1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:19,439 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 1: and how the tech area. You know. The mess over 5 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 1: at Twitter has prompted many a story in my news 6 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: episodes lately, not to mention the equally interesting but different 7 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 1: mess that meta slash Facebook has found itself in. And 8 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:41,519 Speaker 1: I thought I could use that as a sort of 9 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: jumping off point to talk about social networks and blogging 10 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:51,519 Speaker 1: and micro blogging services that have emerged over the years 11 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: and find out what's happened to them. Some of them 12 00:00:55,080 --> 00:01:00,000 Speaker 1: are long gone, some of them were merged into other services, 13 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: and if you actually still hold on to this day. 14 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,800 Speaker 1: So we're gonna sort of talk about the history of 15 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:11,959 Speaker 1: social networks in a way. And I'm going service by 16 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: service as opposed to strictly chronologically, because if I went 17 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,759 Speaker 1: with just a chronological approach, I would have to jump 18 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: back and forth between so many different companies that I 19 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to keep things straight. This will also 20 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: be a multi part episode. I'm hoping for just two parts, 21 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 1: but I've only got this one written. I don't know 22 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:34,919 Speaker 1: if I'll end up having enough where I'll need to write, 23 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:37,760 Speaker 1: you know, a third episode two. But there is a 24 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 1: lot to talk about now. There are a lot of 25 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 1: different attempts at making social networks, and spoiler alert, I 26 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: don't even get all the way to my space in 27 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: this one. That would have you know that launched in 28 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: two thousand three. That tells you how many early attempts 29 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: there were, and only a few of those would survive 30 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: beyond a few years. But let's start off with a 31 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: site that launched in the mid nineteen nineties. This would 32 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: make it one of the first online social networks, perhaps 33 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:17,080 Speaker 1: the first one. It's hard when you start talking about 34 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,119 Speaker 1: first because it also depends on how do you define 35 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:24,800 Speaker 1: a social network. What are the features of a social 36 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:29,079 Speaker 1: network that make it a social network versus a community site, 37 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: Because I would argue that there were message boards and 38 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:36,839 Speaker 1: such that had a lot of the features we would 39 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: find later on in social networks kind of baked in, 40 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: so there's not like a hard and fast rule here. Also, 41 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 1: I should point out that there were obviously precursors to 42 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 1: social networks before the Internet became a big thing for 43 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,440 Speaker 1: the average person. Nerds like me were spending a lot 44 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: of time on bulletin board systems back in the eighties, 45 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: where we would log into someone else's computer and we 46 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 1: would have access to message boards and file sharing and 47 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:11,240 Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff back in the eighties. So 48 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: you had elements of social networks even around then. So 49 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:20,919 Speaker 1: I don't include those include bulletin board systems because one, 50 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: there were hundreds of them around the world. Because these 51 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 1: were largely local organizations. Right, it might just be someone 52 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 1: who happens to have a computer with some phone lines 53 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: going to it in their basement, and that was a 54 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: bolting board system. Uh and too, it really would just 55 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:43,200 Speaker 1: be a lot of me saying. And this site also 56 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,480 Speaker 1: had these features. So the first one we're talking about 57 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 1: is the Globe dot com. So this was an actual website, 58 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: not a bolting board system. And it was founded by 59 00:03:56,360 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: Todd Kerzelman and Stefan Pattern, whose names I'm probably butchering 60 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: and I apologize for that. These were two students who 61 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 1: were attending Cornell and they came up with this concept. 62 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: They were used to the bulletin board systems. They saw 63 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: how message boards were starting to grow on the web, 64 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: and they thought about creating a community site a site 65 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 1: that would allow users to join and form an online community, 66 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: and it was really all about you know, chatting, uh, 67 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:36,720 Speaker 1: having news available, being able to play games, a lot 68 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:39,039 Speaker 1: of the same stuff that you would have found in 69 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:44,840 Speaker 1: an online service providers, services like America Online being the 70 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: big example. OSPs Online service providers were kind of similar 71 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 1: to bulletin board systems but bigger. They were kind of 72 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: islands that existed unto themselves and then later would form 73 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:03,480 Speaker 1: connections to other networks. But originally OSPs were not really 74 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:06,919 Speaker 1: that wasn't really the Internet. It was a network, but 75 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: it wasn't networked to other networks, so it wasn't the Internet. 76 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:13,640 Speaker 1: So the Globe was kind of taking those ideas and 77 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,919 Speaker 1: applying them to the Web, which was, you know, a 78 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:21,200 Speaker 1: pretty young thing in the mid nineties, Like the web 79 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: really just emerged in the early nineties, so it hadn't 80 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:29,080 Speaker 1: been around for very long. Well, the idea was a hit, 81 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: and by the company was prepping to go public, to 82 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 1: hold its initial public offering, in other words, to go 83 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:42,119 Speaker 1: from being a privately held company to a publicly traded company, 84 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 1: and boy howdy, did it have a whopper of a 85 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: first day with shares of the of the site climbing 86 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:57,719 Speaker 1: six hundred six percent in prices, going six six percent 87 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:01,880 Speaker 1: above where they thought they are going to be. That 88 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:04,839 Speaker 1: is a heck of a first day, right That makes 89 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:10,279 Speaker 1: you go from you know, a scrappy little website two 90 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:16,799 Speaker 1: being a millionaire in an instant. Crazy Now, at its peak, 91 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:22,120 Speaker 1: the globe boasted around one point three million users. That 92 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:25,440 Speaker 1: is obviously chump change if you compare it to something 93 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:28,359 Speaker 1: like Facebook at its peak, where it's looking at like 94 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: two billion users. One point three million is nothing. But 95 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: we have to keep in mind this was in the nineties. 96 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:39,400 Speaker 1: This is when folks were still actually just learning what 97 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 1: the web was and what the internet was, so your 98 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:49,280 Speaker 1: average household didn't necessarily have any access to the Internet. 