Giving @Flipboard another spin, since it’s a big supporter of the #Fediverse. It’s also a survivor…I remember covering it on ReadWriteWeb when it launched (or maybe that was a post by @jon?). Either way, here’s my #InternetHistory mag, if you’re a Flipboard user: https://flipboard.com/@ricmac/internet-history-e041t55qz
At the end of 2007, ReadWriteWeb unveils our new design — featuring a slash of vibrant red in the header! Also, we co-host the first Crunchies and I meet Mashable’s founder. (part 026 of my Web 2.0 memoir) https://cybercultural.com/p/026-rww-redesign-2007-crunchies/ #InternetHistory
In mid-2008, ReadWriteWeb expands its writing team (including two future tech blogging stars) and I put some much needed structure into the business. Also, we ink a syndication deal with The New York Times. https://cybercultural.com/p/035-indie-media-business-20/ #InternetHistory #Web20 #Serialization
It's June 2010: I take another long series of flights to New York City for ReadWriteWeb's latest 'real-time web' event. Before that, I chat with Twitter's Dick Costolo and get interviewed by ABC News Radio about filter bubbles and the zombie apocalypse. https://cybercultural.com/p/051-realtimeweb-summit-nyc-2010/ #InternetHistory
The day after our first conference in October 2009, the ReadWriteWeb bloggers socialise at a Palo Alto bar. It's not all fun and games though, because I need to make some changes at RWW. (part 043 of my Web 2.0 memoir) https://cybercultural.com/p/043-team-rww-palo-alto-2009/ #InternetHistory
Lots of great memories (and photos!) in this post. It's October 15, 2009, and ReadWriteWeb holds its first ever event, a one-day 'unconference' at the beautiful Computer History Museum in Mountain View. And fediverse fans: note the Activity Streams and PubSubHubbub sessions and pics...maybe a few of you were there that day? https://cybercultural.com/p/042-readwrite-realtime-web-summit-2009/ #InternetHistory #FediverseHistory #unconference
Remember when we thought Twitter was the key to democracy? 😂 It's March 2010 and the Paley Center hosts an event in NYC starring Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and your humble RWW editor. We're discussing the future of democracy. https://cybercultural.com/p/046-ai-weiwei-event-march-2010/ #InternetHistory #Web20 #Democracy
On my latest trip to New York City, in May 2010, Sean and I attend Creative Week to scope out the venue for ReadWriteWeb's next event, we meet VC Fred Wilson, and visit the New York Times skyscraper. (part 050 of my Web 2.0 memoir) https://cybercultural.com/p/meeting-new-york-times-may2010/ #InternetHistory
Take a trip with me back to social media in 2010, when the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Digg and StumbleUpon were SENDING TRAFFIC to websites (I know, hard to believe, right? People actually used to click on links!) Friends, it was a halcyon time for tech blogs and other indie publications. https://cybercultural.com/p/054-social-media-2010/ #InternetHistory #SocialMediaHistory
For those of you not old enough to remember the internet of 2010, or if you are old enough and want a nostalgia kick, check out my latest Cybercultural yearly wrapup post. 2010 had Instagram, influencers, iPad apps, A Facebook film, and more... https://cybercultural.com/p/internet-2010/ #InternetHistory
On the first anniversary of launching my serialized book, I reflect on what I've learned — including the pros and cons of my pivot from Substack newsletter to indie website. https://cybercultural.com/p/online-serialization-thoughts/ #Serialization #InternetHistory #IndieWebsites
It's a new year of Cybercultural, your favourite #InternetHistory indie website. This year I'll be focusing more on the dot-com era (1990s) and the terrible 2010s. You can expect 1 post per week going forward — subscribe for free via email or RSS.
