The history of CompuServe: a forgotten social network that existed before the advent of the Internet

The Internet has changed the world in just three decades. But before any computer in the connected world could fully enter into everything that the network offers, there were closed systems that, after being implemented in large companies connecting to the same machines or servers, began to leave the first hints of a communicative potential that years later it will have a network of networks. And the biggest representative of these closed communities, which eventually became very open, was what promoted CompuServe.

CompuServe opened its doors in 1969. under the auspices of Golden United Life Insurance of Ohio. Its purpose was to provide a service spending time together companies. This en: the largest companies have hired servers to support their local connectionsvery expensive services at the time, and what they were looking for with solutions spending time together had to share the contracted surplus with third parties when not in use. That is, during hours outside the office: for the private public.

The idea of ​​offering a similar service to consumers seemed a little risky in 1979, when personal computers were still very few. However, it worked. Helped by the emergence of devices such as Radio Shack’s TRS-80 Model 100, a very simple but affordable first computer.

These early PCs were just tethered typewriters and CompuServe started using a technology called “videotext”. It allows you to send texts by phone. This, in turn, motivated him to offer information, such as breaking news. There is a precedent for online newspapers.

In my early years, CompuServe only attracted about 1,000 users from the parent insurance company’s offices.. The following year, it was acquired by H&R Block, Inc., which provided financial backing for the chain’s rapid growth.

Through video text, CompuServe allowed users to access a variety of information from home. Users could access databases that offered current news, buy concert tickets, read weather forecasts, sports scores, and stock prices. However, usage levels for many of these services did not meet the company’s expectations at first, as it proved difficult to change consumer behavior; many simply preferred to use the telephone or other conventional channels to purchase their goods and services, which was common practice at the time.

The first purpose of “e-mail” and the first forums

CompuServe Logo

CompuServe also came about when someone first typed the word “email”., short for “e-mail”. CompuServe users subscribed to their services and could pay by the hour to connect or send a text, which brought the due date closer.

Over time, forums, bulletin boards appeared. In the early 1990s, CompuServe became famous with over 450 technical support forums; all the major software developers and computer manufacturers such as IBM, Microsoft and 3Com Corporation have started to host their own bulletin boards to share information and answer questions from their users. Also Apple, where Steve Wozniak himself answers user questions.

Over time, CompuServe has made these unique communities its marketing pillar. They published advertisements in magazines like the one you can see below in which they guaranteed that “The Night Before” brought together classical music fans and Apple users on CompuServe.

At that time, he also created a kind of Netflix of news, which is announced today after the appearance of pay-per-view in many newspapers. By 1982, at least 10 major newspapers were offering online publications through CompuServe, including The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Examiner.

This video shows how this news system worked in the early 1980s:

At the beginning of 1981 CompuServe executives boasted 10,000 subscribers. By the mid-1990s, subscribers numbered in the millions, and consumer services accounted for more than half of the parent company’s revenue.

But, of course, we all know how this story ended.

From buying AOL to dissolving with the advent of the Internet

CompuServe began to face more and more competition as the cost of servers dropped. However, he still stuck to his hourly rate. And, of course, the advent of the Internet was the final nail in his coffin.

Its consumer online service was eventually sold to AOL, who dropped it soon after. Today, his website remains open as a media news aggregator for Yahoo!, which in turn acquired AOL in 2021.