99 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:51,760 Speaker 1: It would take a few years for that to catch 100 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: on around the world. So for a site to get 101 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:58,559 Speaker 1: one point three million users when a lot of people 102 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:00,480 Speaker 1: still don't really know what the internet it is, that's 103 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:04,800 Speaker 1: pretty impressive. It really wouldn't be until the proliferation of 104 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 1: consumer smartphones that we would see you know, web activity 105 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: really explode. That's really where things would change dramatically. So 106 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 1: we're looking at like two thousand seven, two thousand eight 107 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: at that point so one point three million in the 108 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: late nineties. Pretty impressive. Uh. Anyway back to the Globe, 109 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: so co founder Stefan would be spotted dancing on a 110 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: table in the club in Manhattan, wearing vinyl pants and 111 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:41,480 Speaker 1: declaring himself ready for a life of rampant consumerism and debauchery. Uh. 112 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: This story became extremely popular. It went viral. The press 113 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 1: would refer to Stefan as the CEO in the plastic pants. 114 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 1: I only repeat that because I mean, I think it's funny. 115 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:59,120 Speaker 1: I'm sure it was one of those moments that Stefan 116 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: really wishes he could just kind of take back, because 117 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: it's not fun to have to live with that sort 118 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: of moniker your whole life. So I feel a little 119 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:08,840 Speaker 1: sympathy for him. But at the same time, dude, to 120 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:11,400 Speaker 1: hit its super rich. It did not handle it super 121 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:14,760 Speaker 1: well anyway. So the Globe in some ways became the 122 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:18,520 Speaker 1: poster child for the new web economy. In the late nineties, 123 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: we were headed toward the end of the dot com 124 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: bubble inflationary period at this point, right you had all 125 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:31,000 Speaker 1: this money pouring into dot com companies like the Globe, 126 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:33,960 Speaker 1: and right around the corner was the Piper waiting to 127 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:37,040 Speaker 1: be paid. The Globe, like a lot of other web 128 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:40,479 Speaker 1: based companies in the late nineties, proved to be overvalued 129 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: and under monetized. Now, at the very least, the Globe 130 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:47,680 Speaker 1: had a sort of revenue model in place that was 131 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:51,600 Speaker 1: tied to advertising. And that's more than I can say 132 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: for a lot of other dot com companies of that 133 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: era that had an interesting idea but no real way 134 00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:01,080 Speaker 1: to capitalize on that idea it to actually make money 135 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:05,880 Speaker 1: from it. But anyway, the Internet dot com bubble bursts 136 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: for lots of reasons that we don't need to go into, 137 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 1: and the Globe, like a ton of other startups from 138 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:16,400 Speaker 1: the mid to late nineties, totally collapsed. The Stock Exchange 139 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:19,480 Speaker 1: delisted the company in two thousand one, and the Globe 140 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: went Bye bye. Pattern not would go on to found 141 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:27,040 Speaker 1: a company called Slated. It's a crowdfunding site specifically for 142 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:31,559 Speaker 1: independent filmmakers. So the idea there's you pitch your project, 143 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:34,640 Speaker 1: you know, you list it, you try to get backing 144 00:09:34,679 --> 00:09:37,679 Speaker 1: for it, financial backing, maybe you even network and you 145 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: get distribution for your film. That kind of thing, And 146 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:46,040 Speaker 1: unlike the Globe, Slated has stuck around now a close 147 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:51,439 Speaker 1: cousin to the social network is the chat or instant 148 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:55,160 Speaker 1: messenger client. This is something else that was kind of 149 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: evolving around the same time as the early concepts for 150 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 1: social networks, and and a lot of social networks incorporate 151 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:06,800 Speaker 1: chat or instant messengers within them. Meta's messenger, for example, 152 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: is incorporated into Facebook and also exists as its own 153 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 1: separate app. Now, one very early example of an instant 154 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:20,719 Speaker 1: messenger was called pow Wow and just get this all 155 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:24,280 Speaker 1: the way early on, this intrigue contains stuff in it 156 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:26,960 Speaker 1: that I personally think steps way over the line of 157 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:30,600 Speaker 1: cultural appropriation. So I wanted to get that all the 158 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:36,280 Speaker 1: way all right. So this was the brainchild of John McAfee. Now, 159 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:40,440 Speaker 1: if that name is not familiar to you, he gads 160 00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:44,640 Speaker 1: you are in for a wild ride. My friend John 161 00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:48,319 Speaker 1: McFee worked for NASA in the late sixties. He hopped 162 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: over to UNIVAC for a spell. He became an os 163 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,680 Speaker 1: architect or Xerox for a while, and he did some 164 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:58,560 Speaker 1: more career hops. He never really stayed in one place 165 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:01,520 Speaker 1: for more than just a few years is and then 166 00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: in the late eighties he went into business or himself. 167 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:12,000 Speaker 1: McAfee created anti virus software. Yeah, that's the McAfee. You 168 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,920 Speaker 1: have ever seen McAfee anti virus that came from this 169 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:19,360 Speaker 1: guy originally, So his anti virus program was one of, 170 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:24,920 Speaker 1: if not the first commercial anti virus programs on the market. 171 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:27,480 Speaker 1: Might have been the very first one. Again, it's hard 172 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:31,920 Speaker 1: to tell because these sort of things aren't super well documented. 173 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:36,400 Speaker 1: But from nineteen seven to nineteen McAfee either ran or 174 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:40,760 Speaker 1: worked for his company that created anti virus software, and 175 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:44,760 Speaker 1: he made a lot of money, like a lot a 176 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:47,560 Speaker 1: lot of money. And in ninety four he decided to 177 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 1: cash out and he sold his stake in the company 178 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:53,600 Speaker 1: and he moved on. Now, around that same time, McAfee, 179 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:58,080 Speaker 1: who was the son of an American father and a 180 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:03,720 Speaker 1: British mother, founded a company called Tribal Voices. This is 181 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:07,800 Speaker 1: where that cultural appropriation stuff really starts up. The Tribal 182 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:11,680 Speaker 1: Voice website referred to itself as a Native American company, 183 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:16,280 Speaker 1: but I'm not sure how that actually played out. So anyway, 184 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:20,200 Speaker 1: this is around and the main thing this company produces 185 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:24,160 Speaker 1: is a Windows based Internet chat client called how Wow 186 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:29,199 Speaker 1: Now instant messaging clients. We're kind of a big deal. 187 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:32,679 Speaker 1: Before stable social networks became a thing. Lots of folks 188 00:12:32,679 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 1: relied on instant messaging programs to stay in touch with 189 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:38,800 Speaker 1: one another, and a really big player in the space 190 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:43,240 Speaker 1: would be America Online of the AOL is. Also what 191 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:45,640 Speaker 1: was called a o l's client was the a o 192 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:50,000 Speaker 1: L Instant Messenger, better known as aim ai M, and 193 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: one thing a lot of developers try to do was 194 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 1: to make their own chat client interoperable with other chat clients, 195 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 1: primarily aim. The messenger landscape was kind of fractured, so 196 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:05,920 Speaker 1: that might mean you might have some friends who