[ealgeone]

.June 2007. Facebook... ...September 2006. Twitter... ...July 2006. Instagram... ...2010. Uber... ...2009. iPad... ...January 2010

Outside of the ipad not sure the others are huge leaps in innovation.

[expat_panama]

...not sure the others are huge leaps in innovation.

A hundred years ago many Americans (mostly old ones) said the same thing about America's soaring manufacturing sector.  They'd say that factory output's not important because we don't need it.  Only thing we really need is to eat and that's what farm output's for.

Reality is that a hundred years of U.S. manufacturing changed to the world, and now we're seeing just ten years of U.S. innovation changing it even more.  My personal guess is that those that don't see it are those that really don't want to see it.

[AustinBill]

Social media has had a huge impact on everyday life. Although much of it is frivolous, and is just building on technologies that have been around in various forms for a long time, what's different is that these communication technologies are now being made accessible to the non-technical general population on a massive scale. That is having enormous economic, social, and now political impact around the world.

Social media has ended the long reign of the information gatekeepers. That's its biggest impact. It is a watershed moment in humanity's political history.