2008: The Year in Social Media

by Tina Kells | January 1, 2009 at 05:10 pm

153 views | 9 Recommendations | 4 comments

2008 belonged to Social Media, this past year the social Internet saw its largest growth in both reach and popularity since the dawn of Web 2.0. WebProNews summed up the biggest events in the realm of Social Media in a really great 2008 retrospective.

You can read the entire list at The Year in Social Media: 2008 from WebProNews but here are some of the month-by-month highlights:

January

Facebook joined the Data Portability Group along with along with Plaxo and Google. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appeared on 60 Minutes, he found more investors, and Facebook's news feed would start treating apps differently.

MySpace got a little more Facebook-like with Friend updates and announced safety principles.

February

Facebook partnered with the Wall Street Journal on "SeenThis?" and also made its account deletion process fully functional.

Google and Twitter teamed up for the U.S. Presidential Primaries, while PR Newswire and CSSRWire teamed up on a social network. Pakistan ended its YouTube ban, and LinkedIn launched a new homepage and features.

March
AOL bought Bebo, GyPSii brought a social networking service to the iPhone, Healia entered the Healthcare community mix, and YouTube Insight was launched as a way to track video analytics.

April
YouTube rolled out some new policy changes, and Project Playlist was sued by nine different record labels while we heard more rumblings about MySpace Music.

May

MySpace launched a data portability effort, and Facebook agreed to a child safety plan. Facebook also borrowed $100 million for growth purposes.

The Twitter Blacklist emerged, and Google began previewing Friend Connect.
We also learned about YouTomb, the place that tracks videos that have been pulled from YouTube. Meanwhile, the MySpace Suicide Mom was indicted.

June
WebProNews launched Twellow, a yellow pages-type directory for finding Twitterers with common interests, a service that would continue to be expanded upon throughout the year.

July

Facebook launched a redesign, and hooked up Facebook Connect with some sites. LinkedIn formed a deal with NYTimes.com over targeted articles and ads.

YouTube became available on TiVo and CNN took Twitter mainstream. Hugley popular app Scrabulous was removed from Facebook.

A bill came up that would deny kids access to social networks in libraries, while the SEC opened up to social media.

August
Talk of a Facebook movie began to circulate with a West Wing writer rumored to be involved.

Friendster got a new CEO and $20 million in funding. Dell experimented with a press conference through Twitter.

Yahoo closed down its social network Mash before many ever even knew what it was.

September
Facebook was found to be using Beacon again, and decided that it didn't want people making new friends on the site.

A Mac social network came to the iPhone, and it was found that Americans favor businesses with a social media presence.

October

Yahoo decided to try social media from a different angle and AOL launched its own social homepage. LinkedIn launched its applications platform and began a market survey business.
Twitter dropped instant messaging.

Microsoft began to play with social search personalization, CBS introduced social viewing rooms, and MySpace redefined Karaoke amusement by adding video.

November
MySpace partnered with MTV, and YouTube made a deal with MGM. MySpace also launched a new profile editor as well as a PrimeTime application. Facebook revised its alcohol app policy.

December

This month saw the public launches of both Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect, not to mention MySpace's Open platform. Facebook added the ability to embed and upload high quality videos, Delicious went mobile, and FriendFeed expanded into more languages.
Facebook rolled out a navigation bar for use while viewing third-party sites. Talk of a Facebook movie has resurfaced, as well as that of a book.

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duo

at 18:01 on January 1st, 2009

Thanks for this article, Tina. If it were not for social media, I'd probably have been "x-ed" out by now like my articles are being "x-ed" out on the Internet. The most censored news of all time as far as I know is the secret incarceration and death of a mentally ill heart patient, Larry Neal, in Memphis/Shelby County Jail and The Cochran Firm fraud of his elderly mother and family that followed. Mainstream media won't cover it, so I took it to social media. I have been followed, accosted in neighborhood businesses by four cars of men or more talking on cell phones and a US DOT truck. My articles on this injustice are now being censored so strongly that they are being taken off the Internet and "camped" by a service called DNS Park. http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/1003318

Long live social media! It saves lives and gives voice to the voiceless.

Mary Neal
http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com

Tina Kells

at 18:07 on January 1st, 2009

Thanks Mary! You know how much I love all things Internet and social media is by far the most exciting thing to happen to the Web since it was born :)

Jesse Torres (not verified)

at 23:48 on January 1st, 2009

Totally agree that 2008 was the year of social media.

I am a banker and we tend to stay away from the bleeding edge as a general rule. Especially in a year that has seen blood for many different reasons. But even my industry is starting to push heavily into social media - particularly social networks.

In response, we initiated a similar program focused on utilizing a publicly available social network (e.g., Facebook) (versus bringing our own in-house). Since my board, managers and even IT staff, did not totally get the concept I put together for them a very comprehensive guide to make sure everyone was on the same page.

After looking over the guide I figured the industry in general could benefit so I posted it on docstoc.com. It's available at http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2873849/The-Community-Bankers-Guide-to-Social-Network-Marketing.

I think your post is spot on. This past year was the year of Social Media. But I think we've only scratched the surface. As banks, which are the last to implement technology, begin to push on these initiatives, I think we'll continue to see plenty more to come from social media.

My question will be: How much poorly developed marketing pressure will these platforms put up with and how will they revolt against it?

Jun Loayza (not verified)

at 12:50 on January 2nd, 2009

These are some great monthly milestones that you laid out! 08 went by so fast that I didn't realize just how much has happened in social media.

Towards the end of 08, I was completely consumed by social media. I posted blogs everyday and Tweeted at least 20 times a day. There was no distinction between my physical and virtual life! To a blogger, that may seem ok, but I soon realized that there is a clear distinction between the two.

I wrote a blog post about my social media diet. Would love to get your opinions!

I look forward to reading more great posts and staying in touch!

- Jun Loayza