COMPUTER NETWORKS &
SOCIAL NETWORKS

Leonard Kleinrock proposed packet-switching theory, laying groundwork for later internet communication.

ARPANET sent its first host-to-host message between UCLA and SRI on October 29, a key starting point in modern internet history.

Ray Tomlinson developed network email and established the user@host address format.

Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn published the TCP design, introducing core ideas for internetwork communication.

ARPANET completed its migration from NCP to TCP/IP on January 1, shaping the architecture of the modern internet.

Paul Mockapetris' RFCs defined DNS in November, helping domain names replace hard-to-remember numeric addresses.

Tim Berners-Lee proposed the World Wide Web at CERN in March.

The first web servers and browsers ran in December, and core ideas such as HTML, HTTP, and URLs took shape.

The first website, info.cern.ch, became public and the Web began spreading beyond its original environment.

Mosaic helped popularize graphical web pages, making the Web easier for ordinary users to access.

CERN released World Wide Web software for public use on April 30, accelerating the Web's expansion.

Amazon was founded, Netscape and other commercial browsers rose, and the internet became visibly more commercial.

SixDegrees.com launched and is often viewed as an early site with recognizably modern social-network features.

Google was founded, and PageRank changed how web pages were searched, ranked, and discovered.

LinkedIn launched on May 5, marking the rise of professional social networking, while MySpace pushed interest-based online culture.

Facebook launched at Harvard and later grew into one of the world's defining social networking platforms.

YouTube opened large-scale user video sharing, while Reddit used voting to shape community content ranking.

Twitter pushed real-time short-text broadcasting, and Facebook News Feed made the feed a core social platform interface.

The first iPhone was released on June 29, moving social media from web pages toward the mobile app era.

Instagram and Pinterest rose, making images, filters, and collection boards central to visual social media.

Snapchat popularized disappearing messages and temporary social content.

Australia established the Children's eSafety Commissioner, giving online safety regulation a more formal institutional base.

TikTok's international version launched in September, strengthening algorithmic recommendation and short-video platform models.

Australia's Sharing of Abhorrent Violent Material Act took effect on April 6, tightening regulation of extreme violent material online.

In the Voller case, the High Court held that media organizations may be liable as publishers for third-party comments on social platforms.

The Online Safety Act 2021 took effect on January 23, expanding eSafety's powers over harmful online content.

The Social Media Minimum Age Bill was introduced and passed, aiming to restrict users under 16 from holding some social media accounts.

The bill received Royal Assent in December and became law.

Australia's social media minimum age system took effect on December 10, requiring platforms to take reasonable steps to block under-16 accounts.

eSafety released early results on January 16: major platforms had restricted about 4.7 million accounts identified as under 16; this refers to accounts, not people.

Australia amended related rules and released the first compliance update, outlining platform enforcement during the first three months of the minimum age system.