I don’t know what it was that set me off down this rabbit hole, but I suddenly found myself reminiscing about the early days of social media—before it was even called that. Before Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, there was an entire digital ecosystem of connection, and honestly? It was weirder, more personal, and, in many ways, more fun than what we have today.
If you were born after, say, 2005, you might not even recognize some of these, but buckle up—because we’re about to take a deep dive into the primitive social networks of the internet’s golden age.
1. Guestbooks – The OG Comment Sections
Before social media feeds existed, before people could simply comment under a post or reply to a tweet, there were guestbooks.
A guestbook was a simple HTML form on a website where visitors could leave a public message—kind of like the visitor logs at a museum but digital. If someone liked your website, they’d leave a note. If they hated it, well… they’d also leave a note (early internet users weren’t exactly known for tact).
What made guestbooks unique was how personal they felt. There was no central feed or profile—your note existed on that one person’s website, and it was completely uneditable once submitted. People would sign with their usernames, websites, and even ASCII art signatures.
Why It Was Special:
• You could actually see who visited your site and what they thought.
• It was an early form of digital reputation—popular websites had tons of guestbook entries.
• It created real, one-on-one connections—the internet felt small, in the best way.
Why It Died:
• Once blogging and forums became more popular, guestbooks started feeling clunky and outdated.
• Spambots absolutely destroyed guestbooks. You’d come back one day, and instead of friendly messages, your guestbook was flooded with links to “Hot Singles in Your Area.”
2. Webrings – The Original Social Networks
Imagine you’re a fan of, say, Final Fantasy VII in the late 90s. There’s no Twitter, no Facebook Groups—how do you find like-minded people?
Enter webrings.
Webrings were organized circles of related websites. If you had a website about a specific topic, you could join a webring, and in return, you’d get a small widget at the bottom of your site with links to other members.
Clicking “Next” would take you to the next site in the ring, “Previous” would go back, and there was usually a hub page listing all the sites in that webring. It was a decentralized way of browsing the internet based on interest rather than algorithms.
Why It Was Special:
• It was purely community-driven—people had to apply to be in a webring.
• It created organic discovery—you never knew what amazing site you’d stumble onto next.
• It kept the internet weird, diverse, and personal.
Why It Died:
• Search engines like Google rendered them obsolete—why browse a webring when you could just search for what you wanted?
• The rise of social media and forums made webrings feel like a relic of the past.
• Many of the old webring services shut down, and webmasters didn’t want to maintain them manually.
3. Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) – The Proto-Forums
Before the World Wide Web was even a thing, we had BBSes—essentially, dial-up message boards that were accessed via phone lines. You’d literally call a BBS using a modem, and once connected, you could chat, leave messages, and even play early online games.
Each BBS was its own small community, usually run by a single enthusiast who hosted it from their home computer. They had usernames, message boards, and even private messaging—it was social networking before the web even existed.
Why It Was Special:
• It was hyper-local—BBSes were often community-based.
• It was an underground network—only certain people even knew how to access them.
• It had early versions of everything we associate with social media today—profiles, messaging, forums.
Why It Died:
• The World Wide Web happened.
• Dial-up sucked—waiting 5 minutes for a message board to load was painful.
• The rise of big online forums like phpBB and vBulletin made them obsolete.
4. AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) – The First Status Updates
AIM wasn’t just a chat app—it was THE social network of the early 2000s. If you weren’t on AIM, did you even exist?
People lived and died by their buddy lists and away messages. AIM was the first time people had “status updates”—away messages were like mini-tweets, where you’d post your deepest 14-year-old thoughts, emo lyrics, or inside jokes for all your friends to see.
If someone blocked you, you’d KNOW. If your crush signed in, you’d feel butterflies. And if someone left a cryptic away message, the drama was real.
Why It Was Special:
• Real-time chat in an era where email was the norm.
• Away messages were the original social status updates.
• You could show who you were friends with through your buddy list.
Why It Died:
• Social media made it redundant—Facebook and MySpace absorbed all its features.
• People moved to texting and mobile messaging.
• AIM shut down in 2017, taking with it an entire generation’s digital memories.
The Legacy of Early Social Media
All of these early platforms, despite being primitive by today’s standards, laid the foundation for what we now call social media.
• Guestbooks became comment sections.
• Webrings became Facebook Groups & Subreddits.
• Bulletin Boards evolved into modern forums and Discord servers.
• AIM’s away messages became Twitter & Instagram Stories.
But the big difference? The early web was decentralized, personal, and creative.
Today, we’re locked into corporate-owned social media where algorithms decide what we see. Back then, we chose our own experiences, hand-curated our favorite sites, and built communities based on passion, not engagement metrics.
Maybe that’s why people are revisiting these old ideas—rebuilding webrings, embracing personal blogs, and leaving traditional social media. The internet wasn’t always about chasing virality—it was about expression, discovery, and connection.
Maybe it’s time we got back to that.
🚀 Do you remember any of these? Did I miss any weird early social networks? Drop a comment (or sign my digital guestbook… if only).