The Evolution of Communication: From Telegraph to Social Networks

1. Social Networking

2. Social Networks How old are social networks? What are social networks? What do they need to thrive?

3. 1831 - Joseph Henry proposes and builds an electric telegraph • 1835 - Samuel Morse develops the Morse code • 1843 - Samuel Morse builds the first long distance electric telegraph line • 1844 - Charles Fenerty produces paper from a wood pulp, eliminating rag paper which was in limited supply • 1849 - Associated Press organizes Nova Scotia pony express to carry latest European news for New York newspapers • 1876 - Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson exhibit an electric telephone in Boston • 1889 - Almon Strowger patents the direct dial telephone • 1901 - Guglielmo Marconi transmits radio signals from Cornwall to Newfoundland • 1925 - John Logie Baird transmits the first television signal • 1947 - Douglas H. Ring and W. Rae Young of Bell Labs proposed a cell-based approach which lead to "cellular phones" • 1963 - First geosynchronous communications satellite is launched, 17 years after Arthur C. Clarke's article • 1966 - Charles Kao realizes that silica-based optical waveguides offer a practical way to transmit light via total internal reflection • 1969 - The first hosts of ARPANET, Internet's ancestor, are connected. • 1971 - Erna Schneider Hoover invented a computerized switching system for telephone traffic. • 1989 - Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau built the prototype system which became the World Wide Web at CERN • 1992 - Neil Papworth sends the first SMS (or text message). • 1994 – WWW becomes killer app • 2004 - Facebook

4. Telegraph – pre 1900 • Telephone – 100 years • Fax – 100 years • Mobile Phone – 30 years • Internet – 25 years • Facebook – 6 years

5. Facebook History • Mark Zuckerberg wrote Facemash, the predecessor to Facebook, late 2003 while attending Harvard as a second year. • The site was a version of Hot or Not. • Hacked university computers to obtain details of students. (Crime pays??). • Nearly ejected from Harvard. • thefacebook.com

6. Expansion • Early 2004 Added Yale, Stanford and Columbia • 2004 Added all other Ivy League universities • 2004 incorporated. Changed name to facebook.com ($200,000) • 2005 High School version • 2006 Anyone older than 13

7. On October 24, 2007, Microsoft announced that it had purchased a 1.6% share. • Values FB @ $15 billion.

8. Business • Very low click through rate compared to Google. • Some suggest a fifth of the average • Reasons: • Technologically savvy users • A communications medium • User interested in centre of screen and are not looking for info

9. Facebook Page • Very similar to Facebook • Fans (>5000) instead of Friends • Really one page to hold corporate, community, school “Facebook page” to attract: • Discussion • Visitors to own web site