Are You a Follower?

Everywhere you go these days, you see people talking about Twitter, the "new Facebook." I believe it's a social networking site. I signed up for it, just to see what the fuss was about. And really - what's the big deal? I'm either not getting it at all, or it's really not all that.

It got me thinking, though, about some of the Internet trends of the past. I tried to come up with a chronological list of really popular Internet trends, and this is what I came up with:

1. ICQ. To this day I can remember the "uh-oh!" sound it made. I really never got into it that much, but I was using it before it faded into oblivion. ICQ came out around 1996.


2. MSN. It was launched before ICQ, back in 1995, but I don't remember it being all that popular with my generation until a few years later. I think it started growing popular around grade seven or so (1997/1998).


3. Online diaries. Sites like LiveJournal and Free Open Diary became really popular around the early 2000s. I have accounts on both of these sites, and do update sporadically.


4. MySpace. Launched in 2003, MySpace was huge. To some degree, it still is. I didn't really get into it, and I only recently made an account in order to join a tribute to Afton. I don't use the site for any other purpose.


5. YouTube. Thank God for YouTube. That's all I have to say. This became popular around 2005/2006 and I still love it to this day.


6. Facebook. Come on, who doesn't have Facebook? The site was launched in 2004, but I didn't see it become incredibly popular until 2006/early 2007. I was among the first of my friends to join, and I don't know if that makes me cool or not.


7. Twitter. 2008/2009. I really don't see what the big deal is. I don't see myself using it.

That's all I could think of - I could be missing something. According to this list, I am indeed a follower. But of the seven, I was only really into 3: MSN, YouTube and Facebook. My need to update my online journals comes and goes, so I don't really include it on this list.

I'm interested in seeing what the next Big Thing is...