Despite appearances, social media isn’t all Twitter and Facebook.

Indeed, the foundations of the movement are scattered across numerous platforms, many of which have come and gone, and it’s generally accepted that the beginnings of social media date back to the very basic (but hugely popular) bulletin board systems of the 1970s and 80s.

This infographic from law firm Morrison & Foerster takes a look at the history of social media, from the first dial-up BBS in February 1978, through to Geocities, Blogger, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and more.

(click to enlarge)

Notable in their absence are the influential Friendster (2002) and new kid on the block Google+ (2011). Perhaps they’ll both make an appearance if the graphic is updated.

(Source: Morrison & Foerster.)