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{{Infobox website
| name = WebChat Broadcasting System
| logo = File:WBS logo.gif
| logo_size = 200px
| logo_alt =
| logo_caption = Logo used by WBS from {{circa|October 1997}} to its merger with Go.com on 15 September 1999.<ref name="Archive_1997">See [https://web.archive.org/web/1997*/http://pages.wbs.net:80/ archived versions] of the splash page from 1997.</ref><ref name="WBS_closure" />
| url = [https://web.archive.org/web/19980212013302/http://pages.wbs.net/ wbs.net] (archived)
| commercial = Yes
| type = [[Web chat]], [[Internet forum|message board]], [[Web hosting service|hosting service]]
| language = English
| registration = Yes, required.<ref name="French_(1999)_p66" />
| owner =
| author =
| launch_date =
| current_status = Original site closed down; incorporated into [[Go.com]]. Site recreated in 2009 as classic-wbs.net
}}
'''WebChat Broadcasting System''', or '''WBS''' for short, is a [[virtual community]] created during the 1990s. Supported by online advertising, it was one of few services at the time to offer free integrated community services including chat rooms, message boards, and free personal web pages. Extremely popular during the mid to late 1990s in the era prior to the [[Dot-com bubble|Dot-com bust]], WBS was at that time the largest and best-known social media website on the internet.<ref name="French_(1999)_p66">{{Cite book | last=French | first=Deanie | title=Internet Based Learning: An Introduction and Framework for Higher Education | publisher=Stylus Publishing, LLC. | year=1999 | page=66 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sYNWtoec0O8C&q=%22WebChat+Broadcasting+System%22&pg=PA66 | isbn=9781579220075}}</ref> In 1998, WBS was acquired by the search engine [[Infoseek]], which was in turn acquired by [[Disney-ABC Television Group|Disney/ABC]]. The original WebChat Broadcasting System closed on 15 September 1999 after its chat rooms were integrated into Disney's existing [[Go.com|Go Network]] chat rooms.<ref name="WBS_closure">{{Cite web | title=Untitled statement about WBS' closure | url=http://hup1.go.com/cgi-bin/wbs/message.cgi | website=GO Network | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991130011633/http://hup1.go.com/cgi-bin/wbs/message.cgi | archive-date=30 November 1999 | url-status=dead}}</ref> A revival of WBS was launched in 2009 and is virtually identical to the original community.<ref name="classic-web.net">[http://classic-wbs.net WebChat Broadcasting System (Beta) - WBS.NET]. Retrieved on 25 September 2013.</ref>
==Features==
WBS featured browser-based chat, real-time discussion, with moderated chat rooms in addition to user-created private chat rooms. Common to webchat, its chat rooms required no software download to use.<ref name="business_journal"/> It allowed users to upload their own images into chat sessions and had three chat modes: streaming, frames, and no frames.<ref>{{Cite book | first=David | last=McConnell | year=2000 | title=Implementing Computer Supported Cooperative Learning | edition=2nd | publisher=[[Kogan Page]] | ___location=London, England | pages=59–60 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t22GwVs_jEwC&q=WebChat+Broadcasting+System | isbn=9780749431358}}</ref><ref name="yahoo" /> In addition to images users could add audio, video, and hotlinks to conversations. WBS also featured other services, such as email, and allowed users to create and maintain personal web pages. Membership was free.<ref name="business_journal" />
==History==
===Founding===
WBS was founded as the Internet Roundtable Society in 1990 by Michael J. Fremont and Wendie Bernstein Lash in [[Menlo Park, California]].<ref>{{Cite web | title=Corporate Backgrounder | url=http://wbs.net/wbs/press/press.html | date=10 December 1997 | website=WebChat Broadcasting System | access-date=6 May 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19971210161302/http://wbs.net/wbs/press/press.html | archive-date=10 December 1997 | url-status=dead}}</ref> It began as an "[[edutainment]]" company featuring such content as live Internet broadcasts of interviews with prominent individuals in science, technology and pop culture. As internet chatting gained popularity, the company began to focus on chat, whereupon the name was changed to the WebChat Broadcasting System in 1993.<ref name="yahoo">{{Cite web | author=CNET News staff | title=Yahoo adds voice to chat | website=[[CNET News]] | date=7 January 1997 | url=https://www.cnet.com/news/yahoo-adds-voice-to-chat/ | access-date=19 August 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025011355/http://news.cnet.com/Yahoo-adds-voice-to-chat/2100-1023_3-259979.html | archive-date=25 October 2012 | url-status=live}}</ref>
==
[[Internet Relay Chat|IRC]] had existed as a dedicated chatting network but was mostly used by seasoned Internet users. Chat websites capitalized on the growing base of Internet general users by providing a simpler, more attractive chatting interface. Chatting became focused on community and socialization.<ref name="yahoo" />
By August 1996, WBS had 500,000 registered users and was growing by over 3,000 users per day.
