How to Join a Social Network in 1998 • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Join a Social Network in 1998

#21

Post by welly » Mon, May 13, 2019, 3:10 PM UTC

In the UK, before Facebook we had Friends Reunited which many, many people were members of. It seemed to pass a number of hands after the original developers sold it - ITV bought it but it was beginning to lose members and interest, and they eventually sold it on to someone else. I reconnected with one of my old best friends from school who I'd not seen or spoken to in about 15 years so I certainly have it to thank for that (and we're still in touch).

There was another social media/networking site called Faceparty that was a little closer to Facebook and I used that for a short while before eventually going on to MySpace and then Facebook. And now I've dropped social media entirely - don't miss it in the slightest.

Re: How to Join a Social Network in 1998

#22

Post by o_____________o » Mon, May 13, 2019, 4:37 PM UTC

ZebZ wrote: post #17

I spent most of my time in the mid 90s through early 2000s as an op in #HTML on Undernet. Good times. I actually got my first job through there.

#hack checking in

Re: How to Join a Social Network in 1998

#23

Post by duxup » Mon, May 13, 2019, 5:05 PM UTC

welly wrote: post #21

In the UK, before Facebook we had Friends Reunited which many, many people were members of. It seemed to pass a number of hands after the original developers sold it - ITV bought it but it was beginning to lose members and interest, and they eventually sold it on to someone else. I reconnected with one of my old best friends from school who I'd not seen or spoken to in about 15 years so I certainly have it to thank f…

>Faceparty

That sounds like some generic name a TV show or movie would use in place of Facebook

Re: How to Join a Social Network in 1998

#24

Post by thewastesadtime » Mon, May 13, 2019, 5:05 PM UTC

welly wrote: post #21

In the UK, before Facebook we had Friends Reunited which many, many people were members of. It seemed to pass a number of hands after the original developers sold it - ITV bought it but it was beginning to lose members and interest, and they eventually sold it on to someone else. I reconnected with one of my old best friends from school who I'd not seen or spoken to in about 15 years so I certainly have it to thank f…

faceparty sounds like a fake social media site made up by a sitcom lol

Re: How to Join a Social Network in 1998

#25

Post by cmrdporcupine » Mon, May 13, 2019, 6:27 PM UTC

My 'social network' was LambdaMOO (well, earlier than 1998 I guess), and IRC.

Re: How to Join a Social Network in 1998

#26

Post by ZebZ » Mon, May 13, 2019, 7:07 PM UTC

myleshenderson wrote: post #19

ZebZ wrote: post #17

I spent most of my time in the mid 90s through early 2000s as an op in #HTML on Undernet. Good times. I actually got my first job through there.

I spent way too much time on undernet during the same period of time, mostly on #asp. I got my first and second programming jobs through friends I made there. Wasn't there a site ran by one of the #html ops, htmlcenter or something like that?

There was! But I can't for the life of me remember who or what the site address was.

Re: How to Join a Social Network in 1998

#27

Post by nutate » Mon, May 13, 2019, 8:41 PM UTC

I remember getting that email from a friend (who's still my friend) and thinking nah. Same with friendster which existed pre-MySpace. Folks comparing this to MOOs and IRC are missing that this was one of those first anglings to do what MySpace and Facebook eventually did. IRC and other online environs weren't built to gather users and use their information as raw material for advertisers. Sixdegrees was, it just failed earlier and faster than most.

Re: How to Join a Social Network in 1998

#28

Post by friedegg » Mon, May 13, 2019, 10:10 PM UTC

ZebZ wrote: post #17

I spent most of my time in the mid 90s through early 2000s as an op in #HTML on Undernet. Good times. I actually got my first job through there.

I knew I had made it when I became a server op on EFnet.

Re: How to Join a Social Network in 1998

#29

Post by welly » Tue, May 14, 2019, 8:44 AM UTC

thewastesadtime wrote: post #24

welly wrote: post #21

In the UK, before Facebook we had Friends Reunited which many, many people were members of. It seemed to pass a number of hands after the original developers sold it - ITV bought it but it was beginning to lose members and interest, and they eventually sold it on to someone else. I reconnected with one of my old best friends from school who I'd not seen or spoken to in about 15 years so I certainly have it to thank f…

faceparty sounds like a fake social media site made up by a sitcom lol

It's a pretty awful name but it was around well before Facebook appeared or certainly became popular, I used it for a short while around 2002-2003. It wasn't a great place and I'm amazed it's still online.