View a history of hashtags through 2013

X (Twitter) started as a way to share short updates via text

What began as a way to share 140-character updates quickly grew into a vital platform for activism, politics, and pop culture. Hashtags, trending topics, and retweets—now common across the internet—originated on the platform.

The 'Miracle on the Hudson' showed heroism in the air and changed social media forever

On Jan. 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 lost both engines after hitting birds and was safely landed in the Hudson River. The event was a turning point for Twitter, as a photo and a tweet quickly spread—marking Twitter's rise as a real-time news source.

Explore an interactive history of Google search trends

This interactive allows users to browse for the most searched topics on Google Search since 1999 and provides noteworthy statistics. Topics are sorted by categories, including athletes, movies, reality TV, dog breeds, and sauces.

See a visual representation Elon Musk's many tweets over a decade

Musk was known for tweeting often long before he purchased Twitter, later renaming the social network "X." One week in August 2024, Elon Musk posted 650 times. This data visualization shows an analysis of roughly 15,000 of his tweets from 2011 to 2021.

The history of Reddit, the front page of the internet

The hyperactive online forum and social media platform has transformed since 2006 from a simple link-sharing site to a behemoth in digital media. Topping off its ascendancy, Reddit went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2024, solidifying its future amid a shifting technological climate. Dive into Reddit's nearly two decades of growth with this detailed timeline.

Defining 2025's internet slang

The internet is a slang factory, and new terms regularly crop up. This list breaks down some of the newest terms to hit social media, including "aura farming" (the cultivation of charisma to attract others) and "clock it" (an encouragement to remember something important).

How the internet became the World Wide Web: a visualization

The internet was officially born in 1983 and had more than 150 million global users by 1997, creating an international web of seemingly separate networks. This data visualization shows the growth of the internet from 1997 to 2021. Data in this...

Facebook dominated US social ad spend in the first half of 2024

This data visualization shows the social media platforms where advertisers spent the most money in the first six months of 2024, with Facebook leading the pack taking home 36.3% of US social ad spend.

A history of raising the alarm, from rattles to 911

Because fires spread so quickly, communities around the world have deployed many tactics to raise the alarm to get help. This history from the Museum of Natural History dives into the use of rattles, bells, and brigades to gather help to fight fires, showing just how far we've come since 911 was introduced in 1968.

Explore an interactive diary of the International Space Station

The tool enables users to learn about the daily events that occurred on the ISS since continuous human occupancy began on November 2, 2000. Upon selecting a date in the calendar, users can explore activity logs, relevant news, and multimedia content, including videos, photographs, and audiologs, from the onboard crew.

Before 'The Facebook', Mark Zuckerberg made 'Facemash.com'

During Mark Zuckerberg's sophomore year at Harvard, he built a website that allowed users to rank and rate people's pictures from the school's online "facebooks" called Facemash.com, which quickly went viral. He was placed on academic probation for violating the school's rules around data, privacy, and computer usage. Zuckerberg says the website was a prank and he never intended for so many people to see it. FaceMash is credited with being the predecessor to Facebook.

How Guinness became a social media trend

In early 2024, an unexpected meme emerged on Instagram and TikTok: "splitting the G," where Guinness drinkers would attempt to take a first sip big enough to leave the remaining beer perfectly aligned with the middle of the "G" on a Guinness pint glass. This Vinepair article explores where the trend came from and how it took off.

Reels have strongly influenced NASCAR’s social media strategy

With viewership and attendance tanking from 2008 to 2018, NASCAR knew it needed better marketing to reach the next generation of fans, so it designed a new social media and content creation strategy. Using these new methods, it achieved 27% follower growth in three years.

An image of a shark swimming on the freeway repeatedly fools viewers during natural disasters

The long-running joke traces back to 2011, following Hurricane Irene in Puerto Rico. Since then, pranksters have spread the image after Hurricane Matthew in 2016, Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and Hurricane Laura in 2020. The image is photo-edited, combining a 2005 photo of a kayaker being followed by a great white shark and a photo of a flooded street.

Billboard began incorporating streaming in 2007

For nearly 50 years, the Billboard charts primarily relied on radio airplay and retail sales. But in 2007, the magazine began incorporating early streaming services AOL Music and Yahoo! Music into its methodology, and later worked with Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms. A single stream was not weighed as heavily as a purchase of a physical CD or vinyl record. Still, streaming’s impact became evident when songs with minimal radio airplay began climbing the charts, as seen with Baauer’s “Harlem Shake,” which did exceptionally well on YouTube.

A brief history of augmented reality (w/photos and videos)

Different sources trace the history of augmented reality back to the beginning of the 20th century,. The term augmented reality however was coined by Thomas P. Caudell in the '80s.

See images of medical cases of firework injuries shared on this 'Instagram for doctors.' (Warning: Graphic content)

See every Olympic torch used since its debut in 1936

The 1936 Berlin Games were the first to use a torch relay to light the Olympic cauldron. At each subsequent Olympic Games, the host country designed a new set of torches. See what each torch looked like, the start and end date of the relay, the number of torches produced, what type of fuel was used, and view a map of the route.

The Iraq War, in photos

2023 marked the 20th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. The U.S. carried out its first airstrikes in Iraq on March 20, 2003 – during a phase of ‘shock and awe’. Fires burning in and around Baghdad; U.S. soldiers on patrol; Iraqi...

Bumble went public with an IPO in 2021

That year, Bumble Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd became the youngest female CEO to ever take a company public. The company pivoted during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, focusing its marketing strategy on promoting social-distanced dating and its video chat features.

View a timeline of 3D printing technology through 2019

The first working 3D printing device was invented in 1983 and utilized stereolithography, a process in which a laser triggers a chemical reaction that hardens liquid resin. Powder-based laser sintering technology was patented in 1987, with metal-based powders first being used for 3D printing in 1997.

San Diego Comic-Con eclipsed 100,000 attendees for the first time in 2005

Step back into July 2005 at San Diego Comic‑Con—when over 100,000 fans roamed crowded halls filled with cosplay, classic sci‑fi exhibits, and early Marvel and Star Wars booths—and witness the electric energy of one of the first major attendance years for the conference.

See images of medical cases of firework injuries shared on this 'Instagram for doctors'

Included photos include scans of missing or damaged digits, a chunk of missing flesh, a facial injury from a homemade firework in a glass bottle that exploded in the patient's hand before it was thrown, and an injury where a patient's finger bone flew into someone's leg.

'Instagram traps' are changing art museums

In the creator economy era, it feels like anyone has the potential to become an influencer—if they can just capture the right content. Naturally, some places are better suited for an Instagram photo than others. Museums-turned-photo-backdrops (think: the Museum of Ice Cream) are the best of the best.

The National Parks System is a popular attraction in the US

More than 16 billion people have visited the US National Park System since 1904. Curious about how something like World War II affected park visitation? This table of annual recreational visits spans the early 20th century through 2023, demonstrating the slow-but-steady rise in visitors over the decades.

A timeline of Wall Street's history

Wall Street's historical timeline starts with Wall Street getting its name in the 1600s and ends with details about the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

Graffiti dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, where citizens scrawled messages to one another on public walls

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by more than 1.5 million Muslims each year.

One of the most famous portraits ever taken is 'Afghan Girl' (1984) by Steve McCurry, yet the subject Sharbat Gula went much of her life without being identified or benefitting from the image's success.

See the evolution of Ebola vaccine and treatment development.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

The USPS spent $3.97B in 2024, accounting for .058% of the federal budget.