WebChat Broadcasting System: Difference between revisions

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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&vqq=%22WebChat+Broadcasting+System%22&redir_escpg=y#v=onepage&q&f=falsePA66 | 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=59-6059–60 | url=https://books.google.com/books?redir_esc=y&id=t22GwVs_jEwC&q=WebChat+Broadcasting+System#v=snippet&q=WebChat%20Broadcasting%20System&f=false | 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==

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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. 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=97-11297–112 | 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]].

==External links==