For kids growing up today they did not know what it was like without MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter. Go back just one decade and it all started with AIM Instant Messenger. However, the big limitation to AIM was it was not beneficial for the business world. That would change soon though as social media evolved very quickly.

AIM allowed you to basically text one another over the computer and you could have running conversations with many people at once. However, it was very limited for business applications. No one would ever do business with the old social media types prior to Facebook and LinkedIn. Now the world has changed and companies must adapt to the new world or risk going out of business.
While AIM was becoming popular so were web-cams. These allow people to see each other and chat at the same time. This is really important in the business world as clients and suppliers can meet face to face to help close the deal.

The major downfall of AIM was the lack of business information. You could not portray what your business was about or anything like it. Now, most people check social media to make sure the business is legitimate and if they cannot be found many will wonder why the company does not use social media. » Read more: Social Media and The Business World