Social Media: History Lesson

Image by Jason A. Howie. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Jason A. Howie. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Do you consider yourself to be a history buff? Would SixDegrees, Friendster and MySpace come to mind when you think about social media? In Trivial Pursuit, the 20th Anniversary Edition, it would probably fall under the category for  “Innovations.”

Take a moment and breeze through Matt Smith’s quick history lesson about start-ups that built the foundation to what we refer to today as “social media.” In his article, October 2013, Smith gives a nod to early innovations such as the BBS (Bulletin Board System) and IRC (Internet Relay Chat.)  These technologies predated the World Wide Web in the mid-90’s; opening a market for other platforms which ultimately bolstering sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest.  Smith predicts, “While Facebook is king, there’s still room for niche alternatives, particularly those that emphasis images or video rather than an infinitely updating news feed.” Click here to read the full article, Social Media: Did it really start with Facebook? [Geek History Lesson], MakeUseof.

Tip: CMLE often highlights ways teacher librarians can incorporate forms of social media into classroom and instructional processes. Here are two additional free resources for you to consider;

  1. Facebook Guide for Educators: A tool for teaching and learning, made available online by The Education Foundation 2013. Click here to download the pdf.
  2. 15 Cool Ways Libraries Can Use Vine to Create Social Videos by OEDb (July 2013.)