Forms of communications have changed and been developed throughout thousands thousands of years. Reading and writing was well enough, however the actual sending and receiving of the message was the tricky part. Communicating at a distance is pretty cheap now, with the invention of the postal service and telephone and e-mail devices. Previously, messages had to be physically sent to one another. This often depended on how fast a person could run or how fast and far they could ride their horse. These times were often for war and times of calling for help. A much faster method that could go further was lighting beacons. This was seen in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIhnYFRu4ao
Writing is the most obvious form of communication apart from face to face communication Writing and communicating through symbols have dated thousands of years ago, even back to 6000bc, when the Jiahu symbols of Ancient China were found scribed on tortoise shells. Egyptian hieroglyphics are another more popular example of ancient communication through writing.
The development of languages and properties like the alphabet, meant that spelling, grammar and definitions could be standardised. Bibles and dictionaries were among the first books to be written and published. The practicalities of hand writing these massive books and the ever changing additions to the dictionary meant that nothing was ever entirely accurate or up to date. The limitations of hand writing and the rarity of the actual ability to read and write meant that writing, reading and books were limited to the hands of royalty and people of high status such as priests.
William Caxton is thought to be the first man to introduce the printing press into English society. This is highly significant in the history of communication as it triggered a chain reaction of more books being printed and published, and the result could have been highly different if Caxton had not published anything.
The publishing of a mass of books meant British culture in particular were introduced to literature and more information on a wide scale. In the coming years, telegrams, telegraphs and other methods of communication developed, including national broadcasting through radio where you can get one message out to a lot of people. However the communication here was always one sided, in that you can get one message out instantly however you cannot instantly receive a reply.
The invention of the internet was a breakthrough in itself. However the invention of the electronic mail (e-mail) was an even bigger breakthrough in the terms of communication. The first e-mail was sent in 1971, but wasn't embraced properly until the 1990's, when the world wide web was popularised and computers became more accessible for everyone.
Online Identity
With e-mail being the new method of communication, there was room on the internet for a new form of communication. IM or Instant Messaging was first used in multi-user systems such as UNIX ''talk'' in the 80's to give commands to other users. Social IM'ing took off in the late 80's/early 90's with AOL messenger and IRC chat rooms. Adventure games first used the form of Instant Messaging, however usually in a fantasy mode where they make up stories and follow rules and directions, such as in the Colossal Cave adventure. This form of IMing carried on developing for a few years. For younger generations, MSN was the popular form of IMing, as it was free and easily accessible.
As well as e-mailing, IMing and communicating via the internet, another phenomenon was happening not to far away. Texting/SMSing was the next craze, with the first real text being sent in 1992 by Neil Papworth, via the Vodaphone network. http://www.thegeminigeek.com/who-invented-texting/
IM'ing was the beginning of what would be known as social networking. MySpace, Facebook and Twitter are the main sites which define social networking. However, like the crazes which have come before them, some social networking sites have literally died out.
Facebook and Twitter are undoubtedly the most popular social networking sites today.
MySpace, Bebo, Piczo (R.I.P), and Hi5 are among the social networking sites that used to be popular. Each sites had their own characteristics, some dedicated to music (MySpace) some to website making (Piczo) and some simply to keep in contact with friends (Bebo and Hi5). So why did they close down or become less popular? Facebook.
Facebook has over 800 million users, and it's hard to find anyone in the age range of around 13-40 who hasn't got one, or at least used to have one. Facebook makes it very easy to stay in contact with as well as meet new people. It enables you to see photo's and videos of you and your friends, it has a massive sharing content with lots of 'fan' pages for celebrities and other things you may have an interest it.
There are many explanations for why Facebook is so popular. It really depends on who you ask and why they use it. Most people would say to keep in contact with friends as it's free, quick and easy. There is always the possibility that Facebook will die out, however in contrast to the ones that have, the timing is right. More people are using the internet and have better access to the internet immediately than ever before, therefore people have the means to keep their accounts going.
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