History of Social Media since 2015

By lucyhb

  • Twitter acquires Periscope

    Twitter acquired Periscope to better develop live-streaming video capabilities.
    I chose this event because Periscope was considered a major social media platform on its own and at this point Twitter bought it.

  • Twitter rolls out "Quality Filter"

    Twitter rolls out a new "Quality Filter" to verified iOS users to keep hateful comments out of their feed.
    I chose this event because Twitter allowed a form of user censorship that I think should be noted.

  • Snapchat users

    Snapchat reaches 100 million users. I chose this event because Snapchat was very popular at this time and significant in social media use.

  • Pinterest announces "buyable pins"

    Pinterest creates a new feature that allows users to view "buyable" pins on iPhone and iPad.
    I chose this event because it created a form of revenue for Pinterest. I remember seeing buyable pins around this time and I engaged with the new feature.

  • TikTok is created

    TikTok is created by by Douyin for the Chinese market, it was later launched on iOS and Android outside of China.
    I chose this event because this was the start of an app that would gain significant popularity down the road.

  • The death of Vine

    Twitter announces that it will be discontinuing the app.
    I chose this event because Vine was a popular app and a lot of people were sad to see it go.

  • Facebook user surge

    Facebook user numbers surged to covering around 30% of the world population. I chose this event because at this point a significant amount of the world is connected via Facebook. A huge milestone for the social media platform.

  • Writing a longer Tweet

    Twitter announces that Tweets can now be 280 characters instead of 140.
    I chose this event because this update was kind of a gamechanger for Twitter. Users can now write longer Tweets and share more information than before.

  • Instagram introduces fact checking software

    Facebook announces that the sites fact checking software would expand to include Instagram. I chose this event because another major social media platform is acquiring some form of a fact checking software. I think this is notable since social media is connected to the spread of false information. What kind of information will Facebook deem false?

  • TikTok

    TikTok hits one billion downloads making it one the most downloaded apps of 2019. I chose this event because the app has become so popular. It is one of the main social media platforms and contributes to remix culture.

  • Death of Google+

    Google+ shuts down due to low user engagement. I chose this event because the social media platform was designed to succeed but ultimately failed even though it was attached to Google.

  • Instagram introduces Reels

    In light of TikTok being banned in India and potentially banned in the U.S, Instagram introduced their own version. I chose this event because Instagram saw an opportunity and took it. Now they are more competitive with TikTok and it will be interesting to see how things play out.