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. Registrations were not confirmed. 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.<ref name="1_million_accounts">{{Cite press release | url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1997_Feb_3/ai_19082095/ | title=WebChat Broadcasting System hits 1 million registered users | ___location=Menlo Park, California | publisher=[[Business Wire]], [[FindArticles]] | date=3 February 1997 | access-date=28 November 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060619111447/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1997_Feb_3/ai_19082095/ | archive-date=19 June 2006 | url-status=dead}}</ref>
By May 1997, WBS had grown to 1.4 million registered users. The other large web chat community at this time was WebGenesis Inc.'s [[theGlobe.com|The Globe]]. Also internet service provider [[AOL]] had over 14,000 chat rooms available to their customers through their non-web interface.<ref name="business_week">{{Cite news | first=Robert D | last=Hof | title=Breaking out of the yak pack | work=Business Week | publisher=McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. | date=May 5, 1997 | url=http://www.businessweek.com/1997/18/b35257.htm | access-date=19 August 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970617020734/http://www.businessweek.com/1997/18/b35257.htm | archive-date=17 June 1997 | url-status=dead}}</ref>
In June 1997, WBS hit 1.5 million registered users and had 7 million daily page views with over 200 rooms.<ref name="business_journal">{{Cite news | first=Lorna | last=Fernandes | title=Techweek - WebChat serves 1.5 million | work=Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal | date=20 June 1997 | url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/1997/06/23/newscolumn2.html | access-date=19 August 2009 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20200523110005/http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/1997/06/23/newscolumn2.html#selection-417.0-417.26 | archive-date=23 May 2020 | url-status=dead}}</ref>
WBS frequently hosted real-time multimedia programming events, which became more frequent as its popularity grew. Such events attracted many celebrities such as [[Tom Clancy]], the celebrity cast of [[Star Trek]], bands [[Soundgarden]] and [[Metallica]], the former president of [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] and [[NBC News]], [[Lawrence K. Grossman|Lawrence Grossman]], United States Senator [[Arlen Specter]], [[Intel]] CEO [[Andy Grove]] and feminist [[Gloria Steinem]].<ref name="1_million_accounts" /><ref>{{Cite press release | title=Internet Users Flock to WebChat Broadcasting System; Site Now the Largest Chatting Hub on the World Wide Web | ___location=Menlo Park, California | publisher=Business Wire, FindArticles | date=20 November 1995 | url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1995_Nov_20/ai_17769738 | access-date=23 May 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912013719/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1995_Nov_20/ai_17769738 | archive-date=12 September 2009 | url-status=dead}}</ref>
===
Web-based chatting in general began to lose popularity with the rise of several [[instant messaging]] desktop applications in the late 1990s. [[ICQ]] was first released in November 1996. [[AOL Instant Messenger]] was released in May 1997. Yahoo! Pager, later renamed [[Yahoo! Messenger]], launched on 9 March 1998. AOL acquired ICQ's parent company Mirabilis on 8 June 1998. MSN Messenger from [[Microsoft]], later renamed [[Windows Live Messenger]], debuted on 22 July 1999.
