There's no place like the old internet

[sadgrl]

Old Web vs. New Web

I started using the internet when I was seven years old. In 2021, it’s not too shocking to imagine a seven year old with unrestricted access to the internet. In 1999, though… different story, different internet.

Recently I’ve been interested in the evolution of the internet and why it feels like a drastically different place. As someone who has spent a lot of time participating in ‘online spaces’, I have watched the internet as a whole completely shift.

These terms mean nothing outside of this project, so I wanted to define what I personally consider to be the biggest distinctions between “old web” and “new web”.

Old Web	Examples	Marked By
Old Web	Myspace LiveJournal Xanga hobby sites web forums personal free blogs	Personalization long-form blogging self-expression emphasis on anonymity individualistic
New Web	Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest Discord professional blogs income-generating	Standardization short-form blogging self-perception emphasis on 'building your brand' capitalistic

So, when did things change?

Social media killed the blogging …star?

The above graph is from Google Trends about the interest in the term social media over time. In 2009, the social media label really appeared to take off.

Here is one for the word “blog”:

The height of blogging appeared to occur in 2009, but started to fall as social media grew.

Some affectionately refer to the before days of the internet as its wild west phase. It was a period of time in which the internet belonged to, well, just about anyone. It was less of a highly-sterilized popularity contest and more of an unregulated chaotic neighborhood. But it was beautiful.

Social media as we know it today barely existed before 2009, which isn’t too surprising considered that Facebook had recently started to seriously take off. Social media definitely existed, though, even though we didn’t know it as that back then. I consider any site that allowed you to post unique content and connect with others to be ‘social media’. Some that I used and enjoyed included Myspace and blogging platforms like Xanga and LiveJournal. Suppression of Personalization in Social Media.

One of my favorite aspects that these services shared was the ability to make your ‘page’ look however you wanted – if you were willing to learn how to code or look up (or possibly pay for) pre-made themes.

Facebook was one of the first widely-used social networks to remove that aspect of having an online presence. Even early instant messaging software (I’m looking at you, AIM and MSN) allowed you to change your font color and background to add some custom colors and font choices to your chats. Following in Facebook’s footsteps, the next big social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Discord limited the amount of customization allowed. (Oh and I didn’t forget about Tumblr, but we’ll never forgive them for selling out to Yahoo.)

Emphasis changed from freedom of self-expression to providing a standardized experience for all users, across the front and back end. This, again, has its ups and downs. No longer do we have to squint to read poorly contrasted text on a friend’s semi-opaque div with a busy background. At most, these sites let us choose a username, a short description, choose an avatar and maybe change the background color. It’s standardized: everyone’s “profile” looks the same, which puts the emphasis on the content and not on the profile itself. But at the same time it’s depressing. Who wants to live in a neighborhood where every single house looks exactly the same?

Limitations of Creating a Personal Website

In the really early days, you pretty much had to know how to code if you wanted a website. Eventually site-builders started cropping up (Tripod and Freewebs come to mind) but they were usually pretty limited.

Today there are a number of resources and tools for website creation, and they are easily accessible* from the perspective of the average person with average-to-low experience in those areas. Accessible has an asterisk because, of course, it’s only sort-of accessible for free, but more readily accessible if the creator has a reliable income (or wants to just pay someone else to make it).

That’s because even though there are tools like Wix and WordPress that offer a free-tier of website building, they are extremely limited by what kind of themes and page building features you can use, the domain you use, etc.

Another thing to keep in mind is that WordPress and Wix aren’t really networks, they’re platforms. They are websites designed to exist at a specific URL, but getting “found” is completely up to the creator to manage. This is different than a networking platform like Xanga, where you could choose to join “blog rings” that consisted of a bunch of users who shared the same interests.

If you’re an “internet hobbyist” and want to create your own little space on the web, it’s not cheap. I signed up for this blog on the cheapest hosting plan I could find and I bought a similarly cheap URL. It came to $80 just to get everything launched (although it should be noted I took the annual plan – there is a monthly option). That $80 is only good for about a year though, when I’ll need to renew my plan. It’s a lot of money to have a cool hobby site that isn’t going to generate any revenue.

A lot of really cool “hobby” websites have exceptionally short ‘lives’ because the owner may not have the available funds to keep it maintained (especially if it’s getting a high amount of traffic – which increases server requirements and costs).

The Dangers of the Internet

Everyone is familiar with the notion of not giving out too much personal information on the internet. I wonder if it’s even emphasized as much as it was when I was younger (though obviously, it did not stop me.)

