allowed web users to connect with essentially anyone they could find online. #ith the increase of users and the break through Geocities found, bu$$ about how far the internet could go was everywhere.% &urtis, '()*+ ,eople started to become frightened that the internet would end up taking over all aspects of life. y )--., the internet had one million sites. This also was the year that blogs and instant messaging were created. These programs created the opportunity to interact with

other users immediately. /O0 Instant 1essaging%/I1+ was popular among the younger crowd. The user could connect with friends, create a profile, leave away messages, and engage in chat room conversations. From this new program, others emerged.%,etron$io, '()'+ For example, a popular site called 2tudy uddy where users could use the features of instant messaging for school work. logs also led to more new programs. logs initially became popular through politics. This was a way users could openly post their opinions about the political situation and debate with others who read it.% &urtis, '()*+ In the following few years, the development of social medias had ma3or break4throughs. Google, the most famous search engine, Friends 5eunited and /pple i,ods were all developed. /ll of these new developments created numerous opportunities for social media networks. Friends 5eunited was a site created in Great ritain that allowed you to find and connect with old classmates. 6sers were able to connect and share posts with everyone on their network. This led to the first real social networking site, Friendster. This site obtained success a little too rapidly. * million users 3oined this site 3ust * months after it launched. 6nfortunately, the program could not handle the demand and it led to the demise of the site. /nother site, 1yspace.com, launched a year after Friendster and used many of the same features. This site had immediate success. y '((7 it was the number one most visited site on the internet trumping over Google and "ahoo search engines. This site let people of all ages connect with anyone, post photos and videos, share statuses, comment on each others pages, and instant message. 6sers had the ability to create uni8ue profiles where they can describe themselves, share information and news, share music, and post blogs on their page. This site was created by Tom /nderson, 9osh erman, &hris :e#olfe, and rad Greenspan. 9ust a few years after they launched the website, they sold the company who started the site, Intermix 1edia, for ;<=( million. 1yspace served as the

leading social media network for years. % 2tenovec, '())+ Its popularity declined when other sites emerged. The biggest threat to 1yspace was a new social media network site called Facebook. This site was created by 1ark >uckerberg, a student at !arvard 6niversity. !e had been known for a couple smaller social media sites he created 3ust for students at his university. !e then created ? The Facebook,@ later known as 3ust ?Facebook.@ 2tudents at the university caught on immediately and the number of users was drastically growing the night >uckerberg put it up. The site eventually spread to other surrounding Ivy 0eague universities. In the next couple years, Facebook took over and soon became the top social media network in the world. %,hillips, '((.+

Social Media Now

/s years went on and social media sites advanced, businesses did not hesitate to use this to implement this as an innovative advertisement ploy. This was a great way to get a brand out there and to create bu$$. The advancements gave businesses endless opportunities. usinesses used all different types of social media. For instance, search optimi$ation systems. usinesses took advantage of sites, like Google, to move up their websites on the search list. /lso, they used more informal sites such as Facebook and Twitter to create bu$$ about their brand. They make Facebook pages where potentialAexisting customers can ?like@ it and keep up with their latest advancements. On twitter, many companies will create a ?hashtag@ relating to their company. If a user clicks on the hashtag it brings them to relating tweets from and about the company. /nother essential social media site businesses use is 0inkedIn. This is a site that acts like a professional version of Facebook. 6sers can connect with co

workers, employees and business gurus to advance them in their careers. /s I will discuss further in the paper, new advancements of social media networks have changed everyonesB daily lives. #e are now a society surrounded by these sites. Our economy would not be where it is today if these sites were not so advanced. 2ocial media is one of the leading reasons why businesses have the ability to grow as rapidly as they do now.

5eferences

/nthony , &. %'()*+. The brief history of social media. 5etrieved from httpCAAwww'.uncp.eduAhomeAacurtisADew1ediaA2ocial1ediaA2ocial1edia!istory.html

1att, ,. %'()'+. A brief history of instant messaging. 5etrieved from httpCAAmashable.comA'()'A)(A'<Ainstant4messaging4historyA

Tim, 2. %'())+. 1yspace historyC / time line of the social networkBs biggest moments. 5etrieved from httpCAAwww.huffingtonpost.comA'())A(7A'-Amyspace4history4timelineEnE==.(<-.html

2arah, ,. %'((.+. / brief history of facebook. 5etrieved from httpCAAwww.theguardian.comAtechnologyA'((.A3ulA'<Amedia.newmedia