The 2010 timeline

No events recorded for January in this category.

1. Feb9
   SocialVerified

   Google launches Google Buzz inside Gmail

   Google Buzz, a social feed built into Gmail, automatically followed people's frequent email contacts and exposed them publicly, causing a privacy backlash within days. It was shut down in 2011.

2. Feb22
   SocialSupported

   Twitter reports 50 million tweets a day

   Twitter's blog reported that users were sending about 50 million tweets a day, up from 5,000 a day in 2007; by September the figure was around 90 million.

1. Mar15
   FeaturedSocialSupported

   Facebook passes Google as the most-visited US site for a week

   Hitwise reported that Facebook received more US visits than Google for the week ending 13 March 2010, the first time a site had beaten Google in its measurements for a full week.

1. Apr13
   SocialVerified

   Twitter launches Promoted Tweets and holds Chirp

   Twitter announced its first advertising product, Promoted Tweets, and at its Chirp developer conference reported 105 million registered users and 300,000 new sign-ups a day.

2. Apr14
   SocialVerified

   The Library of Congress will archive every public tweet

   The Library of Congress announced a deal to receive Twitter's entire archive of public tweets since 2006, a sign of how seriously the medium was now taken.

3. Apr21
   FeaturedSocialVerified

   Facebook launches the Open Graph and the Like button for the web

   At its f8 conference Facebook let any website add a Like button and share data through the Open Graph, spreading Facebook's blue thumb across the internet within weeks.

1. May26
   SocialSupported

   Facebook simplifies privacy settings after a backlash

   After weeks of criticism over confusing, increasingly public defaults, Mark Zuckerberg announced simpler privacy controls; a "Quit Facebook Day" on 31 May drew tens of thousands of pledges and little effect.

1. Jun11
   SocialSupported

   The World Cup sets Twitter records and summons the Fail Whale

   The FIFA World Cup in South Africa drove record tweet rates, including 3,283 tweets per second after Japan's goal against Denmark on 24 June, and repeated Twitter outages.

1. Jul21
   FeaturedSocialVerified

   Facebook reaches 500 million users

   Mark Zuckerberg announced that half a billion people were now using Facebook, launching a "Facebook Stories" site to mark the milestone.

1. Aug18
   SocialVerified

   Facebook launches Places

   Facebook added location check-ins to its iPhone app and mobile site, taking direct aim at Foursquare and Gowalla.

2. Aug25
   FeaturedSocialSupported

   Digg v4 launches and users revolt

   Digg's redesign removed favourite features and let publishers auto-submit stories; users flooded the front page with Reddit links, traffic collapsed, and founder Kevin Rose stepped down as CEO within weeks.

1. Sep14
   SocialVerified

   Twitter unveils #NewTwitter

   Twitter's redesigned website added a second pane showing photos, videos and conversations beside the timeline, its biggest visual change to date.

1. Oct6
   FeaturedSocialVerified

   Instagram launches on the iPhone

   Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger released a free app for square, filtered photos; it gained 25,000 users on its first day and a million by December.

2. Oct27
   SocialSupported

   MySpace relaunches as a "social entertainment" site

   MySpace unveiled a new logo and a redesign focused on music, film and TV, conceding the social-networking fight to Facebook.

1. Nov15
   SocialVerified

   Facebook announces the new Messages with @facebook.com email

   Facebook unveiled a unified inbox combining chat, texts and email addresses, widely reported as a "Gmail killer"; it was not.

1. Dec5
   SocialSupported

   Tumblr goes down for about a day

   A database failure took Tumblr offline for roughly 24 hours, a sign of how fast the site had grown in 2010 and how many people now depended on it.

2. Dec15
   FeaturedSocialVerified

   Time names Mark Zuckerberg Person of the Year

   Time chose the 26-year-old Facebook founder, noting that Julian Assange had won the magazine's readers' poll.