Dialed In: The Prehistory of Social Media

Long before online forums and communities like Reddit and Discord, and even before the World Wide Web, bulletin board systems (BBSs) reigned supreme. In the 1980s and '90s, millions of people participated in more than 100,000 BBSs.

Kevin Driscoll, author of the award-winning book The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media, and technology and society expert danah boyd joined CHM’s Marc Weber on stage to discuss the innovative world of BBSs and how they shaped today's digital world.

This conversation was recorded on April 25, 2024 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a part of the CHM Live series. To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.

To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org