The 2010s saw explosive growth in social media and the widespread adoption of mobile internet. These two elements have changed the way we connect, share and do business. The introduction of Instagram and Snapchat changed the way we communicate worldwide. The creation of Quora has made it easier to share information and learn. Internet-based freelance services like Fiverr made online searches a lot easier.
With the introduction of 4G mobile internet, the internet is more accessible than ever. However, this decade was not without difficulties. The continued growth of the Internet and the large amount of new data that needs to be stored have brought concerns about ethical data protection to light. Meanwhile, blockchain technology and streaming service Netflix have revolutionized traditional sectors, making this decade a decade of continuous innovation.
2010
Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger started Instagram. Instagram quickly grew in popularity and became one of the largest social networks.
Source: PopularMechanics.com
Quora Inc. Company was founded in June. A year later, the company launched its quick questions and answers website, which gained a large following.
Source: Wikipedia
Viber has started. In response to Skype, it was initially used exclusively for iPhone smartphones.
Source: Wikipedia
Shai Wininger and Micha Kaufman were co-founders of Fiverr.
Source: Wikipedia
Research found that China dominates the internet with over 450 million internet users.
Source: The two-way
| People Kevin Systrom – born 1983 in Holliston, Massachusetts. An internet entrepreneur and programmer best known for creating Instagram alongside Mike Krieger. He is also the former CEO of Instagram and a former board member of Walmart. He worked for Google and Burbn before founding Instagram. Source: Wikipedia Mike Krieger – born 1986 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A software engineer, co-founder of Instagram and CTO of the company. He is a partner in GiveWell, a non-profit charitable organization. Source: Wikipedia Technologies & Companies statistics |
2011
Kate and Will’s royal wedding was streamed online. This is the largest Internet event ever recorded where most live viewers watched the same stream at the same time.
UCLA opened its Internet History Center, the site of the first ARPAnet node.
Source: Internet Hall of Fame
One of the most popular photo and video sharing platforms called Snapchat has been launched.
Source: Wikipedia
Justin Kan and Emmett Shear have launched a live streaming platform called Twitch. Later, Twitch became the most popular website of its kind with millions of viewers.
Source: Wikipedia
The very first darknet market was launched under the name “Silk Road”.
Source: Wikipedia
| People Kevin Systrom – born 1983 in Holliston, Massachusetts. An internet entrepreneur and programmer best known for creating Instagram alongside Mike Krieger. He is also the former CEO of Instagram and a former board member of Walmart. He worked for Google and Burbn before founding Instagram. Source: Wikipedia Justin Kan – born 1983. Investor and entrepreneur. He co-founded Justin.tv, which later became Twitch. He is also co-founder and CEO of Atrium. Kan was also a partner at Y Combinator in Silicon Valley. He also created The Drop and has contributed widely to TechCrunch. Source: Wikipedia Emmett Shear – born 1983. He is co-founder of Twitch and Justin.tv. He is also the co-founder of Kiko Software and one of the partners at Y Combinator. Shear is the CEO of Twitch and a long-time business partner of Justin Kan. Source: Wikipedia Technologies & Companies statistics |
2012
The Internet Hall of Fame was founded by the Internet Society. The entire event took place in Geneva, Switzerland and during its inception the first 33 members were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Source: Wikipedia
The world’s first popular dating app “Tinder” was launched. Tinder would become one of the most popular apps in the world, inspiring hundreds of other dating sites and apps to follow its lead.
Source: Wikipedia
| People Kevin Systrom – born 1983 in Holliston, Massachusetts. An internet entrepreneur and programmer best known for creating Instagram alongside Mike Krieger. He is also the former CEO of Instagram and a former board member of Walmart. He worked for Google and Burbn before founding Instagram. Source: Wikipedia Technologies & Companies statistics |
2013
A video-sharing social media service, Vine, was launched by Colin Kroll, Rus Yusupov and Dom Hofmann. It was acquired by Twitter shortly before its launch. The service quickly became very popular, but was eventually discontinued.
Source: Wikipedia
Pavel and Nikolai Durov started Telegram. This messaging app has users across Europe, Russia and the United States with over 400 million users.
Source: Wikipedia
As an employee of the CIA, Edward Snowden copied and leaked sensitive files from the American NSA. He exposed various NSA surveillance scandals targeting individuals, companies and governments.
