Today I came across this very ambitious and innovative Infographic by Copyblogger titled ‘A History of Social Media’ and I thought it’d be nice to share some of the details.

According to Copyblogger, the story of social media starts way back with the earliest emails sent by researchers at ARPA (the Advanced Research Projects Agency) in the 1970s. It goes on to the first days of ‘blogging’ and social networking all the way to today’s hottest sites such as Pinterest and Google+.

Throughout this entire period, they add, ‘the internet has always been social. It’s always been about connecting to people. Social media is nothing new and it has existed for over 40 years’. The very purpose of the Internet, they say, is to let people connect, build relationships, and engage in communities. For more details, definitely have a look at their blog post on their site.

This really made me think… Facebook and Twitter might not be as new as we all thought. Their foundations lie in a concept that is much older and social media is more than just social networking.

Their widespread use are however making us more and more aware of their actual social impact and presence in our daily lives, much more than any other site or tool that existed before. This also makes me wonder of what will be the next big ‘social’ thing?

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with this evolution of ‘social sharing’? Do you think the Internet has always been about connecting and communicating? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.