History of Social Media: from Bulletin Boards to Global Connections

It would be ambiguous to begin the history of social media in the country without routing that of the world. One might say the first unique step into social media communication was in 1971 when Ray Tomlinson successfully exchanged a message between two computers set close to each other. Virtual community communication started with the invention of the bulletin board system (BBS). That was in 1978 by Randy Suess and Ward Christensen.

Evolution of Web Hosting and Blogs

Social media are powered by hosts, and in 1994, Geocities, the first service for web hosting, began operation.

It was made by John Rezner and David Bohnett, allowing users to create their websites. Later in 1995, TheGlobe.com and Classmates were created to serve the private purpose of communication with friends. In 1999, LiveJournal and Blogger joined. Remember, social media includes micro-blogs that ensure the possibility of communication with friends and sharing of information. These services affected this.

In 2002, Friendster was created as a means of communication with people around the world. LinkedIn, MySpace, and WordPress came in 2002. In 2004 Mark Zuckerberg made Facebook, which has grown to be the giant of all social media in the world today. Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jewed Karim 2005 made YouTube. In 2006, we saw Twitter. In 2012, Pinterest started.

Historical Context of Communication in Nigeria

Nigeria, as a highly populated country, has among its citizens the urge to communicate. Before the advent of technology in the country, people only communicated through physical contact with friends and loved ones. This wasn’t that effective as this old form of communication was not flexible one might think later interactions always take longer time as the chances of meeting with the person again soon were low.

This form of interaction was no doubt pleasing but ineffective as more and more people lost contact due to long-distance relocations. During the popular Obasanjo regime as president, the country witnessed its first step into technologically driven communication. As years flew by, internet communication emerged, and this brought in features like social media.

Advent of Social Media Platforms in Nigeria

The internet penetrated in 1996 after Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) agreed to give licenses to 38 internet services. Manu blogs and other social media platforms have been created since then. There are some, like Eskimi, which is still popular to a certain extent today. South Africa’ owned 2go did make a good social media, although it is very unpopular in the country as of today. Besides all these, Nigerians prefer using social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, and Instagram. And the history of this social media shapes social media history as a whole in Nigeria.

References

1. Boyd, D., & Ellison, N. (2007). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1).
2. Levy, S. (2010). The Facebook Effect. Simon & Schuster.
3. Adegoke, Y. (2016). The rise and rise of social media in Nigeria. Quartz Africa.

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