Around this point, virality-driven ad revenue from social media networks, supported by the climbing ubiquity of smartphones, suddenly seems like a viable business model, drawing in VCs far and wide.

2004: Facebook founded (CA)

2005: - Mashable (Aberdeen, Scotland -> NYC) founded - HuffPost (NYC) founded in response to Drudge Report; co-founders Andrew Breitbart (yes, that one), Jonah Peretti (BuzzFeed later), Ariana Huffington, Ken Lerer

2006: Twitter (NYC) founded

2006: BuzzFeed (NYC) founded by Peretti, based on ideas around the "Bored At Work Network" (BWN) bored-at-work.

2007: - Apple iPhone (=> smartphones) - Business Insider founded (NYC) - Breitbart (LA) founded in response to HuffPost

2009: Chartbeat, Parsely founded (NYC)

2014: Vox founded

2018: - Media startup bubble pops - Peretti of BuzzFeed talks mergers with other struggling media startups

2020: BuzzFeed buys HuffPost