Social Media Day

Social communication apart from face to face conversation has existed for centuries, from letter writing to the telegraph, and from the telephone to the radio. Early forms of the internet and email came about in the 1960s, and by the late twentieth century, what we now know as social media began being developed and used. It was originally mainly used by individuals, but now it is commonly used by businesses as well. Social Media Day was started by Mashable on June 30, 2010, "as a way to recognize and celebrate social media's impact on global communication." Social media now permeates the globe even more fully than it did when the day was first created.

The first social media site, Six Degrees, allowed users to create a profile and add other users as friends; it existed from 1997 to 2001. About the same time, blogging and instant messaging became popular. ICQ was an early instant messaging program, which was soon followed by AOL Instant Messenger. Myspace began in 2003, and for a time was the largest social media website in the world. It set the template for social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook was launched by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. Originally just for Harvard students, as of 2018, it is the largest social media website, with over 2 billion users worldwide. Twitter was founded in 2006; being inspired by text messaging, messages were initially limited to 140 characters. As of 2018, there are close to 500 million Twitter users.

Today, many social media sites are geared towards specific interests and subjects. LinkedIn, an early social media site still in use, is used to connect professionals. Flickr was an early photo sharing site, and it is still one of the most popular. Photobucket, Pinterest, and Instagram are other photo related sites. Tumblr is a microblogging site that was launched in 2007.

How to Observe Social Media Day

Celebrate the day by using social media. Communicate, post, and share on all the social media sites that you use. Since the day was formed in part to celebrate global communication, use social media to reach out to your friends that live farthest from you. Another fun way to celebrate the day may be to sign up for and try a social media site you haven't used before.

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