use 197 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:09,840 Speaker 1: one instant messenger and other friends who use a different one, 198 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:13,559 Speaker 1: and it was a hassle trying to stay in contact 199 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:16,160 Speaker 1: with everyone because you had to have multiple clients open 200 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:19,400 Speaker 1: and who knew what was going on in which one. 201 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:23,120 Speaker 1: So one valuable thing that a lot of clients tried 202 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:26,760 Speaker 1: to do was to make it interoperable with other services 203 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaker 1: so that you could have like one place where all 204 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:33,280 Speaker 1: your messages could come in. But those were kind of 205 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:36,400 Speaker 1: hard to do because anytime anyone updated their service, it 206 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 1: could break interoperability. Moreover, some companies, like a O L 207 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:44,200 Speaker 1: didn't want interoperability in the first place. They wanted to 208 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:49,240 Speaker 1: push people to just use aim. So anyway, all L 209 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:52,480 Speaker 1: brought lawsuits against Tribal Voice, claiming that the company was 210 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:56,960 Speaker 1: copying its systems, and McAfee then brought in a new 211 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:01,240 Speaker 1: CEO for Tribal Voice. In the following year, a company 212 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:06,080 Speaker 1: called c mg I bought Tribal Voice. CMGI has its 213 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:08,679 Speaker 1: own bizarre history. Today it's got a different name. It's 214 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: called steel Connect and it focuses on supply chain management. 215 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:15,439 Speaker 1: So things have definitely changed for that company. But back 216 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:18,840 Speaker 1: in the nineties, cmg I was purchasing internet startups because, 217 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:20,800 Speaker 1: as we all know, the Internet was going to be 218 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 1: the next big thing. But cmg I didn't see the 219 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: dot com bubble bursting, and anyway, Powell would become a 220 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:30,080 Speaker 1: casualty of the dot com bubble. In the office that 221 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:33,480 Speaker 1: used to be Tribal Voice was shut down in early 222 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,680 Speaker 1: two thousand one. At its peak, it was said to 223 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 1: have around two million users. Okay, we've got a lot 224 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:43,920 Speaker 1: more to get through before we go on to any 225 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:47,520 Speaker 1: more of these social networks and their history. Let's take 226 00:14:47,560 --> 00:15:00,320 Speaker 1: a quick break. Okay, we're back, and next we actually 227 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:04,880 Speaker 1: have a site that's still around. You know, obviously pow 228 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:10,080 Speaker 1: Wow is gone, and uh, the globe is gone, but 229 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 1: this next one you can still join. And I'm talking 230 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:18,480 Speaker 1: about classmates dot com. If you're of a certain age, 231 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:21,240 Speaker 1: you might remember some big news stories about how this 232 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:25,840 Speaker 1: site got into some trouble for various shenanigans, which we 233 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:29,320 Speaker 1: will touch on. But let's start at the beginning, which 234 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:31,720 Speaker 1: I am told is a very good place to start. 235 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:36,280 Speaker 1: So a guy named Randy Conrad's founded classmates dot com 236 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:41,320 Speaker 1: in nineteen again early days for the web, right, and 237 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:44,920 Speaker 1: the idea was simple. Users would create a profile on 238 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: classmates dot com and they could fill out forms to 239 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: list which schools they went to and what years they 240 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:55,880 Speaker 1: attended those schools, as well as things like if they 241 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:58,960 Speaker 1: served in the military, you know which branch, what years 242 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: that kind of stuff, uh, and even some employment information, 243 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:05,200 Speaker 1: you know what companies did they work at and what years. 244 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:08,400 Speaker 1: And this was also that it would be easier to 245 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:14,000 Speaker 1: reconnect with folks who also attended those schools, or were 246 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:17,440 Speaker 1: enlisted in the military, or were employed by those entities. 247 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:21,400 Speaker 1: So this was all about looking up people you knew 248 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,240 Speaker 1: in the real world in uh, in real life or 249 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:28,640 Speaker 1: I r L. And that just makes me feel ancient 250 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:31,840 Speaker 1: for saying that. And you could find them online, and 251 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: you might think, huh, I wonder whatever happened to you know, 252 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:37,120 Speaker 1: the kids who sat with me at lunch every day 253 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:39,280 Speaker 1: for all of high school? Where are those guys at? 254 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:43,400 Speaker 1: And you might create an account on classmates dot com 255 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:46,080 Speaker 1: to list where and when you attended school, and then 256 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 1: you could look to see if others did the same thing. 257 00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:52,360 Speaker 1: Some cases, you might be the first one there, right, 258 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: and you might think, well, maybe someone will make an 259 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 1: account and I'll get reconnected with an old classmate. Sometimes 260 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:02,160 Speaker 1: would join in and find out that there was already 261 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:06,720 Speaker 1: a pretty hefty community building up around that particular school 262 00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 1: and that class Anyway, it was a neat idea. It 263 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:15,679 Speaker 1: connected people by linking them through commonly shared experiences in life, 264 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:18,560 Speaker 1: and it could really help folks who were in school 265 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:22,000 Speaker 1: in the days before the internet was a thing, you know, 266 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:25,200 Speaker 1: at least for that general population. Obviously, the internet has 267 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:27,840 Speaker 1: been a thing for a while, like well before the 268 00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 1: web came online. But there were some of us, I mean, 269 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:33,919 Speaker 1: those of you all who have grown up with an 270 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,720 Speaker 1: internet in place your whole lives have lots of ways 271 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: to stay in touch with people if you want to. 272 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:44,640 Speaker 1: But some of us older relics. We didn't have those options, right, Like, 273 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:46,840 Speaker 1: the Internet was not a thing when I was in 274 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:49,359 Speaker 1: high school, at least not to the general public. So 275 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:53,360 Speaker 1: there were no email addresses to share, there was no 276 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:57,119 Speaker 1: social network profiles you could share. And so once we 277 00:17:57,160 --> 00:17:59,480 Speaker 1: graduated and we went our separate ways, and that was 278 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:02,280 Speaker 1: kind of that you didn't really have a way to 279 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: stay in touch unless you like gave someone an address 280 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:08,480 Speaker 1: then just kept up with it. So classmates dot com 281 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:11,920 Speaker 1: change things, but the company also would over time get 282 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:17,040 Speaker 1: into some hot water now and again for various reasons. Uh, 283 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:20,560 Speaker 1: there are two basic levels of membership for classmates dot com. 284 00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:22,840 Speaker 1: There's a free level of membership, but that gives you 285 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,679 Speaker 1: really limited access to features, to the point where you 286 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:30,000 Speaker 1: could see that you have notifications in your messages and 287 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:33,000 Speaker 1: you can't read them because you don't have permission to 288 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:38,520 Speaker 1: do so until you become a paid member. So that 289 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:43,280 Speaker 1: was a big part of of the controversy around classmates 290 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 1: dot com, not