The History of Early Social Networks

(Boyd, D. and Ellison, N. (2007). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), pp.210-230)

A Brief History of the early years of SNSs according to Boyd & Ellison (2008)

1. 1997 SixDegrees.com: First recognisable SNS launches which combines a number of features that previous websites had already been using. It allows users to create profiles, list their Friends and from 1998 browse Friends lists.
2. 1997-2001 Community tools begin supporting a combination of user profiles and building connections to friends. LiveJournal in 1999 allows one-directional friend links, Cyworld from ROK also implements a number of SNS features.
3. 2001 Ryze.com: A site for people to leverage their business networks. A precursor for sites such as LinkedIn and Friendster. Its founders were from a tight-knit business community who would go on to create a number of influential services.
4. 2002 The rise and fall of Friendster: Was designed for friends not to meet strangers but instead connect to friends of friends. Billed as the next great thing it surged in popularity with early adopters but in the end frustrated users due to its poor server issues.
5. 2003 SNS hit the mainstream. Clay Shirkey coins the term YASNS meaning ‘‘Yet Another Social Networking Service’’ in 2003, signalling the amount of SNSs that were released. Existing sites starting adopting more SNS features such as Last.fm and Flickr. Myspace is created and picks up many users abandoning Friendster. Bands and teenagers popularise the service unlike the older crowd that inhibited Friendster. Myspace would sell for over $500 million in 2005 getting huge media attention.
6. Around the world: Different services around the globe become popular. While one country may favour Myspace others may enjoy Bebo. The market was fractured without one dominant service.
7. Expanding Niche communities: Many SNSs started in small niche communities and increased their scale incrementally. Facebook for example started with only those within US colleges and expanding out to include everyone. Some SNS services only sought narrow audiences, such as Beautiful People, which wanted an exclusive crowd.
8. What this created:

“The rise of SNSs indicates a shift in the organization of online communities. While websites dedicated to communities of interest still exist and prosper, SNSs are primarily organized around people, not interests. Early public online communities such as Usenet and public discussion forums were structured by topics or according to topical hierarchies, but social network sites are structured as personal (or‘‘egocentric’’) networks, with the individual at the center of their own community. This more accurately mirrors unmediated social structures, where ‘‘the world is composed of networks, not groups’’ (Wellman, 1988, p. 37). The introduction of SNS features has introduced a new organizational framework for online communities, and with it, a vibrant new research context.”

– – –

This is of course a rather dated piece but gives you a nice broad sweeping introduction into the early years of SNSs in the modern era and how they were formed. It is incredibly interesting that by 2003 SNSs were already considered passé by someone as influential as Clay Shirkey. It also highlights that starting small and niche and expanding outwards is a suitable direction and something perhaps worth considering. Likewise, having the necessary server infrastructure can be the downfall of a service which might often be overlooked.

Reference

Boyd, D. and Ellison, N. (2007). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), pp.210-230