The Gallery of Evolution

The Birth of the Web

The Birth of the Web

From Web 1.0 to Web 2.0

Following Geocities, many other blogging platforms were introduced. Most of them worked with pre-made templates and graphical user interface to edit pages and write blogposts.

MySpace

MySpace was launched in 2003 in the US by Tom Anderson and quickly grew in popularity for being an easily accessible site to showcase who you were. It came before Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and was different in the amount of control you could have on your page. From 2005 to 2009, Myspace was the largest social networking site in the world.

Myspace clone (2003-2004), reproduced by user Jakenppop
Myspace offered the ability to fully customise the lay-out, cursor, colors and fonts of one’s page. My templates libraries and tutorials were created, allowing a radical and diverse aesthetic to thrive.
Myspace offered the ability to fully customise the lay-out, cursor, colors and fonts of one’s page. My templates libraries and tutorials were created, allowing a radical and diverse aesthetic to thrive.
Screenshot of Kim Kardashian’s Myspace, allegedly 2013. Myspace had a huge influence in the 2000’s poop-culture, helping celebrities rise to stardom and contributing to the discovery of songs.
Screenshot of Kim Kardashian’s Myspace, allegedly 2013. Myspace had a huge influence in the 2000’s poop-culture, helping celebrities rise to stardom and contributing to the discovery of songs.

Web 2.0

The switch to personal webpages to the use of content creation platforms, such as Myspace, Facebook or Tumblr, is often described as the evolution from web 1.0 to 2.0. This is the switch from webpage’s guestbooks to comments, from webpage to blogs, from pages to profiles, etc.

However, the early days of the web 2.0 are still infused with a lot of creativity and diversity when it comes to connecting people, with many platforms competing for web visitors. Facebook finally won this race in most western countries in 2009-2010.

Habbo / Habbo Hotel was a online social game launched in 2003. Users on the game could create a virtual avatar, converse and interact with other users, play games, build and design virtual rooms, take care of [virtual pets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_pet Virtual pet), and complete [quests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest_(video_games) Quest (video games)).
Habbo / Habbo Hotel was a online social game launched in 2003. Users on the game could create a virtual avatar, converse and interact with other users, play games, build and design virtual rooms, take care of [virtual pets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_pet Virtual pet), and complete [quests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest_(video_games) Quest (video games)).
Hyves.nl was the dutch alternative to MySpace.
Hyves.nl was the dutch alternative to MySpace.

Web 2.0

While the introduction of graphical interfaces in place of programming a page by hand contributed to the rise of users and democratization of these 2.0 platforms. However, the also slowly contributed to the standardisation of interface and content.

Going further

Anatomy of Modern Social Media

Anatomy of Modern Social Media