even controversy, just people grousing about it, 291 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:49,560 Speaker 1: right because it would lure you in with the promise 292 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,840 Speaker 1: of reconnecting with old friends, but in order to be 293 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:54,960 Speaker 1: able to really access all the features, you need to 294 00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:58,040 Speaker 1: become a paid member. Now, honestly, I think that that's 295 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:00,800 Speaker 1: a valid business decision. It just rubbed some people the 296 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:02,399 Speaker 1: wrong way because they were starting to get used to 297 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:04,760 Speaker 1: the idea of if it's on the web, it's more 298 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:08,159 Speaker 1: or less free. So it was an effective way of 299 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:14,320 Speaker 1: generating revenue. But the the features that you've got access 300 00:19:14,359 --> 00:19:17,000 Speaker 1: to included stuff like being able to see who had 301 00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:20,720 Speaker 1: viewed your profile. That way, you could be alerted if say, 302 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:23,240 Speaker 1: like that creepy person you knew in school is still 303 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:28,600 Speaker 1: stalking you or whatever. Not exactly comforting, or maybe you're thinking, hey, 304 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:32,399 Speaker 1: maybe that that cute classmate of mine looked in on 305 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:36,199 Speaker 1: me and I wonder whatever happened to them, and maybe 306 00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:40,359 Speaker 1: it's a misconnection kind of thing. Anyway, One of the 307 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:44,439 Speaker 1: issues classmates dot Com ran into you is that the 308 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: company would send out these promotional emails to prospective users, 309 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:52,320 Speaker 1: like maybe it's someone who's registered for free, or maybe 310 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:55,760 Speaker 1: it's just someone who could potentially become a member of 311 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:59,440 Speaker 1: classmates dot com. And some of these emails had claims 312 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:02,880 Speaker 1: in them saying that someone had been searching for that 313 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:07,120 Speaker 1: person on the website. You know, you get a message saying, hey, 314 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:10,680 Speaker 1: someone's looking for you, and you're thinking, oh, an old 315 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:12,600 Speaker 1: friend of mine is trying to look me up. I 316 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: want to see who that is. So you might want 317 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:19,040 Speaker 1: to actually join classmates dot com as a paid member 318 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:21,240 Speaker 1: so you can find out who the heck is looking 319 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:24,840 Speaker 1: for me. Maybe it's important, or maybe this is a 320 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:27,119 Speaker 1: chance to reconnect with an old friend that I haven't 321 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:31,199 Speaker 1: talked to in years. But it turned out that at 322 00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:35,480 Speaker 1: least some of the time, those messages were alerting you 323 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:38,919 Speaker 1: to situations that didn't exist, that no person was actually 324 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:41,640 Speaker 1: searching for you, which, by the way, is I gotta 325 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:43,880 Speaker 1: feel awful right that you get an email saying, hey, 326 00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 1: someone's looking for you, and when you pay the fee 327 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:50,080 Speaker 1: so you can access the information, you find out, actually, 328 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 1: no one has looked for you, no one's thought about 329 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:56,840 Speaker 1: you in years. You might as well not even exist 330 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:01,919 Speaker 1: to those people. I might be projecting it here anyway. 331 00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:06,639 Speaker 1: Some users brought a class action lawsuit against classmates dot Com, 332 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:09,560 Speaker 1: and the company would eventually settle the lawsuit and paid 333 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:11,879 Speaker 1: out a couple of million dollars in two thousand and eight. 334 00:21:12,119 --> 00:21:14,520 Speaker 1: It was a really big deal at the time, but 335 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 1: another thing they got them a bad reputation is. The 336 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:21,119 Speaker 1: site uses an auto renewal process, so if you do 337 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:25,679 Speaker 1: get a paid membership, it automatically renews your membership at 338 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:29,040 Speaker 1: the end of you know, a year's service. And from 339 00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:31,760 Speaker 1: what I understand, joining classmates dot Com as a paid 340 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:36,040 Speaker 1: member is kind of like when you join like a 341 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:40,639 Speaker 1: gym or a fitness center. It can be incredibly challenging 342 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:44,680 Speaker 1: to cancel your membership once you're in. It's like the mafia. 343 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:48,840 Speaker 1: Once you're in, you're in. At least that's how it 344 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:50,879 Speaker 1: used to be. I don't know if it still is, 345 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:54,600 Speaker 1: but PC World back in two thousand six had an 346 00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:59,480 Speaker 1: article that was titled just canceled the bleep account. The 347 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,840 Speaker 1: bleep in this case at like just random symbols, you know, 348 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: kind of like Cubert cursing if you remember the Cubert 349 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:10,240 Speaker 1: video game I'm really dating myself in this episode anyway, Uh, 350 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,960 Speaker 1: the PC World said that that classmates dot Com counted 351 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,960 Speaker 1: as a quote unquote big hassle when you wanted to 352 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:23,240 Speaker 1: cancel your membership. Despite these and some other controversies, classmates 353 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:26,640 Speaker 1: dot Com is still active today. I don't know about you. 354 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:31,560 Speaker 1: Totally cool being persona non garratta to my high school classmates. 355 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:35,159 Speaker 1: For the most part, it's good old gen X. You know, 356 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:37,639 Speaker 1: we kind of cut ties once we left and didn't 357 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:40,720 Speaker 1: look back. I didn't even go to any of my 358 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:43,480 Speaker 1: high school reunions. I just skipped them all. But enough 359 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:50,840 Speaker 1: about me. Let's move on to a different social network, okay. 360 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:54,720 Speaker 1: Dan Pelson and Jane Mount create a site that would 361 00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:59,160 Speaker 1: have many social network elements to it, including a message board, 362 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:05,000 Speaker 1: had intend messaging. It linked together different folks through common interests, 363 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,760 Speaker 1: and it would later go on to incorporate things like 364 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:13,440 Speaker 1: internet audio and video, so it would evolve over time 365 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:16,679 Speaker 1: and increase the features of the site. And this was 366 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:23,800 Speaker 1: called Bolt dot com and it had a relatively decent run. 367 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:27,399 Speaker 1: And remember this one also launched mid nineties before the 368 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:32,720 Speaker 1: dot com bubble burst, so for about a decade things 369 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:37,680 Speaker 1: ran fairly well at Bolt dot com. Despite the dot 370 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:42,840 Speaker 1: com bubble burst. It stuck around, it survived that calamity, 371 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:47,480 Speaker 1: and initially Bolt was targeting teenagers as its user base. 372 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:52,080 Speaker 1: Here's the thing, though, when people join a network and 373 00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:55,120 Speaker 1: they like the network and they form relationships on that network, 374 00:23:55,920 --> 00:24:00,000 Speaker 1: they tend to stick around and it becomes an age 375 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:03,760 Speaker 1: user base. So the users were getting older and older 376 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:07,080 Speaker 1: uh and continuing to use Bolt and Bolt was not 377 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:11,280 Speaker 1: being super effective at attracting new users. This is a 378 00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 1: message that we will here repeated with Meta and Facebook 379 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:20,560 Speaker 1: in particular right that Facebook is a social network that 380 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:24,640 Speaker 1: has an enormous user base but has a real problem 381 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:29,160 Speaker 1: of attracting new users to the service and the existing 382 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:34,040 Speaker 1: users are just continuing to age well. In two thousand five, Bolt, 383 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,840 Speaker 1: through its parent company which was called Bolt Media, got 384 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:43,639 Speaker 1: into the video sharing business, and the original Bolt site, 385 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:48,960 Speaker 1: the social networking version of Bolt, kind of was pushed aside. 