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'''WebChat Broadcasting System''', or '''WBS''' for short, was a [[virtual community]] that existed 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 the largest and best-known social media website of its time.<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&lpg=PA66&pg=PA66&vq=%22WebChat+Broadcasting+System%22&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false | 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
==Features==
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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>
In May 1997 WBS had 1.4 million registered users. The other large web chat company 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=
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=
WBS frequently hosted real-time multimedia programming events, which only increased as its popularity grew. Such events attracted celebrities such as [[Tom Clancy]], the celebrity cast of [[Star Trek]], bands [[Soundgarden]] and [[Metallica]], the former president of [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]], Lawrence Grossman from [[NBC|NBC News]], [[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>
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==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.
==External links==
* [http://classic-wbs.net/ Revived WebChat Broadcasting System
* [https://web.archive.org/web/
* [http://www.wendielash.com/ Homepage of WBS co-founder Wendie Bernstein Lash]
* [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]
* [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
* [https://www.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
{{Webby Awards|cat=Community|year=1998|type=Nominee}}
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