===
Infoseek bought out WBS for approximately $6.7 million, or about 350,000 shares of Infoseek stock in April 1998. At the time WBS had 2.7 million users.<ref name="la_times">{{Cite news | title=Infoseek to Buy WebChat Broadcasting | work=[[Los Angeles Times]] | publisher=[[Reuters]] | date=15 April 1998 | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-apr-15-fi-39335-story.html | access-date=23 May 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523111832/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-apr-15-fi-39335-story.html | archive-date=23 May 2020 | url-status=live}}</ref>
WBS daily page views were down to 5 million in April, 1998.<ref name="infoseek_losses">{{Cite news | title=Infoseek Pares Its Losses | work=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] | date=23 April 1998 | url=https://www.wired.com/1998/04/infoseek-pares-its-losses/ | access-date=23 May 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912022907/https://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/1998/04/11889 | archive-date=12 September 2009 | url-status=live}}</ref>
When Infoseek acquired WBS there had been several web portals that added chat as a service. [[Lycos]] had bought the [[Tripod.com|Tripod]] community in February 1998 and Yahoo had added a deal with [[GeoCities]] in January 1998. There was strong competition between the web portals to match each other's services. WBS, at the time of the Infoseek acquisition, had 2.7 million registered users. This total was more than the membership of Tripod and GeoCities combined. WBS had only 350,000 personal homepages at the time. Infoseek's three main competitors at the time were Lycos, Yahoo, and [[Excite (web portal)|Excite]].<ref>{{Cite web | first=Joe | last=Nickell | title=Web Portals Play Leapfrog | work=Wired | date=17 April 1998 | url=https://www.wired.com/1998/04/web-portals-play-leapfrog/ | access-date=19 August 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912023359/https://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/1998/04/11744 | archive-date=12 September 2009 | url-status=live}}</ref>
In 1998, Infoseek was purchased by the [[Go Network]]. On September 15, 1999, WBS was shut down and many of the more popular rooms were transferred to Go's Java-based chat system. All that was left for the members at that time was this simple message: "Go.Com has decided to close down WBS and move its most popular rooms to the chat rooms at Go.Com. Your home pages will still be viewable for an undetermined amount of time. Thank you for supporting WBS during its existence." By the Spring of 2000, all WBS home pages had been deleted. Go.com abandoned chat entirely in 2001.
==Migration==
After its demise, many patrons of WBS migrated to other browser-based chat sites where some of the general topic rooms were recreated. Notable sites created in the wake of WBS' closure included bigbob.com and mywbs.com, both of which were created by former WBS chatters, utilizing a similar browser-based chat system. It is likely that many WBS chatters began using instant messaging software, the popularity of which was increasing substantially at that time.
Martin Foster developed software that offered several of the features of the original WBS and IFC that had gained popularity. This code has been used in developing numerous chat sites which have attracted many former patrons of the original WBS, especially those who frequented the roleplaying rooms. It was originally developed to power Ethereal Realms, but the site now merely hosts the software for use on other sites.
==Audience==
WBS offered a wide array of chat rooms categorized into hubs. Many 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]]. The site would eventually host around 260 different chat rooms.
