Dead social media platforms: What happened to them?

When was the last time that you were not connected to a social media platform? Chances are, you’re now using either Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. However, they are not the first social media applications that came our way.

Like how fashion and actors/actresses come and go, social networking sites can be all the rave in one year, only to be irrelevant the next. In this post, let’s travel back in time and look back at the predecessors of the social media sites that we enjoy today.

Before we get to the list of the now defunct or irrelevant social networking sites, let’s first look at their broad definition. Social Networking and Social Media apps and sites are platforms where users can connect with their friends, family, and even strangers online.

In this post, we will include sites used for connecting to friends, sharing information, content (including texts, blogs, images, and videos), and personal messaging. Now, let’s get to the list.

1. Friendster (2002 – 2015)

Friendster was a huge hit in the Philippines during the 2000s and became one of the best ways to connect with people, make virtual friends, upload emo photos, and include background profile music. It’s also almost impossible not to have a Friendster account during that time because it’s where everybody was.

However, a few years later, Facebook and Twitter entered the scene, taking most of Friendster’s users and leaving the site almost abandoned.

They soon tried to reinvent themselves into a social gaming site in hopes of attracting younger users, but it wasn’t enough to regain their previous dominance. Friendster soon closed up shop in 2015.

2. Google Wave (2009 – 2010) and Google Buzz (2010 – 2011)

Google had several attempts to enter the social media space, which unfortunately did not make it into the mainstream. Between 2009 and 2011, Google (now Alphabet) made two separate tries, Google Wave in 2009 and Google Buzz in 2010, to rival the booming social networking site Facebook.

The two social media projects were designed to allow friends to share posts. They also opened a vast option for third-party tool integration, like Twitter and YouTube. Unfortunately, their popularity was nowhere near their competitors, and they soon had to face their eventual doom and be included in Google’s list of failed projects.

3. Google+ (2011 – 2019)

Google+ is another attempt by its parent company, Google, to create a social media site to challenge Facebook’s and Twitter’s supremacy in the early 2010s by integrating its various products into the site.

Google+ relied on the idea from the movie Field of Dreams that “If you build it, they will come.” Though the users surely did come, unfortunately, they could not create a strategy to retain their users on the platform.

Surely, Google+ was once one of the fastest social media platforms to reach the 100 million users mark, when they did it in just over a year. Unfortunately, Google’s social networking dream did not pan out, and they had to pack their bags after eight years in April 2019.

4. iTunes Ping (2010 – 2012)

Steve Jobs and Apple, Inc. once tried to dip their foot into the social networking niche in the early 2010s through the now-forgotten app, iTunes Ping, or simply Ping.

Obviously, this site was mostly about music, as it was integrated into Apple’s music platform, iTunes, and was once referred to by Jobs as Facebook and Twitter meets iTunes. Through this site, users and their friends can follow artists and look for the songs they are listening to. It was also accessible through iPhone and iPod Touch via iTunes.

Unfortunately, Ping could not gain enough users to remain relevant and was eventually discontinued after just two years.

5. Multiply (2003 – 2013)

Multiply was also once one of the pioneering social media apps in the country during the early 2000s, leveraging on the popularity of the new Web 2.0 technology, allowing users to share media, like text, photos, and videos, though the quality of the media then was still lower than what we have today.

They soon transitioned and dropped their social networking business altogether to prioritize e-commerce in 2012, leading to the eventual demise of the website.

6. MySpace (2003 – present*)

You can think of MySpace as one of the pioneering platforms that shaped the social media we have today. During their heyday, MySpace enabled fans to connect with popular and up-and-coming artists, musicians, and bands through their site, with some artists gaining mainstream popularity and recognition through the site.

Like Friendster, MySpace was once one of the most popular social media platforms in the Philippines and the world, with hundreds of millions of active monthly users. Today, believe it or not, MySpace is still around, though it is now only a shell of its former glory.

7. Vine (2013 – 2016)

Vine pioneered short-form video content that thrived during the mid-2010s, which unfortunately became a short stretch. During that time, they gained recognition and popularity with their innovative way of sharing video stories in six seconds or less, becoming the earlier version of TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels.

During their peak in 2015, they had over 200 million active users. Unfortunately, they could not adapt to the changing landscape. Also, new competitors, like Snapchat and Instagram Reels, introduced newer capabilities, forcing them out of business.

8. Yahoo! Messenger (1999 – 2018)

Yahoo! Messenger is not your idea of social media in the sense that its function is different from Facebook or Twitter. However, it’s social media, nonetheless. This desktop app was the go-to for instant messaging to contact your family and friends.

Aside from its chat function, you can also use it for video calls, file sharing, contact integration, and group conversations, which were useful and unique from the early 2000s to the 2010s.

Unfortunately, the communication world moved in a different direction, leaving them for other shinier communication apps, like Skype, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger, forcing the once-beloved application to shut down in 2018.

There was a time when some of these social media sites were deemed too big to fail and unimaginable to disappear from the mainstream. However, time and time again, the emergence of new technologies determines which websites will remain and which ones will go.

Can you imagine some of your favorite sites, like Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, or YouTube, disappearing? Share your thoughts.

What is a social networking site?