History of social media: Then and now社交媒體的前世今生

吳安運(yùn)

社交媒體的出現(xiàn)與興起歷經(jīng)多個(gè)過程。進(jìn)入近現(xiàn)代以來，社交媒體不斷發(fā)展與壯大。

體裁 說明文 文章詞數(shù) 396 建議用時(shí) 7 min

難詞探意

1. primitive /?pr?m?t?v/? adj. 原始的;早期的;遠(yuǎn)古的

2. instantaneously /??nst?n?te?ni?sli/? adv. 即刻地;突如其來地

3. sophisticated /s??f?st?ke?t?d/? adj. 精密的;復(fù)雜的;先進(jìn)的

4. sensation /sen?se??n/? n. 轟動(dòng)性事件

5. facilitate /f??s?l?te?t/? v. 促進(jìn);促使;使便利

6. intimacy /??nt?m?si/? n. 親密;密切;關(guān)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 distances instantaneously， 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，1979s Usenet allowed users to communicate through a virtual newsletter.

By the 1980s， home computers were becoming more common and social media were becoming more sophisticated. 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 media sensation thats still popular today.

Social media today

Sites like MySpace and LinkedIn gained popularity in the early 2000s， and sites like Photobucket and Flickr facilitated online 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 the intimacy of 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， but it 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……

【句式仿寫】似乎很清楚，他在考試中犯了一個(gè)很粗心的錯(cuò)誤。