Source: Wikipedia
| People Dom Hofmann – born 1986 in New York, USA. A programmer and internet entrepreneur who co-developed Byte, Peach and Vine. Source: Wikipedia Rus Yusupov – born 1984 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. This entrepreneur and designer co-founded Vine and HQ Trivia. He was also CEO of HQ Trivia, a live trivia game broadcast on mobile devices. He also founded Big Human and won various awards for his work. Source: Wikipedia Colin Kroll – born 1984 in New York, USA. He co-founded HQ Trivia and Vine with Rus Yusupov. Sadly, Kroll died very young in 2018 at the age of 34 from a drug overdose. Source: Wikipedia Pavel Durov – born 1984 in Saint Petersburg. He is the founder of Telegram Messenger and VK. The internet entrepreneur is also a member of the Young Global Leaders Forum and the World Economic Forum. He was CEO of VK until 2014 and then decided to travel the world in exile. Nikolai Durov is his older brother and together they founded VK. Source: Wikipedia Nikolai Durov – born 1980 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. As a mathematician and programmer, he founded VK and Telegram together with his brother Pavel. He also worked as a research mathematician and contributed to various geometry theories. Source: Wikipedia Edward Snowden – born 1983 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. A former CIA employee and NSA contractor. Snowden’s name became known worldwide in 2013 when he leaked information about various global surveillance programs run by the NSA and its partner organizations. Source: Wikipedia Technologies & Companies |
2014
Facebook has acquired the messaging service WhatsApp for around $19 billion. It was another event that cemented the Facebook company as a leading Internet giant.
45% of people aged 18 to 29 who were in a relationship said the internet had greatly influenced their relationships.
Source: Pew Research Center
| Technologies & Companies Whatsapp – a messenger platform that combines multiple communication methods. It is a VoIP service developed by WhatsApp Inc. but acquired by Facebook. It can be used on both desktop computers and mobile devices. Before you can use the app, a phone number must be added. Source: Wikipedia Facebook – a social media giant from Menlo Park, California. Facebook was originally a network for Harvard students, but it expanded to Yale, Stanford and Columbia until it went public in 2006 and anyone could sign up. Facebook “inherited” MySpace as the leading global social network in 2009 and also acquired the second most popular social network “Instagram”. Source: Wikipedia |
2015
Apple launched the “Apple Watch,” the first commercially available smartwatch. Although it had a high price and short battery life, almost a million units were ordered on the first day.
The Federal Communications Commission stated that all Internet service providers must adhere to net neutrality as a principle to create a truly free and equal Internet platform for all.
Source: Museum of Computer History
| Technologies & Companies Apple Watch – Apple’s first smartwatch was launched in 2015. In the second quarter of 2015, the company sold more than 4.2 million Applet Watches. They work on iOS and can be connected to other Apple services or products. Since then, Apple has released new versions with additional features every year. Source: Wikipedia Net neutrality – also known as network neutrality. An Internet principle that states that all Internet service providers should treat all Internet users and communications equally. Net neutrality requires internet service providers to treat all traffic equally and provide the same service to all users, regardless of who they are. Source: Wikipedia |
2016
Yahoo announced that the company suffered a major data breach that affected over 3 billion user accounts. The company said the breach occurred in 2014 and was the largest online data breach ever.
Source: CSO
The Pokemon Go app has launched. Every kid who grew up in the ’90s finally had the chance to see them all. The app used augmented reality, allowing people to use their smartphones to see Pokémon outside and find them in their neighborhood. For about two months, the whole world went crazy about Pokemon Go.
Source: Popular mechanics
| Technologies & Companies Pokémon Go – an augmented reality mobile game developed for Android and iOS smartphones. The Pokemon Company and Niantic developed and published the game in 2016 as part of the Pokemon franchise. It is a free game with in-app purchases. Initially, the game allowed users to find around 150 types of Pokémon, but by 2020 the number had increased to 600. Source: Wikipedia statistics |
2017
The social network TikTok was launched worldwide. One of the newest successful social networking platforms that focuses on short music and video clips. TikTok was the global version of the app called “Douyin” that was launched in China in 2016.
Source: Wikipedia
| People Zhang Yiming – born in 1985 in Longyan, Fujian, China. An internet entrepreneur who founded TikTok, ByteDance and Musical.ly. With an estimated value of over $75 billion, ByteDance is the most valuable startup of all time. He is also CEO and Chairman of the company. Yiming is the richest person in China. Source: Wikipedia Technologies & Companies statistics |
2018
The Cambridge Analytica scandal broke in March. The company collected the personal information of over 50 million Facebook users and used it to promote Donald Trump’s campaign during his campaign. This sparked a lot of debate about online privacy and how Facebook handles user data.
Source: The Guardian
| Technologies & Companies Cambridge Analytica – a political consulting firm founded in London, UK in 2013. The company has been involved in numerous political campaigns, but its name came to public attention during the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook scandal in 2018. Shortly afterwards the company closed. Source: Wikipedia statistics |
2019
5G has been rolled out across the United States. The first two cities to receive 5G were Chicago and Minneapolis, followed by Denver, Providence and many others. This technology enabled a significant increase in Internet speeds, which is expected to support the development and implementation of many other new technologies.
Source: Verizon
| Technologies & Companies 5G – the 5thTh Generation standard for broadband mobile networks. It is the successor to 4G and although it is not yet used in all countries and regions, experts believe that it will be implemented in networks around the world in the near future. 5G will enable a significant increase in bandwidth speeds to tens of gigabits per second. Source: Wikipedia statistics |
To be continued