Before social media, there were Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes). These dial-up communities were the wild west of the early internet, built by hobbyists whose foundational work could have gone in wildly different directions.
The Blizzard That Built the First Social Network
Every social media post, forum
comment, and online message board owes its existence, in part, to a massive snowstorm. In January 1978, the Great Blizzard buried Chicago, trapping two computer hobbyists, Ward Christensen and Randy Suess, in their homes. The friends, who knew each other from a local computer club, had been idly tossing around an idea: what if they could create a central place for club members to post messages and announcements? With the city shut down, they suddenly had nothing but time. Working remotely over phone lines, Christensen and Suess spent two weeks coding what would become the Computerized Bulletin Board System, or CBBS. It went live on February 16, 1978. The 'what if' is almost too big to contemplate: without the blizzard forcing them indoors, would the project have remained a theoretical idea? Someone else would have eventually created a similar system, but the open, free, and hobbyist-driven ethos that Christensen and Suess baked into their design might have been lost. They gave the design away for free, setting a precedent that shaped the collaborative, non-commercial culture of the early internet.
The Activist Who Accidentally Connected the World
Today, we take for granted that online communities can span the globe. That innovation was largely the work of Tom Jennings, but he wasn't trying to build a global network; he was just trying to solve a local problem with his cobbled-together computer, which a friend called a "real mongrel" named Fido. In 1984, Jennings, a self-described "homo punk activist" and anarchist, wanted a better way to communicate securely and exchange information. He created a system, FidoNet, that allowed different BBSes to automatically call each other late at night (when phone rates were cheap) and exchange bundles of messages. It was built for resilience and decentralization, not profit. What began as a way to connect his board in San Francisco to a friend's in Baltimore quickly became the backbone of a sprawling, international network connecting tens of thousands of BBSes. The 'what if' here is one of motivation. If Jennings hadn't been an activist seeking a specific kind of communication tool, would the first major BBS network have been built with a corporate, top-down structure instead? FidoNet’s grassroots, user-operated model profoundly influenced the internet’s future forum culture.
The Counter-Culture Guru Who Nearly Kept It Niche
By 1985, Stewart Brand was already a counter-culture legend, famous for creating the "Whole Earth Catalog," a beloved print guide for self-sufficiency and communal living. When he co-founded one of the most influential online communities, The WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link), the original idea was to create a digital version of the catalog. It was conceived as a space for the same audience that had embraced the back-to-the-land movement. However, Brand made a crucial decision that changed everything. Instead of pre-populating the service with content, he insisted that the users should create the conversation topics themselves. This pivot turned The WELL from a simple content portal into a true virtual community, a place where writers, thinkers, and Grateful Dead fans converged to hold deep, long-form conversations. The 'what if' is fascinating: had Brand stuck to the original plan, The WELL might have been a static, digital magazine. Instead, by giving users control, it became a template for modern social media and a hotbed of digital culture that influenced everything from Craigslist to Salon.com itself, which later bought The WELL before selling it back to its members.
