Question 6: Who Wants to be an Internet Nerd!
Which website is considered to be the first social media platform?
- MySpace
- Friendster
- The Facebook
ANSWER
Friendster (CORRECT): Founded in 2002, when Friendster.com went live in early 2003 it was adopted by 3 million users within the first few months. Friendster was considered the top online social network service until around April 2004 when it was overtaken by MySpace. Friendster pretty much died in 2006. It transformed itself into a social gaming platform that was popular in Asia. Nonetheless, on June 14, 2015 the site and all its services shut down indefinitely. However, in 2023, the site rose from the ashes to mimic its first incarnation.
MySpace (WRONG). Founded in 2003, MySpace burst onto the scene in 2003 when co-founders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe and their friends essentially copied Friendster’s model but left out the features they didn’t like or feel were necessary.
The Facebook (WRONG). It’s hard to believe there was a time before Facebook but even Facebook’s first incarnation, FaceMash, was launched 1 year after Friendster. Membership to FaceMash was initially restricted to students of Harvard University. In 2004 FaceMash was rebranded The Facebook was expanded to include Stanford, Columbia, and Yale. Whereas Facebook was not first, it now has 2.9 billion monthly active users and it’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has a net worth estimated at $174 billion by Forbes – making him the fourth richest person in the world.
Reddit (WRONG) Reddit was launched in 2005 and it took “a little” longer for the social media platform to make the big money like other start-ups. 19 years after being launched, Reddit finally had and IPO on March 24, 2024 and raised $748 million — giving Reddit a market value of about $6.4 billion.
Download more Internet history to your brain!
Timeline and Who Wants to Be an Internet Nerd brought to you by Broadbent & Williams
