You could say that today, two significant landmarks were passed in the world of social networking. And both are fantastic achievements in anyone’s book.
Yes, on this day Twitter turns 7 and YouTube reaches a billion monthly users (yep, that's nine zeros).
Twitter celebrates its seventh birthday with 200 million users worldwide, who send an average of 400 million tweets (for the uninitiated, short text-based messages with a maximum of 140 characters) every day. Jack Dorsey, who founded Twitter as recently as 2006, claims to have been inspired by having signed up to a blogging service six years previously and refining his idea for a more live LiveJournal. It was originally known as ‘stat.us’ and then ‘twittr’.
Heading up Twitter following rankings is boy wonder pop star Justin Bieber with a mind-boggling 36 million cyberdisciples. Lady Gaga is hot on his heels with over 35 million, then Katy Petty and Rihanna. The most powerful man in the world (allegedly), Barack Obama, can manage only 5th, but at least he’s ahead of Taylor Swift and Britney.
YouTube, according to the site, is visited by “nearly one out of every two people on the internet”. It is not only a social networking site but the second most popular search engine on the planet next to Google, who, erm, own it.
Launched in 2005 in California by three ex-PayPal workers, YouTube was bought by Google in 2006 for $1.76bn (£1.16bn). The first video – ‘Me at the Zoo – was uploaded by co-founder Jawed Karim. Now, the world’s largest social network Facebook is checking its rear view mirror closely as the video site moves up on the outside.
Being an old cynic and the editor of an online safety website, however, all this does bring to mind a couple of problems. When I write, read and talk to people about the issues that innocent social networkers caught up in the revolution encounter for whatever reason, and multiply that by these incredible numbers … it’s no wonder that the scammers, trolls, bullies, groomers, pornographers, racists and other less than honourable users are having such a field day.
Yep, social networking is awesome, but look after yourself and your kids. Pick up a few tips right here on this site, and enjoy the rollercoaster.
