Secret history of Social Networking #2

This was the second of the three part series being run by the BBC on the origins and growth of social networking. Again hosted and narrated by Rory Cellan-Jones (follow comments to and from Rory and the rest of the world with the hashtag #shsn), the programme examined the boom in Social Networks and how Facebook made it to the top.

About 10 years ago social networking took off in the UK with Friends Reunited – the site that got old friends and also old flames (and most of them, notably, non-geeks and not your classic early-adopter) together again (and caused a few divorces along the way perhaps).

Another big player in the early days was Bebo, created by husband and wife serial entrepreneurs wanting to run their own business after having kids. They had a look at Friendster then built their own version of a social network service, spreading the word about the site via  their immediate group of friends. Bebo really took off in schools in 2005, at a time when many parents weren’t actually using social networks themselves. Cue huge consternation and concern about kids using social media. A topic of discussion which is still prevalent.

The site was eventually bought by AOL for mega (millions of) bucks.

Rory looked at the rise of MySpace and the reasons behind its eventual drop in popularity, though I think you could devote a whole programme to where it went wrong.

Facebook was (not surprisingly) majored on in this episode, including an interesting interview with Chris Cox, one of the early (but initially sceptical) key Facebook guys. He related tales of user outrage at changes to functionality like the newsfeed.  A great interview.

The final instalment is next week, in time for Social Media Week, which is no coincidence I’m sure.

As a reminder, you can check out the BBC resource page. There is also a Facebook page with additional materials and, to keep the social sharing theme going, there’s a soundtrack to the series on Spotify.

We’ll be at Social Media Week next week (follow @BrassAgency and the hashtag #smwldn on twitter) but I’ll roundup the excellent Secret History of Social Networks whilst out and about!

What do you think of the series so far?