386 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,760 Speaker 1: It was shifted over to a new u r L 387 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 1: which was Bolt to dot com. Two is in the 388 00:24:55,680 --> 00:25:00,760 Speaker 1: number two ms actual numeral too. The original u r 389 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:03,840 Speaker 1: L Bolt dot Com became the host for this video 390 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:08,199 Speaker 1: sharing site, which more and more frequently wasn't so much 391 00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:12,160 Speaker 1: about user generated videos but was more about sharing other videos, 392 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:16,880 Speaker 1: either created by Bolt Media or stuff like music videos. 393 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:22,760 Speaker 1: But then various media companies got really litigious because companies 394 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:26,240 Speaker 1: like Bolt were sharing music videos without you know, paying 395 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:32,399 Speaker 1: licensing fees, and the companies were getting sued, including Bolt 396 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: Media getting sued for copyright infringement. Things got really rough 397 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:40,200 Speaker 1: for Bolt Media. So then a company called go Fish 398 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:44,560 Speaker 1: initially decides that it's going to acquire Bolt Media and 399 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:48,480 Speaker 1: Bolt to, the original social networking element for the company, 400 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:53,199 Speaker 1: turned off the quote unquote lights. It's shut down in 401 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:57,080 Speaker 1: two thousand seven, on April six at noon Eastern time. 402 00:25:57,119 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: We actually have a specific time for when that site 403 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:05,680 Speaker 1: shut down. Asked for the acquisition, Well, that never happened. 404 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:12,679 Speaker 1: Go Fish got cold feet or cold fins or something. Anyway, 405 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:16,320 Speaker 1: Go Fish swam the heck away from this acquisition and 406 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:21,240 Speaker 1: Bolt Media the company went into bankruptcy. Now, the original 407 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 1: Bolt had a brief revival in two thousand eight when 408 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:29,520 Speaker 1: a company called fund Bolt had secured the rights to 409 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:33,240 Speaker 1: the I P and a site very similar to the 410 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: original Bolt or what became Bolt Too launched. But unfortunately 411 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:42,280 Speaker 1: this was only up for a few months before it 412 00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:46,679 Speaker 1: once again had to close up shop, this time for good. Obviously, 413 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 1: it was one of those issues where the costs were 414 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:53,280 Speaker 1: greater than any revenue being brought in, so Bolt was 415 00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: once again dead. So that one no longer around. Okay, 416 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:02,720 Speaker 1: next up, we have yet another nineties startup. This one 417 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:07,720 Speaker 1: is six degrees dot com. Now, interestingly, this emerged after 418 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:11,120 Speaker 1: people started playing the game six degrees of Kevin Bacon. 419 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:14,800 Speaker 1: It's actually just based off this idea that any two 420 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:19,720 Speaker 1: people are only six degrees of separation between them. The 421 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:26,000 Speaker 1: Kevin Bacon version obviously is about linking actors together. Uh 422 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:28,480 Speaker 1: you know, Kevin Bacon is an actor for those of 423 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:32,800 Speaker 1: you who don't know this name. He's also Peter Quill's 424 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:35,760 Speaker 1: Christmas present. According to the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, 425 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,919 Speaker 1: which I watched recently and was delighted by. Anyway, Kevin 426 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: Bacon has been in a ton of movies, and he's 427 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: worked with a huge number of actors. So he's been 428 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:52,080 Speaker 1: around and worked with so many that it's possible to 429 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 1: essentially link any two actors who have ever worked in 430 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:59,960 Speaker 1: Hollywood together, using Kevin Bacon as kind of the link 431 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,600 Speaker 1: king material between the two. If you move forward a 432 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:08,960 Speaker 1: couple of years into an entrepreneur named Andrew win Reich 433 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,600 Speaker 1: created a social network based off this idea that everyone 434 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:17,240 Speaker 1: is just six degrees of separation or less from everybody else, 435 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:21,200 Speaker 1: and that by mapping your social web, you can find 436 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:26,560 Speaker 1: connections to and between people that you never suspected, Like 437 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:32,639 Speaker 1: maybe you had that small world experience where you find 438 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:35,719 Speaker 1: out that two different friends you have happened to know 439 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:38,720 Speaker 1: each other. But the two friends you you know, they're 440 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:41,680 Speaker 1: in very different friends circles, right, Like maybe you know 441 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:46,280 Speaker 1: one from someplace you worked and one from a social circle, 442 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:48,560 Speaker 1: and it turns out these two people are also friends 443 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:50,400 Speaker 1: with each other, and you never knew that. You just 444 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,320 Speaker 1: have that strange experience. Well, that's the kind of thing 445 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:55,880 Speaker 1: that Winrich was kind of interested in exploring, and so 446 00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 1: he created six degrees dot com. And with six degrees, 447 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:02,840 Speaker 1: users would put in their information, and they would also 448 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:06,880 Speaker 1: include information about their contacts, right the people they knew, 449 00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:11,120 Speaker 1: and users who listed one another would end up getting connected, 450 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:14,120 Speaker 1: and they could also put in folks who weren't on 451 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:17,560 Speaker 1: the network too, you know, as part of their connections. 452 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:21,240 Speaker 1: And then those folks would eventually get hounded by emails 453 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:23,720 Speaker 1: asking them to create a profile on six degrees dot 454 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:27,840 Speaker 1: com to build out the network further. This social web 455 00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:31,600 Speaker 1: model would be kind of a foundation for future social 456 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 1: networks like MySpace, which we will talk about in the 457 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:39,120 Speaker 1: next episode, and other ones like Facebook. Now, the original 458 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:42,440 Speaker 1: six degrees dot com was bought by another company in 459 00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:48,080 Speaker 1: ninety five million dollars, and then we get to the 460 00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:51,320 Speaker 1: old dot com bubble bursting, and like several of the 461 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:55,040 Speaker 1: other companies we've mentioned in this episode, the parent company 462 00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,800 Speaker 1: for six degrees hit turbulence and didn't make it through, 463 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:04,000 Speaker 1: so the site shut down around two thousand. Now there 464 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 1: is a six degrees dot com social network out there today. 465 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:10,880 Speaker 1: There is one that's active, but I have no idea 466 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:14,040 Speaker 1: who runs it at this point. I did some looking 467 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,600 Speaker 1: and didn't find a whole lot of information. The website 468 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:21,720 Speaker 1: has a copyright notice listed as so if that is 469 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:26,360 Speaker 1: when it was relaunched, it's pretty recent. I will say 470 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:30,400 Speaker 1: it is not an HTTPS link, so it's not secure. 