==Executives==
President and CEO Bayard Winthrop was a frequent spokesperson for the company.<ref>{{Cite news | first1=Robert D | last1=Hof | first2=Seanna | last2=Browder | first3=Peter | last3=Elstrom | title=Internet Communities – Forget surfers. A new class of Netizen is settling right in | url=http://www.businessweek.com/1997/18/b35251.htm | work=[[BusinessWeek]] | date=5 May 1997 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970617020651/http://www.businessweek.com/1997/18/b35251.htm | archive-date=17 June 1997 | url-status=dead}}</ref> After its buyout, he co-founded Freebord, a San Francisco-based sporting goods manufacturer, in January 2001.<ref>{{Cite web | title=BSV 09 Judging Panel | url=https://www.freebord.com/bsv-09-judging-panel/ | date=17 November 2009 | website=Freebord | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523102605/https://www.freebord.com/bsv-09-judging-panel/ | archive-date=23 May 2020 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Winthrop's_LinkedIn">{{Cite web | title=Bayard Winthrop | url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/bayard-winthrop-bbbb04b | website=[[LinkedIn]] | archive-url=https://archive.today/20200523102545/https://www.linkedin.com/in/bayard-winthrop-bbbb04b | archive-date=23 May 2020 | url-status=live}}</ref> From 2008 to 2011, Winthrop was the CEO of [[Chrome Industries]].<ref name="Winthrop's_LinkedIn" /> He left in March 2011 and proceeded to found [[American Giant]].<ref>{{Cite web | author=CNBC.com staff | title=Bayard Winthrop | url=https://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/10/bayard-winthrop.html | website=[[CNBC]] | date=10 March 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523104311/https://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/10/bayard-winthrop.html | archive-date=23 May 2020 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | first=Jennifer | last=Wang | title=The Man Behind the Hoodie That Started the Made-In-the-USA Apparel Movement | url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227003 | work=[[Entrepreneur (magazine)|Entrepreneur]] | date=26 June 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208130430/http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227003 | archive-date=8 February 2015 | url-status=dead}}</ref>
==2009 revival==
In July 2009, classic-wbs.net, a revival of WBS and virtually identical to the original community, was launched; most of the original chat rooms and features had been retained or recreated. The most noticeable differences were the lack of personal homepages and the chat rooms were not moderated. With no prior announcement, the revived WBS community was closed without explanation during the summer of 2023 and has not reappeared.<ref name="classic-web.net" />
==See also==
* [[Web chat]]
* [[Dot-com company]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
* {{Cite news | title=Chat Rooms Welcome AOL's Ad Drive | url=https://www.wired.com/1997/03/chat-rooms-welcome-aols-ad-drive/ | work=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] | date=6 March 1997 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912040915/https://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/1997/03/2403 | archive-date=12 September 2009 | url-status=live}}
* {{Cite journal | first1=A. Asbjørn | last1=Jøn | date=January 2010 | title=The Development of MMORPG Culture and The Guild | journal=Australian Folklore: A Yearly Journal of Folklore Studies | volume=25 | pages=97–112 | url=https://journals.kvasirpublishing.com/af/article/view/270/336 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523120416/https://journals.kvasirpublishing.com/af/article/view/270/336 | archive-date=23 May 2020 | url-status=live}} This paper discusses the place of WBS and the special interest rooms Nia's Tavern and the Inn of the Weary Traveler in [[History of massively multiplayer online games|the development]] of [[Massively multiplayer online role-playing game|online RPG gaming]].
==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19980212013302/http://pages.wbs.net/ WebChat Broadcasting System] (archived at the [[Wayback Machine]])
* [https://www.classic-wbs.net/ Revived WebChat Broadcasting System]
* [https://www.wendielash.com/ Homepage of WBS co-founder Wendie Bernstein Lash]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19961120061223/http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/JASON/HTML/PEOPLE_ballard_roundtable_interview.html Transcript of an Internet Roundtable Society webcast of an interview between WBS co-founder Michael J. Fremont and Dr. Robert Ballard] (archived at the Wayback Machine)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000826212021/https://witi.com/center/conferences/archives/95channels/transtei.shtml Transcript of an Internet Roundtable Society interview between WBS co-founder Wendie Bernstein Lash and Gloria Steinem], from the [[Women in Technology International]] (WITI) Conference in 1995 (archived at the Wayback Machine)
* [http://www.fateslabyrinth.net/ Fate's Labyrinth], a website that originally began as a chat room on WBS called Nia's Tavern
* [http://infinitybound.net Infinity Bound]
{{Webby Awards|cat=Community|year=1998|type=Nominee}}
{{Dot-com Bubble}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webchat Broadcasting System}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Companies based in Menlo Park, California]]
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