History of social media:Then and now

社交媒体的前世今生

安徽泗县第一中学 吴安运

体裁 说明文 文章词数 396 建议用时 7 min

难词探意

1.primitive/΄prımətıv/ adj.原始的；早期的；远古的

2.instantaneously/ˌınstən΄teıniəsli/ adv.即刻地；突如其来地

3.sophisticated/sə΄fıstıkeıtıd/ adj.精密的；复杂的；先进的

4.sensation/sen΄seıʃn/ n.轰动性事件

5.facilitate/fə΄sılıteıt/ v.促进；促使；使便利

6.intimacy/΄ıntıməsi/ n.亲密；密切；关系密切

Although social media seem like a new trend,sites like Facebook are the natural outcome of many centuries of social media development.

Social media before 1900

The earliest methods of communicating across great distances used written letters delivered by hand.This primitive delivery system would become more widespread and streamlined in future centuries.

In 1792,the telegraph was invented.This allowed messages，a revolutionary way to convey news and information,to be delivered over a long distance far faster than a horse and rider could carry them although telegraph messages were short.

Two important discoveries happened in the last decade of the 1800s:the telephone in 1890 and the radio.Telephone lines and radio signals enabled people to communicate across great distancesinstantaneously,which was something that mankind had never experienced before.

Social media in the 20th century

The first super computers were created in the 1940s,leading to the birth of the Internet.

The earliest forms of the Internet,such as CompuServe,were developed in the 1960s.Primitive forms of email were also developed during this time.By the 1970s，1979's Usenet allowed users to communicate through a virtual newsletter.

By the 1980s,home computers were becoming more common and social media were becoming moresophisticated.Internet relay chats,or IRCs,were first used in 1988 and continued to be popular well into the 1990s.

The first recognizable social media site,Six Degrees,was created in 1997.It enabled users to upload a profile and make friends with other users.In 1999,the first blogging sites became popular,creating a social mediasensationthat's still popular today.

Social media today

Sites like MySpace and LinkedIn gained popularity in the early 2000s,and sites like Photobucket and Flickrfacilitatedonline photo sharing.YouTube came out in 2005,creating an entirely new way for people to communicate and share with each other across great distances.By 2006,Facebook and Twitter both became available to users throughout the world.

Today,there is various social networking sites.This makes users reach the maximum number of people without sacrificing theintimacyof person-to-person communication.We can only tell what the future of social networking may look in the next decade or even 100 years from now,butit seems clear that it will exist in some forms as long as humans are alive.

Reading Check

Match each event with its time.

（ ）1.the telegraph A.in the 1960s

（ ）2.the telephone B.in 1988

（ ）3.the first super computers C.in 1890

（ ）4.primitive forms of email D.in the early 2000s

（ ）5.home computers E.in 1999

（ ）6.IRCs F.in 1792

（ ）7.MySpace and LinkedIn G.in 2005

（ ）8.the first blogging sites H.in the 1940s

（ ）9.YouTube I.by the 1980s

Language Study

Sentence for writing

It seems clear that it will exist in some forms as long as humans are alive.

【信息提取】It seems clear that...似乎很清楚……

【句式仿写】似乎很清楚，他在考试中犯了一个很粗心的错误。