From BBS to Facebook, Here’s How Messaging Platforms Have Changed over the Years
In 1971, Ray Tomlinson wrote the first inter-computer messaging program, SNDMSG. Because he had to differentiate between the receiver’s username and the name of the computer they were using, he needed a character that wouldn’t be part of either. He hit "SHIFT-P" on the Model 33 Teletype, got an @, and the rest was history. Email was born. . . .
In 1978, Randy Seuss and Ward Christensen took a jury-rigged clone of an Altair computer, connected it to a modem, and wrote the software that would change the world. CBBS, which stood for Chicago Bulletin Board System, was a server that anyone in the world could call up on their own computer, using their own modem, through regular phone lines. . . .
Usenet, which came alive in 1979, was a public message board divided into different "newsgroups" on various topics. . . . Admins at each site, which were generally Unix servers at universities or corporate laboratories, would decide which newsgroups to carry, and the software would automatically dial up other servers to send every message posted to these newsgroups.
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