Tracing the history of social media, Miles Walker points out that social networking began in the year ______ with the Bulletin Board system.

Correct option is C

The correct answer is 1978
Introduction: The concept of social networking via digital technology predates the modern internet and the World Wide Web by decades. Its origins lie in early dial-up computer systems that allowed users to connect and communicate.
Information Booster:
· The first Bulletin Board System (BBS), the Computerized Bulletin Board System (CBBS), was created by Ward Christensen and Randy Suess in Chicago in 1978.
· Users would dial in directly via a modem to a host computer to read and post public messages, exchange files, and send private messages. This created dedicated, if slow, online communities.
· This system established the core paradigm of asynchronous, user-generated content and discussion in a shared digital space, which is the fundamental premise of all subsequent social networking.
Additional Knowledge:
· 1984 is the year of George Orwell's novel and a landmark for Apple's Macintosh, but not for the BBS's invention.
· 1994 saw the launch of early web-based communities like GeoCities and Globe, which brought social networking to a graphical, web-based format.
· 2001 is around the launch of Friendster, often considered the first modern social networking site (SNS) in the Web 2.0 era, but it was preceded by the foundational BBS technology by 23 years.