Ok, onto this week's post: Multimedia Gulch in 1994, when CD-ROM designers lived fast in a time of slow modems! https://cybercultural.com/p/multimedia-gulch-1994/ #Multimedia #Dotcom
In this week's Cybercultural post, I look back on Tumblr in 2012. In particular, I explore how the gifset — a collection of animated gifs — came to epitomize Tumblr's quirky appeal and helped redefine blogging. (note: I fired up my YouTube a/c for this post, recording 4 video screencasts to illustrate some beautiful 2012 gifsets) https://cybercultural.com/p/tumblr-2012/ #InternetHistory #Tumblr #gifsets
What was the internet like 30 years ago? I'm glad you asked. In 1995, Netscape went public and Microsoft noticed the internet — the browser wars began. Also that year, Amazon and eBay launched, JavaScript and PHP debuted, and the web went mainstream. https://cybercultural.com/p/internet-1995/ #InternetHistory #1995Nostalgia
New on Cybercultural -> Over 1996, the Web became an experimental testing ground for new ways of distributing and promoting music. RealAudio, Rocktropolis, Music Boulevard and IUMA were some of the leading sites. https://cybercultural.com/p/state-of-online-music-1996/ #InternetHistory
Wrapping up the 1996 series on Cybercultural, in this post I look at web portals, the continued rise of e-commerce, CSS and Flash arriving on the scene for web designers, and the emergence of web applications from Netscape. Starting next week, I'll be diving into 1997 internet history. https://cybercultural.com/p/internet-1996/ #InternetHistory
This week's #InternetHistory post on Cybercultural was an excuse to revisit my favourite boyhood band, Duran Duran. Back in 1997, they became the first major label artist to offer an online single for sale. This was a couple of years before Napster and more than 5 years before the iTunes Store! It was all thanks to a couple of now mostly forgotten companies: N2K and Liquid Audio. Full story: https://cybercultural.com/p/digital-music-sales-1997/ #DuranDuran #90s
In 1997, the first browser war began amid new internet trends like 'push' and DHTML. Meanwhile, instant messaging apps like ICQ and AIM became popular and GeoCities achieved 1 million users. https://cybercultural.com/p/internet-1997/ #InternetHistory
I look back on the 3 musketeers of web design in the 1990s: Jeffrey Zeldman, David Siegel, and Jakob Nielsen. Each had a distinct web design philosophy (and if you read till the end, you'll discover which one I believe 'won' in the long term). I focus in particular on 1997, which is when Flash and CSS emerged. But I also look back on the careers of the 3 gurus from our 2025 perspective. https://cybercultural.com/p/web-design-1997/ #InternetHistory #WebDesign
Back in 1997, the browser plugin RealPlayer became synonymous with "buffering" — which for 90s web users meant constant, annoying delays in streaming a video online (usually over dial-up). Funnily enough though, the buffering epidemic didn't dampen the HYPE for online video streaming that year. Wired magazine even declared that RealVideo was leading a “war with TV.” And you thought AI hype was bad... https://cybercultural.com/p/video-streaming-1997/ #InternetHistory #VideoStreaming
"I want my MTV...as long as it's the Java version in IE4."
MTV's website in 1997 was a hodgepodge of technologies: Java, JavaScript, frames and more. The quality of your user experience depended on which browser you used: Netscape or IE. https://cybercultural.com/p/browser-war-1990s/ #InternetHistory #BrowserWar
"Well, we don’t feel threatened." That's the Olim brothers — founders of dot-com online music retailer, CDnow — talking about Amazon. It's from a book they published in 1998 entitled "The CDnow Story: Rags to Riches on the Internet". At the start of '98, they were the leaders in online music retail. But in June 1998 [cue ominous music] Amazon branched out from books and added a Music tab to its fast growing e-commerce website... https://cybercultural.com/p/cdnow-amazon-1998/ #InternetHistory #CDnow #Amazon
As search engines in 2025 shift from providing links to (AI) answers — and all the angst that is causing web publishers — I thought I'd take a look at what search engines were like in 1998...one year before Google became popular. At that time search was seen as just one part of the portal experience. But little did AltaVista know, it wouldn't be the center of attention on @dannysullivan's Search Engine Watch for much longer. https://cybercultural.com/p/search-1998/ #InternetHistory #searchengines
This week's Cybercultural article looks back on 1998, the year of the portal: Excite, Netscape Netcenter, Yahoo, AOL, MSN and others all competing for eyeballs and trying to be sticky. But with so many portals, some inevitably failed. https://cybercultural.com/p/portals-1998/ #InternetHistory
I take a look at how Online Identity has evolved through the years, from the fluid identities of BowieWorld to the neutered identity culture that Facebook introduced in the 2000s. David Bowie himself played with virtual personas (how could he not?!) and I also look at a 1999 book by US sociologist Sherry Turkle. https://cybercultural.com/p/online-identity-bowieworld-1999/ #InternetHistory #OnlineIdentity