Lurking online as someone who is anonymous is a little relieving in a way. Some websites like Reddit still work this way, where anyone can create an account tied to a username and it’s up to the (questionably truthful) content to reveal further personal information. Lurking doesn’t mix well when you’re identified by a real name that’s tied to all the rest of your personal info. That leads to stalkers and doxxing.

I feel like it was easier to get lost on the internet as an anonymous person in the early days. Very few sites were locked behind the need to sign up, but also our personal information wasn’t commodified as aggressively as it is today.

Over time, it became even more detrimental to expose too much of your private life on the internet. A piece of heated self-expression could be used against you by a potential hiring manager. An innocuous photo could include just enough personal information to get you doxxed or swatted by anonymous trolls.

Some social media sites are making it more difficult to register under the illusion of anonymity. In 2014, Facebook introduced a policy that would require users to use their real names on their profile. They defended it by saying “that way, you’ll always know who you’re connecting with”. But this sat poorly with many different people for a variety of reasons.

Don’t even get me started on how all of the social media sites are selling our data as a ‘byproduct’ of our participation.

These all accrue as ‘dangers’ of the internet. Why bother pursuing a creative endeavor, or anything that would draw attention to yourself online if there’s the potential of:

Losing your job
Getting doxxed and swatted
Getting catfished or otherwise scammed
Getting “exposed” if you’re writing about sensitive information
Handing over all of your info to big data (lol we all already do this)

Most of these items have the potential to be life-ruining.

Sure, all of this was rampant in the old web but it was less centralized and the data required to perform these feats (like finding someone’s home address) were way more difficult for the average person to find.

The First Popularity Contest

Myspace is the first site that sticks out to me as being a popularity contest. For many, the goal was to make as many friends as possible. For some, it was absolutely a business venture, especially with the prevalence of musicians using Myspace as a place to promote your music.

On the Myspace platform, promoting yourself was affectionately referred to as ‘whoring yourself out’. Anyone who has ever hopped on a w4w (whore4whore) train knows what I’m talking about.

The thing is, unless you were a musician or a model, what did you use that popularity for? To get picture comments, mostly. Others simply wore it as a badge of honor on their profile. Importantly, the emphasis was on ‘being’ popular as opposed to being popular and creating ‘content’. Other than music, blogs and bulletins, Myspace didn’t really have a space to promote specific content. The point of value used for someone’s profile was maybe their layout, mostly their profile content/flair and of course pictures.

Getting popular is a dream for many nowadays, since the bar has been raised so high. Some of the most popular profiles on Myspace averaged a friend count of 2 or 3 million. The most followed Twitter account at the time of writing has over 128 million followers. Of course, there are varying degrees of popularity but to give a sense, Kim Kardashian (an established celebrity) has 68.7 million followers and Charli D’amelio (a relatively new TikTok celebrity) has 5.2 million followers. It’s not a 1:1 comparison but it’s interesting to compare the obvious increase in followers per ‘online popularity’ over time.

The internet, like many other things, is much more fast-paced now. Things go viral all the time and stay relevant for hours before fading into obscurity. If you look up any guide on how to effectively market your social media, it involves scheduling regular posts so your content shows up to other people on a consistent basis, generating exposure to your profile. You have to find a niche, promote your content and in some cases, post filler content to make your blog not look spammy. I will say that I have done all of this. Doing it feels performative and vapid, but… it makes money. Oh… and this isn’t over. Part 3 incoming: C.R.E.A.M. – Cybercapitalism Rules Everything Around Me

The internet has become, especially in recent years, a valuable marketing avenue.

I would compare the old web to a cozy town with all different types of houses and people living there, including some small businesses. The new web on the other hand is the ad-littered gentrified cyberpunk skyrise they replaced the cozy town with.

Essentially making money is one of the main, modern functions of having a personal space on the internet. This doesn’t just apply to businesses. Think of crowdfunding. Yeah, there are sites where you can crowdfund a cool project for something you’ll eventually buy, but there’s also sites like GoFundMe where people crowdfund their medical and legal bills.

It’s becoming more common for high-follower social media accounts to ‘signal boost’ posts by less popular people who are asking for donations in order to meet basic needs like feeding their family or paying their rent.

A lot of sources approach this as, “how wholesome! Now people who need help have a more accessible way of getting it.” I’m sorry, I can’t see it as anything but dystopian. Yeah, it’s great that our society has failed us and we’re forced to use the internet to beg. Super uplifting.

