WebChat Broadcasting System
WebChat Broadcasting System (or WBS for short) was a virtual community that existed during the 1990s. It was founded in 1990 in Menlo Park, California. Supported by online advertising, it was one of few services like it at the time to offer free integrated community services including chat, homesteading, messaging, and user profiles.
Audience
WBS offered an array of chat rooms categorized into what were referred to as "hubs." A large number of these rooms were dedicated to affinity groups based on age, race/ethnicity, religion, and sexuality. Others were specific to topics such as dating, entertainment, computers and the internet, travel, video games, roleplaying games, and the arts.
Known Rooms
General Hub
- Have a Friend
- Hallway
- Hot Tub
- Current Events/Politics
- WebTV
Age Specific Hub
- Preteen
- Teen 13-15
- Teen 16-19
- Twentysomething
- Thirtysomething
- Fortysomething
- Fifty Plus
International and Ethnic Hub
- Habla Espanol?
- African-American
- British
- Mexican
- Native American
Support and Lifestyles Hub
- Christian
- Comics 'n Stuff
- Cowboy Talk
- Girl Talk
- Gothic Cathedral
- Guy Talk
- Psych Central
- Sex Talk
Roleplaying Games Hub
- Anime
- Glenshadow's Tavern (later Nia's Tavern) - hosted by Chris Schiebel [1]
- Inn of the Weary Traveller
- The Nexus
Growth
In February 1997, WBS reached a milestone of 1 million registered users, accruing 4,000 new registered users and 5.5 million page views every day. At this point, it was featuring 200 individual affinity groups. Within a week of the launch of a new feature to allow members to create their own home pages, over 15,000 members had begun using it. [2]
WBS frequently hosted real-time multimedia programming events, which only increased as its popularity grew. Such events attracted the likes of celebrities such as Tom Clancy, the celebrity cast of Star Trek, bands Soundgarden and Metallica, the former president of PBS, Lawrence Grossman from NBC News, United States Senator Arlen Specter, and feminist Gloria Steinem.[2] [3]
Executives
Bayard Winthrop, President and CEO of WBS, was a frequent spokesperson for the company. After its buyout, he subsequently went on to become CEO of Freeboard, a San Francisco-based sporting goods manufacturer. [4]
Buyout
WBS was bought out in April 1998 by Infoseek for approximately USD 6.7 million (roughly 350,000 shares of Infoseek stock at that time). WBS boasted 2.7 million members, 350,000 member home pages, and an average of over 140 million page views per month (roughly 5 million per day). It was one of the largest and longest-running online communities on the internet.[5]
Within the next year, the format of WBS competely changed. In September 1999 it became part of the Go Network. Eventually, Go Network was taken over by The Walt Disney Company and WBS faded completely from existence.
Aftermath
Many displaced members who had previously frequented the roleplaying game rooms on WBS began finding homes in new services that were springing up. Some of these include Silver Crossings, Ethereal Realms, Illusionary Minds Chat, World Broadcasting System, and others.
Relaunch
A personal attempt spanning over a number of years was made by a former WBS member to resurrect the site. A general timeline of the events comprising this effort is included below.
- May 2002: An individual under the handle of "ChillyBob" purchases the then-dormant domain wbs.net. The domain holds only a landing page with a guestbook where former members can exchange communications and express opinions regarding the possible resurfacing of WBS. [6]
- September 2002: The site becomes a set of forums organized using the same categorization scheme as the original site. [7]
- January 2003: A new landing page appears indicating that plans were underway to add new member services. [8]
- April 2003: One of the planned member service offerings is revealed to be free e-mail. [9]
- November 2003: The site is replaced with a notice to indicate that the site had been closed until further notice. [10]
- December 2003: The notice is changed to indicate that the site might return in early 2004. [11]
- February 2004: A new notice is put up stating that private development on the site is in progress and the domain owner has no intention of selling the domain. [12]
- May 2004: The site begins redirecting to the landing page of a different web site, most likely that of the site's hosting provider, which most likely indicates that the hosting account became inactive. [13]
- June 2004: A new notice is put up indicating that the site is accessible at a new address, which leads to a slightly modified version of the forums from September 2002. [14]
- August 2004: A new landing page offers a link to the forums as well as new sections for image galleries and games. [15]
- March 2005: wbs.net ceases to function and the site disappears, seemingly without any warning.
References
- ^ wbs.net forums thread regarding activity of Glenshadow's Tavern following the buyout of WBS, a map of the Tavern, and a thumbnail of the Tavern logo
- ^ a b WebChat Broadcasting System hits 1 million registered users on FindArticles
- ^ Internet Users Flock to WebChat Broadcasting System on FindArticles
- ^ Salesforce.com Scoops Microsoft with Team Edition Launch from NewsFactor Network
- ^ Infoseek to Acquire WebChat Broadcasting System on ClickZ News
- ^ Guestbook on Internet Archive
- ^ wbs.net - powered by vBulletin on Internet Archive
- ^ wbs.net >> Online Community (January 2003) on Internet Archive
- ^ wbs.net >> Online Community (April 2003) on Internet Archive
- ^ WBS.net >> Online Community (November 2003) on Internet Archive
- ^ WBS.net >> Online Community (December 2003) on Internet Archive
- ^ WBS.net >> Online Community (February 2004) on Internet Archive
- ^ SpiralHost >> Virtual Luxury on Internet Archive
- ^ Welcome! on Internet Archive
- ^ WBS.net >> Online Community (August 2004) on Internet Archive
Links
- wbs LiveJournal community for previous members
- Internet Communities article from BusinessWeek with a quote from CEO Bayard Winthrop
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