World Social Media Day 2024: History & Importance

World Social Media Day is observed every year on June 30. This day is dedicated to celebrating the achievements and multiple ways through which social media platforms help us establish a connection with distant friends and family members and remaining in touch with them is long gone. Apart from this, the annual celebration of this day also highlights awareness of social media usage safety and best practices. First came the telephone, then the fax machine, and now social media—a new means of staying in touch while also communicating. People may now connect, share, and interact like never before because of its inception. Let’s learn more about the history and significance of this day.

Name of the day	World Social Media Day
Observed on	June 30
Reason	To highlight the importance of social media in helping us connect with our loved ones from around the world.

History of World Social Media Day

In addition to helping people remain in touch with their loved ones, social media has revolutionised the lives of countless people by enabling businesses to expand and reach new markets throughout the world.

• On June 30, 2010, World Social Media was introduced by Mashable.
• It was created as a day and an occasion to acknowledge the influence of social media on international communication and to bring people closer together.
• Since social media is the simplest way to communicate with people worldwide, everyone utilises it every day.
• Mashable wanted a day to commemorate how it uses social media to link disparate fandoms, movements, and cultures. 
• In 1997, Sixdegrees, the first social media site ever, was introduced. The website was created by Andrew Weinreich and had features including profiles, message boards, and school affiliations. Users may put friends and family members on it.
• Sixdegrees had over a million subscribers at its height before being shut down in 2001. 
• Friendster was the first platform for contemporary social media in 2002. The website had over a hundred million members and allowed users to safely find new acquaintances; surprisingly, most of the users were from Asia.
• In 2003, LinkedIn, the first site for social networking specifically for business, was introduced.
• Facebook and MySpace debuted in 2004, although MySpace originally had considerably greater success than Mark Zuckerberg’s invention. MySpace became the most popular social networking site in the world by 2006, and its users adored the personalised profiles that allowed them to share their music.
• In 2005, YouTube debuted its video-focused website.
• In 2006, Twitter did likewise with its platform for 140-character tweets.
• When Instagram was initially introduced in 2010, it grew quickly, adding over a million users in just a few short months.
• Instagram was a threat to Facebook’s hegemony, so the company paid $1 billion to acquire it in 2012. Facebook also paid $16 billion in 2014 to acquire the WhatsApp encrypted messaging service. 
• Snapchat was one platform Facebook tried to acquire but failed. Launched in 2011 and famous for its disappearing stories feature, Snapchat reportedly declined a $3 billion offer from Facebook in 2013. These days, there are countless more social media sites that are widely used. Among them are Ello, Vine, Tumblr, StumbleUpon, and Ning. 

Also Read: Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media

What is the Theme of Social Media Day?

There is no theme for Social Media Day in 2024. The day is celebrated every year without any particular theme in focus. Nonetheless, the one common point of focus remains the same every year is that the day aims to bring forward the many advantages of social media platforms in our lives.

Importance of Social Media

Social media makes it easy for you to stay in touch with family members who live far away from you and practically any place in the globe, regardless of where you are. absolutely everywhere. It not only facilitates communication but also allows you to get in touch with folks you haven’t seen in a long time, maybe since you graduated from high school. The wonderful thing about social media is that it not only facilitates networking with others but also keeps us up to speed on national and international affairs. Numerous individuals also utilise social media for their businesses. Realising how social media has changed our lives and what part it plays in our society may surprise you.

Also Read: Social Media Giving Day

How to Celebrate Social Media Day?

Let’s take a look at various ways to celebrate World Social Media Day:

• Get together virtually with your friends, family, or coworkers. 
• Share a new item with your followers on your preferred social media site. 
• On this World Social Media Day, create a special hashtag and invite your followers to share their joyous moments and tales with you. 
• Try out new platforms that you have heard of but have not yet used. Try out a few fresh platforms to see if you like them or not. 

Interesting Facts About Social Media

• There are 3.5 billion people using social media.
• Every day, 500 million individuals upload Instagram stories. 
• Every day, 60 billion SMS are transmitted using Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp. 
• The typical user spends 35 minutes every day on Facebook. 
• On Facebook, there are allegedly 270 million fraudulent profiles.
• 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. 
• Every day, 95 million photographs are uploaded to Instagram. 

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