Part 2: M is for Marketing on the Internet in the mid-90s

 

In our first installment back into the time machine with Internet Marketing in the 90s, we cruised through letters A-M. Why stop the fun there? Here’s the rest of the alphabet.

Got a memory that you’d like to share? Make a comment.

N is for Netscape – the first graphical browser. Life was much easier when you had to design for just one browser. The pulsating ‘N’ brings me back to a slower time.

O is for OMG: Not sure when this abbreviation became one of the most texted phrases/acronyms on the planet, but it must have started in the 90s!

P is for Prodigy – Can you fathom that we actually used to pay to belong to an online dial up content service? In the 90s, Prodigy was a big deal before AOL arrived on the scene.

Q is for Quicktime: Apple first released this multimedia framework in 1991. The company’s been a little busy since then with other things.

R is for Real Video – The quality wasn’t quite there, but it was amazing to think you could watch a streaming video on your computer. Today, it’s like turning on a light switch.

S is for Splash Pages – The annoying persistent interruption that is the Splash Page started taking over computer screens in the 90s. Where’s the ‘Close’ button when you need it?

T is for the theGlobe.com: Prior to Facebook, my space, Twitter becoming the glue of our lives, there was theglobe.com, an IPO high flier that never scaled audience or profits.

U is for Under Construction. Before the Web became the iterative, fluid, dynamic, organic community that it is today, we felt compelled to post hideously ugly ‘Under Construction’ graphics.

V is for Video. Yes, you could watch Web videos in the mid-90s. The quality though was mediocre at best. A 28.8 modem could only do so much; it was like trying to suck an elephant through a straw.

W is for What’s New at Yahoo: In 1994, I was able to review every new Web site that launched. Today, I’d have to hire hundreds of people to keep up with the volume.

X is for Text. Hey, there an ‘x’ in the word. The Web in the mid-90s was highly text-based because bandwidth was very scarce.

Y is for Young. The Web was VERY young in the mid-90s; a toddler just working to find his way. Today’s Web is mature, confident, and many-layered. It’s hard to picture the Internet of 2023.

Z is for Zine: Webzines were HUGE in the 90s, and we started to see niches. Webzines have now morphed into blogs, communities, and sites on anything and everything your heart desires.

Have a favorite 90’s digital memory that isn’t listed here? Let me know and I’ll gladly share it.

Until next time,

Dan Naden