Here's a brief background on the founders of some popular social media platforms:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook in 2004 with his college roommates at Harvard University. He dropped out of college to focus on Facebook full-time and has since become one of the wealthiest and most influential people in the world.
- Twitter: Twitter was co-founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. Dorsey originally came up with the idea for Twitter and served as CEO until 2008, when Williams took over. Stone served as creative director and later became a board member.
- LinkedIn: LinkedIn was co-founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman, Konstantin Guericke, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Allen Blue, and Eric Ly. Hoffman served as CEO until 2008 and remains a key figure in Silicon Valley as a venture capitalist.
- Instagram: Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger co-founded Instagram in 2010 as a photo-sharing app for mobile devices. The platform quickly became popular and was acquired by Facebook in 2012 for $1 billion.
- Snapchat: Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown co-founded Snapchat in 2011 while they were students at Stanford University. Spiegel served as CEO until 2021, when he stepped down and was succeeded by Murphy.
- YouTube: YouTube was founded in 2005 by three former PayPal employees: Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. The platform was initially designed as a video dating site, but quickly evolved into a platform for sharing and discovering all kinds of videos.
- TikTok: TikTok was created in 2016 by the Chinese tech company ByteDance. The app was initially launched in China as Douyin, but later rebranded as TikTok for international markets. Zhang Yiming, the founder of ByteDance, is one of the wealthiest people in China.
- Reddit: Reddit was co-founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian. The platform is a social news aggregator and discussion forum, and has become known for its diverse and passionate user communities.
- Pinterest: Pinterest was founded in 2010 by Ben Silbermann, Evan Sharp, and Paul Sciarra. The platform is a visual discovery engine that allows users to find and save ideas for projects, recipes, fashion, and more.
- WhatsApp: WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by Jan Koum and Brian Acton. The app is a messaging platform that allows users to send text messages, voice messages, and make phone calls over the internet. WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $19 billion.
- WeChat: WeChat was created by the Chinese tech giant Tencent in 2011. The app is primarily used in China and offers a wide range of features, including messaging, social networking, mobile payments, and more.
- Skype: Skype was founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis. The platform is a video calling and messaging app that allows users to connect with others around the world. Skype was acquired by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion.
- Discord: Discord was created in 2015 by Jason Citron and Stanislav Vishnevskiy. The platform is primarily used by gamers to communicate and collaborate with each other while playing games, but has since expanded to other communities and use cases.
- Twitch: Twitch was founded in 2011 by Justin Kan and Emmett Shear. The platform is a live streaming service that is primarily used for video game streaming, but also includes streams of music, talk shows, and more. Twitch was acquired by Amazon in 2014 for $970 million.
- Medium: Medium was founded in 2012 by Evan Williams, who also co-founded Twitter and previously founded Blogger. The platform is a blogging and publishing site that allows writers to share their stories and ideas with a larger audience.
Each of these social media platforms has a unique story and set of founders who brought it to life. Their backgrounds, experiences, and motivations all played a role in shaping the platforms we know today.