Mac Life: The Complete History of Social Networking — CBBS to Twitter
It was Jan. 16, 1978, and the world was in transition. The Sex Pistols were on the verge of disbanding. Future Macintosh architect Jef Raskin was settling into his new job at Apple Computer Inc. And it was snowing in Chicago. A lot.
But while Ward Christensen and Randy Suess, two members of the Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists Exchange, were holed up during the not-so-great blizzard of 78, they werent wasting their time playing Uno or watching "Logan's Run." They were making history.
Just two weeks after that fateful snowstorm (though the pair waited another two weeks to unveil their creation, since "no one believed it could be written in two weeks of spare time"), the world's first online social network was born.
It all started with former IBM employee Christensen's simple concept. …
I'm finding it disconcerting to read "histories" that begin long after I was born. It seems to be happening more and more frequently. 🙂
The article mentions Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (WELL). Fifteen years ago, I was attending meetings of the Association of Independent Information Professionals. Some of the original WELLians were a part of the group. It was a fascinating group of folks.
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