471 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:33,680 Speaker 1: If you go to that site, it is not a 472 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:38,360 Speaker 1: secure site. I would say that means do not put 473 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:43,720 Speaker 1: identifiable information into that site, because anyone could be snooping 474 00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:46,800 Speaker 1: and you wouldn't even know. I did check the contact 475 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:49,560 Speaker 1: us link to see if it would give me more information, 476 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:52,400 Speaker 1: but it just takes you to a little online form 477 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:54,720 Speaker 1: and it didn't have time to fill out something and 478 00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:58,000 Speaker 1: get any information before this podcast. But I suspect that 479 00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:01,160 Speaker 1: six degrees dot com of today has no common ground 480 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:05,520 Speaker 1: with the original incarnation, and it's just the general idea 481 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:09,160 Speaker 1: brought back around again. All right, we've got some more 482 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:13,320 Speaker 1: to cover before we finish out this particular episode. Before 483 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 1: we do that, let's take another quick break. We're back okay. 484 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:32,600 Speaker 1: In and nine, we get a couple of online journal 485 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:38,800 Speaker 1: sites launching. Open Diary opened in and live Journals started 486 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:43,880 Speaker 1: journaling in nine. So these sites would allow users to 487 00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:48,920 Speaker 1: create online journals and to share those journals, either publicly 488 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:53,880 Speaker 1: or with specific friends. They also introduced a feature that 489 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:59,040 Speaker 1: was really a Web two point oh idea. That was 490 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:05,040 Speaker 1: that they allowed other users to leave comments on posts, 491 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: so your friends could actually comment on things you wrote. So, 492 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:11,240 Speaker 1: for example, I remember I used live journal once upon 493 00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:15,520 Speaker 1: a time to post things like April Fool's jokes, and 494 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:20,600 Speaker 1: the comments would be uh. They would begin with people saying, Wow, 495 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:23,480 Speaker 1: that's incredible, and then with people saying, oh, I see 496 00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:25,640 Speaker 1: what you did. And I would try to leave as 497 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:28,200 Speaker 1: many clues as possible that I was just joshing. But 498 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:32,240 Speaker 1: I eventually gave up April Fool's Jokes because I felt 499 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:35,080 Speaker 1: like I got too good at lying and I didn't 500 00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:39,680 Speaker 1: like that. Anyway, The whole idea of leaving comments user 501 00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:44,040 Speaker 1: generated comments on posts really became another foundational element in 502 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:48,080 Speaker 1: social networks moving forward, This is another basic building block 503 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:51,760 Speaker 1: that would be very important for social networks, and both 504 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:54,680 Speaker 1: open Diary and live journal would survive the dot com 505 00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:57,640 Speaker 1: purge once the bubble bursts, so they both made it 506 00:32:57,680 --> 00:33:01,640 Speaker 1: through that. Now an Open Diary case, the site would 507 00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:04,920 Speaker 1: evolve over time. It introduced new features and new ways 508 00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 1: to interact with one another. But despite the fact that 509 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 1: it was continuing to introduce these new features, the business 510 00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:18,840 Speaker 1: side was really starting to struggle post two thousand ten, 511 00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:23,360 Speaker 1: so the side actually shut down in February two fourteen. 512 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,040 Speaker 1: It had been struggling financially for a couple of years 513 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:30,400 Speaker 1: at that point, and it would remain offline until two 514 00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:34,680 Speaker 1: thousand eighteen. But in two thousand eighteen it relaunched, this 515 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:38,480 Speaker 1: time as a subscription based journaling service, so if you 516 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:41,120 Speaker 1: wanted to join, you could get like a month free, 517 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:44,080 Speaker 1: but then you had to become a paid subscriber to 518 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:47,040 Speaker 1: use the service. But one thing that was really nice 519 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:51,120 Speaker 1: was that former users could then access their old journal entries, 520 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:54,520 Speaker 1: which otherwise we have just been lost right because the 521 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:58,000 Speaker 1: site went down, and all of those journal entries, according 522 00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:01,240 Speaker 1: to the company, had been preserved during the four years 523 00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:04,080 Speaker 1: that it was offline, so that was kind of cool. 524 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:07,960 Speaker 1: So yes, open Diary still exists, just in a different 525 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:12,120 Speaker 1: form than it was up to through two thousand and fourteen. 526 00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:16,560 Speaker 1: Live Journal has its own bumpy history. The site launched 527 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:19,480 Speaker 1: in the spring of nineteen, and as I've indicated, I 528 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:23,680 Speaker 1: was a fairly active member early on, but I drifted 529 00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:27,280 Speaker 1: away from live journal as other social networks emerged and grew. 530 00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:31,399 Speaker 1: A company called six Apart purchased live Journal in two 531 00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:35,200 Speaker 1: thousand five from its creator, Brad Fitzpatrick, and a year 532 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:39,799 Speaker 1: later a Russian company called sup Media licensed the live 533 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:44,440 Speaker 1: journal brand and then outright purchased live Journal in two 534 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:48,640 Speaker 1: thousand seven. This move was seen as a pretty big 535 00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:52,719 Speaker 1: blow to the live journal community, particularly the community that 536 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:56,520 Speaker 1: was in Russia. It was really popular in Russia, but 537 00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:01,600 Speaker 1: with a Russian company purchasing the live journal brand, its 538 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:06,000 Speaker 1: signaled a possible crackdown on Russian users. There were fears 539 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:10,160 Speaker 1: that the company would impose censorship on users and it 540 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:13,560 Speaker 1: would bring live Journal in line with other Russian operated 541 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:17,200 Speaker 1: sites and services. The transition to Russia continued over the 542 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:22,000 Speaker 1: following years. The site moved to Russian based servers in 543 00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:26,160 Speaker 1: two thousand sixteen, and it now operates in accordance with 544 00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:29,200 Speaker 1: Russian law, which does put a bit of a damper 545 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:33,560 Speaker 1: on free expression. Now that being said, live journal, like 546 00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:38,359 Speaker 1: open diary, is technically still online. You could create an 547 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:41,279 Speaker 1: account and journal on live journal, but it is in 548 00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:44,120 Speaker 1: a very different form from the one I remember from 549 00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:48,640 Speaker 1: the early two thousand's and again is burdened by the 550 00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:54,800 Speaker 1: restrictions that the Russian government places on online communications. Really, 551 00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:59,000 Speaker 1: anything that would be critical of the Russian government, the 552 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:03,280 Speaker 1: Russian Federation and is probably not going to stick around 553 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:07,759 Speaker 1: for very long on the platform. Okay, moving on. In 554 00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:12,240 Speaker 1: two thousand two, a guy named Jonathan Abrams began working 555 00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:15,640 Speaker 1: on a new social networking site that was building on 556 00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:20,520 Speaker 1: the ideas that fueled services like six degrees dot com. 557 00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:25,280 Speaker 1: This site was Friendster, which some of you may have used. 558 00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:27,760 Speaker 1: Some of you probably have heard the name, but maybe 559 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:31,920 Speaker 1: never actually used it. It appeared to be leaning a 560 00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:34,719 Speaker 1: little bit on the notoriety of the peer to peer 561 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:39,360 Speaker 1: service Napster. Napster made a huge name for itself because 562 00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:43,279 