In 2011, the term social media was officially added to the Merriam- Webster dictionary. The dictionary indicates that the word’s first use dates back to 2004 and provides the following definition “forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos)” (Merriam Webster). As of January 2014, 74% of all online adults use social networking sites. Of those adults aged 18-29, 89% of them use social media. But of these percentages, how many social media users are actually aware of the laws/terms and conditions that exist just by logging into these sites? Whether its FaceBook, Instagram, or …show more content…
The foundations of social media stems from the transmission of the very first email in 1971. In 1996, AOL became one of the most popular instant messaging platforms which was commonly referred to as AIM. The first recognizable social media site dates back to 1997 and went by the name of Six Degrees. It allowed users to customize a profile page and connect with other users. In 1999 the first blogging sites became popular which is still widely used today. Also in 1999, the first music sharing social media site Napster was born. 2003 is often considered the booming year of social media. Sites such as LinkedIn, PhotoBucket, MySpace, WordPress, and Skype all debuted during this year. In 2004, FaceBook launched which has over one billion users today. In 2005, social media took a fresh transformation with the introduction of YouTube. One of today’s most popular site,Twitter, joined the social media world in 2006 with an estimated 288 active users today. In 2007, Tumblr became one of the most used blogging sites world wide. 2010 is the year where Pinterest and Instagram were established as social media platforms with over 300 million active users. Snapchat is a photo messaging social media platform that was released in 2011, but the application’s users skyrocketed in 2014 with over 100 million users. Today Facebook is the most popularly used social media site at 900,000,000 users with Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google Plus +, Tumblr, and Instagram following at top social media