Behold - a visual representation of the ascent (and descent) of (most) social networks, plotted using data from Google Search trends on a 6-month moving average.
I found a few things about this chart interesting, in no particular order.
First, ICQ. That really takes me back. It was with the venerable ICQ that I arranged all of my Ebay deliveries back when I was a competitor of oddball Brok Pierce/IGE and Yantis. I tried to login to my ICQ (8 digit code, anyone better?) just recently and it was regrettably unable to recover my account.
I was surprised to see how many users ICQ maintained and for how long. Of course, it should not even be on this list. ICQ is definitively NOT a social network. It is an instant-messaging program almost identical to AOL Instant Messager. Having ICQ on here makes no sense. Having ICQ on here without having AOL Instant Messager on here makes even less sense.
Second, Slashdot is not a social network. It was a news-conglomeration site with comment posting on each article. Honestly, it wasn't much different from 1000 other sites that post news and updates from around the web and enable comments on their posts. Slashdot is no more a social network than the comments of the New York Times online articles are a social network.
Honestly, MySpace ought to be the first site featured on this chart, as it was truly (and generally considered to be) the first real social network. I was truly surprised to see the peak so late for MySpace, as I recall my roommate was already deeply entrenched in MySpace by 2004, in an attempt to woo the internet ladies who I'm told may have actually used that site.
WhatsApp is certainly putting in a strong showing, more than I had expected.
Reddit, on the other hand, is peaking more slowly and later than I expected. I grew disgusted and mostly swore of Reddit by the massive censorship/UpVoat exodus, but had been wanting to leave for some time. That was already at least 4-6 years ago, 2012-2013. They've managed to continue to climb in the face of increasingly negative public sentiment and user exodus, however I suspect they will be the next star to fall from grace.
We also have a Radio Station! (click me)
...and a 10,000+ active user Discord Chat Server! (click me)
Sources: Google, KnowYourMeme, SlashDot, Reddit, ZH
*Copyright: SmartSteem, PALNet, SPL, MySpace, Slashdot *
I never used my MySpace, but I have many vivid memories from my teenage years of chatting in the early morning hours on ICQ. Hahahaha.
I think Steemit will be an exception to the rule because of the monetary incentives to participate. However, Steemit could go down that same path if other crypto-social-media platforms, which offer better monetary incentives, sprout up.
Beautiful .. Interesting
Great post from you, thank you for this information
Thanks for sharing
some interesting analysis, wonder how steem's graph will play out
The death of my space.... Lets have a minute silence for the space it left in our heart lolz
I'd actually be really interested if you did an analysis of a bad or average script and broke down where and how it failed.
I was using MSN instead of ICQ but I consider those instant messenger applications like the early stages of social media.
Awesome post, social media, like technology is equivalent to Moore's Law...observation that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years. Meaning things continue to evolve and get better and if things don't remain competitive, they will be tomorrow's old news and extinct like Sears, Kmart, Toys R Us, etc.
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So you explored about old networks starting from ICQ ending in reddit .. what about Facebook ? Steemit?( as first decentralized network)? What’s your opinion?
I feel tgat opening and reading this article was a good investment of my time. It was short enough so I had no time to get bored while I got a better picture of how the social media platforms popularity evolved in time.
I have one question not directly related to the article itself but: is it profitable to use voting bots these days? I mean I have tried it and lost money with almost each of them...
Tiny profit margins if you do, but you'll more often make a loss - people mostly use them to get views, but you can still use upvote selling services like this one to make a profit.
Thanks for the news on what is happening to the social platforms!
Does anybody still remember Friendster?
I had barely heard of Whatsapp until I moved to Spain (from New Zealand), but here everyone uses it! For me I dont see the point really when I have messenger to contact people. But in saying that if all my friends had Whatsapp I would probably close my Facebook account for good - its the main reason I keep it!
This is beautiful and very well done! I don't put to much of my time or money into any social networks because of this. I remember people saying MySpace would never be unseated. The general consensus has been similar with Facebook until all the recent data mishaps.
Nothing lasts forever. ;)
I read slash dot every day.
/. though not a social network, I have been religiously reading for last 18+ years :)
This is amazing information, wow!
I wonder how they are getting their data, or which data they are using!? I'm kind of surprised Pokémon Go isn't up there! Haha
Interesting post!
This doesn't surprise me. I search on google all the time for reddit articles i've read or come across in the past. I don't know if this accurately shows the rise and fall of social networks because once they reach peak adoption why would anyone google search for them anymore unless looking for long lost friends. That will eventually see a decrease as well once everyone finds who they are looking for.
Nice review, it's interesting to know.
Whats app is definately huge outside of North American. We host international students and most of them use this. Espicially the ones from China.
I also had an ICQ account.... brings back memories... oh oh.
My belief in steemit becoming more has been on the low end of good expectation last month or so. Had cut back on posting. Reading your work, big picture stuff. Well, lets just say I trust your judgement, gives assurance that steem is still a good play. TY for the continued effort.
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ICQ 6 digits. Ha!
I'm suffering some cognitive dissonance from the chart, because I fail to see that Facebook has really fallen so far already.
If it has really happened, then great. If it hasn't yet, it will.
Thanks!
MySpace was by far the best. I really wish they never would have sold and changed it. :(
This is hilarious and nostalgic. ICQ has no place on this chart, you're right. And where is friendster? Where is classmates? I used to love Myspace as well. Ah, the day of "top friends" arguments... I still have a profile there with 30,000 fans of likely abandoned pages. One thing is for sure, we all should have learned the lesson of not depending on social media to be our "lists" (we still do this, and don't change— e.g. Facebook.)
And what is this mapping anyway? Activity per user? User growth rate?
Thanks for posting. This is was a big flashback. :)