One of the biggest benefits of being an ‘influencer’ is that influencers make money. They have an ‘audience’ of users and businesses want to take advantage of the user’s audience in exchange for a fee – by having them promote a product or service. Many influencers also have their own business, ranging from blogs to ecommerce to sex work. Marketing is the hardest part of having a business, and having an expansive following makes that so much easier. Search Engine Optimization

One of the most striking differences between old and new concerns the Google search engine, it’s popularity, and the search results algorithm. A new “old web” trend is something I’ve seen affectionately referred to as a “discovery engine”. It differs from a search engine because the results are not impacted by an algorithm that shows the top sites and results first. Their purpose is to discover cool and unique corners of the web that you might not otherwise see. On the old web, we didn’t need “discovery engines” because that’s what search engines were!

It began with the sharp rise of Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. If someone develops, designs and writes their website in a particular way, their site has a higher chance of being found higher up on the list of results when people perform a related Google search.

In this article from Forbes, it says “Most SEO hucksters are simply offering a form of Silicon Snake Oil. In many cases that oil includes a healthy dose of clickbait, which these firms suggest be spread across social media platforms.” It’s no surprise, then, that clickbait penetrates every corner of the web. I’ll tell a short personal story: I wanted to be a freelance journalist, make my own blog, work from home and be free from “the man”. I spent some time doing research on all of these sites who claim ANYONE can make money online by starting a successful blog. The bottom line is, yeah, anyone can if you’re willing to sell your authenticity and soul for SEO-optimized blog entries.

Take a look at this Blog Headline Generator, which I had discovered at the time. Let’s say I wanted to write about cats, so I type in “cats” and here are my first five results:

10 Tell-Tale Signs You Need to Get a New Cats
The Best Advice You Could Ever Get About Cats
11 Embarrassing Cats Faux Pas You Better Not Make
The 12 Worst Types Cats Accounts You Follow on Twitter
20 Gifts You Can Give Your Boss if They Love Cats

I thought I signed up to be a writer, not someone who generates clickbait.

If getting seen is the end goal, then SEO is where it’s at. Aside from marketing on social media to a huge following, how else is someone going to find your site? At the time of writing this there are 1.83 billion websites on the internet.

There are people who create sites and leave them up to generate passive income. There’s an entire subreddit called r/passiveincome. One popular way to pull this off is to create an SEO-optimized website that gains enough views over time to essentially make you money by just keeping it running and available. People make money via clicks on ads, or from affiliate links that advertise products on sites like Amazon. SEO optimization has the opposite effect of creating an open, accessible and decentralized web.

Software as a Service

There’s another horrible trend that I’m only going to cover briefly, and that’s the prevalence of Software as a Service or SaaS. On the “old” internet, if you needed a tool, you bought it one time and that was it. On the “new” internet, if you need a tool, you need to subscribe to a monthly or yearly service to get and keep the service. This has its ups and downs and it makes a bit of sense to me why it’s become so common, but it’s such a nightmare to deal with as a consumer.

For example, I needed to purchase a survey tool for my job. It was recommended to me by someone who had used it a few years ago. They told me it cost $100 to run a single survey. I went to the site to check out their package and they had changed it to $199/month. If you wanted to run the survey for 3 months, it would cost $600, compared to ‘the before times’ when it was a $100 flat fee. Yikes.

Basically,

The point of this whole thing was basically just to lay out my feelings (and evidence) about how the internet has changed. I've seen someone say "the modern web is like wading through garbage". I've also seen it described as "cookie cutter" and I agree with both of these sentiments. The next item I want to tackle is showcasing how the old web is coming back. Thanks for reading!

Comments

old web nostolgia

[nkizz]

hey there!
I usually don't reply to posts like this, but I thought I'd take part in the old web tradition of arguing with randos on the internet ;D
I'm confused by your saying that old web sites had an emphasis on anonymity, most everyone I'm aware of used their real names on MySpace, and many on Live Journal. Hell, half the pages on Geocities had a selfie of the creator right on them! Also, discord provides an incredible amount of customization, bots, custom emojis, specified channels, mark down, it's a very flexible platform!

Additionally, there's nothing stopping you from setting up your own webserver! A Raspberry Pi can be had for 35 bucks, sips electricity, and can easily host small sites like this, there's no need to be spending 80 bucks a year. The reason all of those free site hosts shut down is that web hosting on a large scale takes money, and they couldn't find it once the venture capital ran out.

I guess what I'm saying is that if you don't want to participate in SaaS, or in SEO farming, or in influencer culture, don't. The internet is a big place, if people want to set up passive income, or farm followers, or whatever, it's fine by me. And these platforms have opened up the internet to so many more folks who don't want to learn how to write HTML, or find a webring, or figure out not to have their PHPBB forum wiped out by script kiddies. Just my two cents :D