Speaker 1: lots of people used it to pirate music, and it 563 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:49,120 Speaker 1: was nuked to oblivion by the music industry in legislation 564 00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:52,680 Speaker 1: or rather court cases that I think you could only 565 00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:56,640 Speaker 1: describe as being over the top, but I've done episodes 566 00:36:56,680 --> 00:37:01,360 Speaker 1: about that in the past. Anyway, Friendster would allow users 567 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:04,960 Speaker 1: to create friend circles, and thus people could start to 568 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:08,360 Speaker 1: see connections between friends and ways, similar to what six 569 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:11,280 Speaker 1: degrees had been doing. But by this point six degrees 570 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:14,319 Speaker 1: had been shut down, right, so that was gone, so 571 00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:18,319 Speaker 1: Friendster was able to kind of take its place. So 572 00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:22,000 Speaker 1: Abraham's launched Friendster in two thousand three, and it got 573 00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:26,440 Speaker 1: fairly popular pretty early on because it came out before 574 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:31,200 Speaker 1: MySpace and Facebook, and it wasn't bogged down by all 575 00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:33,920 Speaker 1: the baggage of the dot com era the way earlier 576 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:37,040 Speaker 1: networks had been, because it came out after all of 577 00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:40,520 Speaker 1: that dust had settled. Now, within the first year of launch, 578 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:46,120 Speaker 1: Friendster already had a suitor, and it was none other 579 00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:52,799 Speaker 1: than our old friend Google. Now reportedly, Google's proposed acquisition 580 00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:57,520 Speaker 1: would have been for thirty million dollars in Google stock, which, 581 00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:01,600 Speaker 1: as you can imagine, would mean that original deal would 582 00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:04,360 Speaker 1: be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. I think even 583 00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:08,640 Speaker 1: more than a billion dollars at this point if people 584 00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:11,440 Speaker 1: had just taken that deal and held onto the stock. 585 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:15,480 Speaker 1: Because of how google stocks value has grown you know, 586 00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:20,879 Speaker 1: considerably since the early two thousand's, but Friendster turned down 587 00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:24,000 Speaker 1: the office. It was all a moot point, and I 588 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:27,840 Speaker 1: suppose that for users of the site that was probably 589 00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:30,840 Speaker 1: for the best at the time, because Google has a 590 00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:37,520 Speaker 1: very long history of acquiring and then subsequently shutting down services. Anyway, 591 00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:40,160 Speaker 1: in two thousand four, the board of directors for Friendster 592 00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:44,839 Speaker 1: handed Jonathan Abrams his walking papers. They essentially fired him 593 00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:48,480 Speaker 1: as CEO and replaced him. Uh. There was kind of 594 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:51,920 Speaker 1: a revolving door for the leadership of Friendster for a 595 00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:55,280 Speaker 1: little while, and a few years later, Friendster was losing 596 00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:58,880 Speaker 1: most of its American user base as people were migrating 597 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:03,440 Speaker 1: to other service is, namely Facebook. The site continued to 598 00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:08,640 Speaker 1: enjoy popularity in Asia, however, so while America was seeing 599 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:13,400 Speaker 1: you know, flagging results, Asia was doing much better. In 600 00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:16,320 Speaker 1: two thousand nine, a Malaysian company called m O L 601 00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:21,279 Speaker 1: Global acquired Friendster, or at least some of Friendster's technology. 602 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:24,920 Speaker 1: Facebook would end up buying the rest of Friendster's i 603 00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:29,280 Speaker 1: P and a couple of years later, Friendster transformed into 604 00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:33,120 Speaker 1: a social gaming service and all the stuff that made 605 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:37,600 Speaker 1: it a pure social network was ditched. The whole site 606 00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:41,040 Speaker 1: would go dark in two thousand and fifteen. We'll hear 607 00:39:41,239 --> 00:39:46,080 Speaker 1: similar stories about this as we go on. In two 608 00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:49,080 Speaker 1: thousand three, we also saw the launch of a social 609 00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:54,640 Speaker 1: network geared toward professionals, you know, employers and people seeking employment. 610 00:39:55,040 --> 00:39:59,920 Speaker 1: And I am, of course referencing linked In, which i've 611 00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:02,799 Speaker 1: lee is another site that survives to this day, and 612 00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:05,640 Speaker 1: I am reminded of that pretty much daily because I 613 00:40:05,719 --> 00:40:08,960 Speaker 1: get emails alerting me to the fact that folks have 614 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:12,560 Speaker 1: apparently visited my profile, which has to be really disappointing 615 00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:14,480 Speaker 1: for them because I have not kept up with it 616 00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:20,360 Speaker 1: for years. Anyway, LinkedIn really puts the network in social 617 00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:23,840 Speaker 1: networks because it's primarily intended to be a networking tool, 618 00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:27,360 Speaker 1: and it can be a really effective one. You know, 619 00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:30,120 Speaker 1: it can help you get connected with the right people, 620 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:33,320 Speaker 1: or you know, if you're really bad at social media, 621 00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:36,759 Speaker 1: it's really great at convincing folks you are absolutely not 622 00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:39,400 Speaker 1: the person they should hire. So a little word of 623 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:43,120 Speaker 1: advice if you use LinkedIn, don't post photos of your 624 00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:46,799 Speaker 1: wild night in Vegas on the site. That seems like 625 00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:48,959 Speaker 1: that would be a no brainer, but there's always someone 626 00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:53,480 Speaker 1: who does it. LinkedIn had connections with PayPal founders. You 627 00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:56,560 Speaker 1: know that also makes sense the folks who were saying, 628 00:40:56,560 --> 00:40:59,719 Speaker 1: how can we create financial transactions online? How can we 629 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:03,000 Speaker 1: illitate that having the same idea of how can we 630 00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:08,480 Speaker 1: facilitate networking like professional networking online? Makes sense. So it 631 00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:12,520 Speaker 1: operated as a private company until two thousand eleven. That's 632 00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:15,960 Speaker 1: when it held its initial public offering when transformed into 633 00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:19,640 Speaker 1: a publicly traded company, and it would continue as a 634 00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:23,160 Speaker 1: publicly traded company on its own until two thousand sixteen, 635 00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:27,840 Speaker 1: when Microsoft proposed a twenty six billion dollar acquisition. The 636 00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:31,560 Speaker 1: company was offering almost two hundred dollars a share, and 637 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:37,760 Speaker 1: the shareholders of LinkedIn said yes please. Now, as I mentioned, 638 00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:41,160 Speaker 1: LinkedIn is still very much alive. It is a Microsoft 639 00:41:41,239 --> 00:41:44,320 Speaker 1: owned service to this day. You can create an account, 640 00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:47,799 Speaker 1: you can fill out your education and employment history. You 641 00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:52,600 Speaker 1: can network with colleagues and perspective employers or employees. And 642 00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:54,720 Speaker 1: I see a lot of my peers getting a ton 643 00:41:54,920 --> 00:41:57,400 Speaker 1: out of using it, like former co workers of mine 644 00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:03,160 Speaker 1: are really leveraging LinkedIn. Well, I probably should be using it, 645 00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:06,680 Speaker 1: but y'all, I hit social network fatigue hard a couple 646 00:42:06,680 --> 00:42:10,279 Speaker 1: of years ago, and I have not recovered yet and 647 00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:14,920 Speaker 1: here's another one, another site that is technically still around 648 00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:19,080 Speaker 1: kind of so let me explain. We're gonna conclude on 649 00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:22,640 Speaker 1: this one for this episode. This social network is called 650 00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:26,760 Speaker 1: high five spelled h I and then the numeral five, 651 00:42:27,440 --> 00:42:30,920 Speaker 1: and it originally launched in two thousand three, shortly before 652 00:42:31,320 --> 