Re: But is UseNet "Social Media"??

On 2/02/2026 12:33 am, Frank Slootweg wrote:
> Mr. Man-wai Chang <[email protected]> wrote:
>> On 2/1/2026 4:21 PM, Daniel70 wrote:
>>> 
>>> Whilst I doubt there were many under-16's using UseNet, I have
>>> heard some suggest that it is a "Social Media".
>>> 
>>> Facebook ... Sure!
>>> X ... Sure!
>>> Instagram .... Sure!
>>> Youtube .... Some would suggest it is "Social Media", too.
>>> 
>>> ... and there are probably others I can't think of or have Never
>>> heard of.
>>> 
>>> But is UseNet "Social Media"??
>> 
>> Usenet is "fully duplex", so it's social media because you can 
>> communicate with each others. :)
>> 
>> The same goes to Fidonet BBS.
> 
> The History section of Wikipedia's 'Social media' page starts with 
> the PLATO system and later says
> 
> "Usenet, conceived by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979 at the 
> University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, was 
> the first open social media app, established in 1980."
> 
> So I guess that settles it once and for all! :-)
> 
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media#History>
> 
I thought UseNet was just an outsourcing/spreading of the D.A.R.P.A.
projects into the Common peoples environments!!

D.A.R.P.A. apparently started back in Feb 1958.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA
-- 
Daniel70