A Brief History of Social Networking Sites
I recently joined LinkedIn.com, a social networking site for business professionals to create and maintain a list of trusted contacts. Sites like LinkedIn are taking the social networking scene by storm. As of May 2007, LinkedIn had over 11 million users spread out among 150 industries that reside in over 400 economic regions (Wikipedia.org). With the trend of social networking catching on in the business world, it is necessary to recognize the social networking sites that have paved the way for sites like LinkedIn.com and Redcarpetmonday.com. So here is a brief time line of social networking sites and a description of the ones that are thriving today. (Thanks to Wikipedia.org for the dates)
- 1995 = Classmates.com founded
- 1997 = Six Degrees of Separation founded
- 1999 = Circle of Friends founded
- 2002 = Friendster.com founded
- 2003 = MySpace.com founded
- 2004 = Orkut.com founded
- 2004 = Facebook.com founded
- 2005 = Yahoo!360 founded
Classmates.com is a social networking site for connecting and keeping in touch with friends and acquaintances from kindergarten through college. With a free membership one can create a profile and search for other classmates. For a minimal fee one can contact lost friends, join communities, and chat in online forums for specific schools. 49.5 % of Classmates.com users reside in the U.S. according to Alexa.com.
Friendster.com has many of the same features and focuses a lot more on friendships with anyone, not necessarily lost classmates. People using this site tend to focus on sending messages, invites, and blogging to stay in touch. Alexa’s statistics also show that whereas there is a minimal amount of use from the U.S. for Friendster.com there is in fact a large Philippino population, 36.5% that make up the majority of users of Friendster.com.
Facebook.com has a look similar to Friendster and began for much the same reason as Classmates but with an emphasis on the college community. To become a member one must have either a work or a school email to join. Statistics from Alexa state that membership is mostly divided between the U.S., Canada, and the UK.
MySpace.com is a social network that began to promote independent music and the socialite scene across the globe. Aside from being able to listen to new music and find out about the latest party, Myspace is a fun and artistic site where users can create unique profiles and share their favorite videos with friends. People have also started using MySpace for business networking, creating hair salon pages, posting resume information, and uploading work samples to showcase their portfolios.
The trend of social networking on the web began with people wanting to reconnect with lost school friends. Then it expanded to sharing messages, music, and videos with people sharing pieces of their culture and life interests. Today, business/trade professionals are recognizing the profitable advantages of social networking sites, and are seeking niche networks to communicate fluidly with others in their line of work and outside their industry. Some of these advantages to business/trade networking sites are their on demand information, quicker communication than through email, an improved culture at work, and a more personable and trustworthy professional presence with pictures, bios, and information for potential partners and clients to access.
Interested in Social Networking Software for Your Organization or Association? Learn more about NFi Studios Social Networking Software Solution of NFi Communities .