00:42:35,880 Speaker 1: my Space would take the stage. Ramu Yala Manschi is 653 00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:38,520 Speaker 1: the founder of high five. He earned a degree in 654 00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:41,200 Speaker 1: computer science at the University of Illinois, and then he 655 00:42:41,239 --> 00:42:45,240 Speaker 1: worked in different capacities at several different tech companies, including 656 00:42:45,239 --> 00:42:47,759 Speaker 1: one that got acquired by our old friend c mg 657 00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:52,719 Speaker 1: I before cmg I became that supply chain company. Now, 658 00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:56,040 Speaker 1: the original High five was similar in many ways to 659 00:42:56,120 --> 00:42:59,960 Speaker 1: my Space. Users would create profiles, they would seek out 660 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:03,520 Speaker 1: connections with other users. There was a focus on reconnecting 661 00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:08,160 Speaker 1: with people you already knew. I r L again, I 662 00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:12,960 Speaker 1: feel ancient saying that. Anyway, according to Yellomanchi, the site 663 00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:16,480 Speaker 1: was profitable within its first year. Now, if that's true, 664 00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:21,400 Speaker 1: that's incredible. I don't know if it's true, because the 665 00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:25,640 Speaker 1: site would continue seeking out investment rounds moving forward, and 666 00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:29,040 Speaker 1: I don't know what their method was to generate revenue. 667 00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:32,480 Speaker 1: I assume it was advertising, but there's very little information 668 00:43:32,600 --> 00:43:38,040 Speaker 1: available for the original incarnation of High five. Yellomanchi emphasized 669 00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:41,239 Speaker 1: growing his user base beyond the United States, which was 670 00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:44,360 Speaker 1: probably a good idea because there was a lot less 671 00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:49,520 Speaker 1: competition outside the US. In time, people in Latin American 672 00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:53,440 Speaker 1: countries really became loyal High five users. That became like 673 00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:57,160 Speaker 1: the real ground swell of the user base was in 674 00:43:57,280 --> 00:44:00,320 Speaker 1: Latin America, and it propelled High five to a dominent 675 00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:04,880 Speaker 1: spot among social networks, or at least a little while. Now. 676 00:44:05,040 --> 00:44:07,600 Speaker 1: I might one day need to do a full episode 677 00:44:07,600 --> 00:44:10,640 Speaker 1: to really look into what happened at high five, because 678 00:44:10,719 --> 00:44:14,680 Speaker 1: if you look at most articles mentioning the company, things 679 00:44:14,880 --> 00:44:20,440 Speaker 1: changed really really fast, and in a way that that 680 00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:24,600 Speaker 1: brings up questions and I don't have the answers to them. Supposedly, 681 00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:28,000 Speaker 1: High five was a top social networking site in two 682 00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:31,719 Speaker 1: thousand and seven, second only to my Space. So my 683 00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:34,279 Speaker 1: Space is number one, despite the fact that it came 684 00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:37,600 Speaker 1: out after High five. Then you have High five, you 685 00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:40,239 Speaker 1: get to two thousand eight, things have changed already. It's 686 00:44:40,239 --> 00:44:43,480 Speaker 1: now in third place because Facebook was really gaining traction 687 00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:46,560 Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight. But still you would think 688 00:44:46,840 --> 00:44:50,360 Speaker 1: that a social networking site, one that has a strong 689 00:44:50,520 --> 00:44:55,360 Speaker 1: base in Latin America and is ranked third behind two 690 00:44:55,480 --> 00:45:00,200 Speaker 1: of the Juggernauts, would still more or less be okay. Right, Like, 691 00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:03,080 Speaker 1: this is a company that supposedly was profitable in its 692 00:45:03,120 --> 00:45:07,440 Speaker 1: first hear it should be fine, but apparently it wasn't. 693 00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:10,160 Speaker 1: So in two thousand nine, the company gets a new 694 00:45:10,239 --> 00:45:15,080 Speaker 1: CEO and it switches focus. It drops the social network stuff, 695 00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:17,880 Speaker 1: it gets out of the social network game. It turns 696 00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:21,759 Speaker 1: into a social gaming company. Which you know, it's not 697 00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:24,120 Speaker 1: the first time we've heard that, right, We already heard 698 00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:28,600 Speaker 1: that before. The third largest social network company would no 699 00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:31,720 Speaker 1: longer be a social network company, but it did stick around, 700 00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:34,279 Speaker 1: so High five was still a thing. But in two 701 00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:37,799 Speaker 1: thousand eleven things would change again. Tagged, which is a 702 00:45:37,840 --> 00:45:40,360 Speaker 1: different social network company that I'll talk about in the 703 00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:45,359 Speaker 1: next episode, acquired High fives assets. Some of the High 704 00:45:45,440 --> 00:45:48,720 Speaker 1: five team then apparently went on to found a different 705 00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:52,919 Speaker 1: social gaming site, but that one lasted less than a year, 706 00:45:53,239 --> 00:45:57,320 Speaker 1: so social gaming was just a no go anyway. Tags 707 00:45:57,680 --> 00:46:01,719 Speaker 1: version of High five would change a little bit. Initially, 708 00:46:01,880 --> 00:46:05,640 Speaker 1: they just stripped the games that High five would run 709 00:46:05,719 --> 00:46:08,720 Speaker 1: on its social gaming site and replace them with games 710 00:46:08,719 --> 00:46:12,880 Speaker 1: that were developed by Tagged members. But there's always a 711 00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:16,960 Speaker 1: bigger fish. So then Tagged gets scooped up by another 712 00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:20,640 Speaker 1: company called the Meat Group m e et, not the 713 00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:24,080 Speaker 1: Meat group like sausages and stuff, but meet like let's 714 00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:28,160 Speaker 1: meet anyway. I'm sure I'll mention that again in the 715 00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:31,720 Speaker 1: next episode when we talk more about Tagged itself. But anyway, 716 00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:35,520 Speaker 1: high fives still stuck around. In fact, it's around today, 717 00:46:35,560 --> 00:46:38,040 Speaker 1: but it's not a social gaming site, and it's not 718 00:46:38,239 --> 00:46:41,120 Speaker 1: as much of a social network site either. It's really 719 00:46:41,200 --> 00:46:45,320 Speaker 1: more about meeting new people with kind of an emphasis 720 00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:48,040 Speaker 1: on online dating and flirting. That seems to be where 721 00:46:48,040 --> 00:46:51,080 Speaker 1: the focus is now, So I think of it kind 722 00:46:51,120 --> 00:46:55,680 Speaker 1: of more like Tender or Grinder, but as a social 723 00:46:55,760 --> 00:47:00,480 Speaker 1: network as opposed to just strictly about meeting and king up. 724 00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:03,480 Speaker 1: So it's less about reconnecting with folks you already know 725 00:47:03,680 --> 00:47:06,879 Speaker 1: and more about meeting new people. So while the site 726 00:47:06,920 --> 00:47:09,120 Speaker 1: is still around, it has a very different approach to 727 00:47:09,160 --> 00:47:12,000 Speaker 1: the service that launched way back in two thousand three. 728 00:47:12,239 --> 00:47:15,120 Speaker 1: And that wraps up this first part of kind of 729 00:47:15,160 --> 00:47:17,880 Speaker 1: a history of social networks. It's not an exhaustive history. 730 00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:20,840 Speaker 1: There are others that I have not touched on, some 731 00:47:20,960 --> 00:47:24,840 Speaker 1: of which were popular in other parts of the world briefly, 732 00:47:25,400 --> 00:47:27,879 Speaker 1: but I am gonna continue to cover the big ones 733 00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:31,040 Speaker 1: and talk about what happened and how things unfolded. You know, 734 00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:33,480 Speaker 1: we're starting to get into the years where we get 735 00:47:33,480 --> 00:47:36,040 Speaker 1: the big names like my Space and Facebook and whatnot. 736 00:47:36,239 --> 00:47:38,360 Speaker 1: But we'll pick up with that in our next episode, 737 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:41,640 Speaker 1: and until then, if you have suggestions for me reach 738 00:47:41,680 --> 00:47:44,560 Speaker 1: out let me know. You can do so by downloading 739 00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:46,919 Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app. It's free to download and use. 740 00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:49,680 Speaker 1: You can navigate over to tech Stuff in the search field. 741 00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:52,160 Speaker 1: There's a little microphone icon. You can leave a voice 742 00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:54,560 Speaker 1: message up to thirty seconds in length that way, or 743 00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:57,959 Speaker 1: if you prefer, drop me a message on Twitter while 744 00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:01,440 Speaker 1: it's still a thing. The handle for the show is 745 00:48:01,520 --> 00:48:05,440 Speaker 1: text Stuff hs W. I'll have alternatives lined up in 746 00:48:05,520 --> 00:48:07,680 Speaker 1: the near future if you don't want to be on 747 00:48:07,719 --> 00:48:11,000 Speaker 1: Twitter anymore. But that's it for this episode and I'll 748 00:48:11,040 --> 00:48:20,200 Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon. Y tech Stuff is 749 00:48:20,239 --> 00:48:23,360 Speaker 1: an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from my 750 00:48:23,480 --> 00:48:27,080 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 751 00:48:27,200 --> 00:48:29,200 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.