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| type = [[Web chat]], [[Internet forum|message board]], [[Web hosting service|hosting service]]
| language = English
| registration = Yes, required.<ref name="French_(1999)_p66" />
| owner =
| author =
}}
'''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, homesteading, messaging, and user profiles. Extremely popular during the mid to late 1990s in the era just prior to the [[Dot-com bubble|Dot-com bust]], WBS was at that time the largest and best-known chat, interactive and event network on the Internet.<ref name="French_(1999)_p66">{{Cite book | last=French | first=Deanie | authorlink= | coauthors= | title=Internet Based Learning: An Introduction and Framework for Higher Education | publisher=Stylus Publishing, LLC. | year=1999 | ___location= | page=21466 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sYNWtoec0O8C | doi&lpg= | idPA66&pg=PA66&vq=%22WebChat+Broadcasting+System%22&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false | isbn=9781579220075}}</ref><!--page 66--> 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 inon 15 September 1999 after its chatrooms were integrated into Disney's existing [[Go.com|Go Network]] chatrooms.<ref name="WBS_closure">{{Cite web | title=Untitled statement about WBS' closure | 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=live}}</ref> A revival of WBS was launched in 2009 and is virtually identical to the original community.<ref>[http://classic-wbs.net WebChat Broadcasting System (Beta) - WBS.NET]. Retrieved on 2013-09-25.</ref>
==Features==
[[File:Wbs2.jpg|thumb|right|Portion of a salvaged logo]]
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 | last=McConnell | first=David | authorlink= | coauthors= | title=Implementing Computer Supported Cooperative Learning | publisher=Routledge | year=2000 | ___location= | pages=59, 60 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t22GwVs_jEwC | doi= | id= | 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==
[[File:WebChat Broadcasting System logo.jpg|thumb|right|Old logo used by WBS up until [[Circa|c.]] October 1997.<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>]]
[[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" />
In August 1996, WBS had 500,000 users and was growing by 3,000 users a day.
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