I’m “I Had a Xanga Blog” Social Media Years Old
Sometimes it’s fun to reminisce about the good ol’ days of social media and being online. You know? Before we realized the people who created it are basically Voldemort, planning world domination with our data. Young folks today don’t even know how much things have changed in such a short amount of time.
I joined Facebook in July 2004, 5 months after the evil genius Mark Zuckerberg created the platform as a sophomore at Harvard University. I, too, was a sophomore, but at the University of Illinois. Because he opened TheFacebook.com (hehehe the) to Harvard, then other Ivy Leagues, and then Big Tens, I was able to sign up.
I’m “I’ve been on Facebook since you couldn’t even upload a picture besides your profile icon and you were excited when they activated walls and the only way you could get on is with an Ivy League or Big Ten university email address” social media years old. I’m “I spent my lunchtime at school in the lab customizing my BlackPlanet page and picking the right cartoon girl wearing baggy pants” social media years old. I’m “I’ve been on Twitter since the fail whale used to show up once an hour” social media years old.
I’m “I’ve been on Facebook since you couldn’t even upload a picture besides yours profile icon and you were excited when they activated walls” social media years old. I’m “I had a Google Wave party and had so many people in there the app crashed” social media years old. If you’re like “what’s Google Wave?” then it is my obligation to chase you off my lawn. I’m “My first blog was on Xanga” social media years old.
Of course LuvvNation joined in the conversation on Facebook (because meta) and your replies had me cacklin.
Tara: I’m “this was social media in my day” years old:
Alicia: I’m “html coding my myspace background to make sure i had the latest twinkling stars and bubble letter graffiti” years old.
Elan: I’m “I’ve been in chat rooms since my 400 megabyte computer with a monitor that could display 256 colours had to go shhhkkkkkkrrrrkakingkakingkakingtshchchchchchchchcch*ding*ding*ding* to connect to the internet” social media years old.
Carmen: I’m “nobody pick up the phone because I’m using the internet!” (to post a/s/l) social media years old.
Ambar: My brother was a ho in life so nothing was worse than ALL his girlfriends calling the house and knocking me off the internet every 20 minutes.
Torrie: I’m “my Twitter handle is just my first name” social media years old.
Bianca: I remember when it rolled out to Texas A&M in 2003 or 2004. I low key was salty when you didn’t need the .edu email and they let high schoolers get on.
Ricky: I’m still mad about that. Little ass kids trashing the joint and older people sending me damn chain letters all the time.
Jennifer: I’m “I’m still mad my sister taught my mother how to Facebook” years old
Jessica: We were like “there goes the neighborhood” when you no longer needed a college email to join.
Monica: It came to A&M in 2004. I remember because I was a sophomore and was like “I’ll never be part of that stupid ass Facebook”, then I got bored over Christmas break and one thing led to another and here we are.
Heather: When you had to choose your fb status from a drop down list.
Ajani: I’m “I met my husband online and we’d chat on ICQ, when my roommate didn’t need to use the phone” years old.
Maya: I’m “get a random-ass free CD in the mail to download the software to start AOL” years old.
Betsy: And what about icq? Or trying to download a song from Napster using dial-up? You would leave 5 songs downloading, go to class, come back and it was still trying to download #4. The good old days…
Amanda: And if someone called your landline in the middle of that and interrupted your download?!?! There was HELL to pay!
Summer: I’m knowing how to start a computer from Dos years old!
Erin: I’m “check out my play list and purple butterfly background on my MySpace page” years old. And then get mad I can’t do the same thing on Facebook, but I can poke people.
Dedria: I had a rotary dial phone in college at Grambling. The pay phones in the hallway in the dorm that everybody used and one of the girls who happened to be walking by answered the phone and came knocked on your door to tell you your Mama was on the phone years old.
Amanda: Never heard my sorority house as quiet as it was the night FB started allowing pictures to be uploaded.
Kim: I’m “when I started college, you still had the option of turning in hand written assignments” years old.
Yolie: I am “listening to vinyl but thought I was doin somethin when I was ordering 12 for 12 CDs from Columbia House / BMG” years old.
DeShawn: Hell, I’m “social media was message boards years old.” *cues dial up sound*
Yulanda: I’m “having a $900 phone bill from BellSouth because they hadn’t figured out that dial up was not a long distance phone call. Then I had a $900 credit” years old.
Debra: I’m “remember Netscape?” years old.
Drea: I’m “I used to hang out in AOL chat rooms” social media years old.
Alexandra: Honey did you have a Prodigy account? I feel so old, cobwebs are up in my lady business. a former fiance of mine had a party line for his phone number, babe.
Sabrina: I am “we had all 100 volumes of encyclopedia Brittanica, you better take your ass to the library to research your paper and type it on a word processor then print it on paper you have the tear the sides off “ years old lol
Eboni: I’m dialing numbers so when you flip your pager upside down it’s a message old. I’m US Cellular Unlimited incoming calls, 1500 outgoing minutes, free after 9pm, no color screen, no internet for $30/month old.
Camille: I’m “AOL CD dial up on your work laptop bc personal computers were too pricey” old. Back when the internet had manners and your main chat room was “Black Voices” and the city you were in.
Aramide: I’m “I carried around every CD I owned in a huge CD binder/folio along with my giant portable CD player and headphones that didn’t fit into nan pocket” years old.
Traci: I remember when the “newsfeed” feature started and everyone was so upset that everyone could see everything they posted.
Ebone: I’m “I remember setting up multiple trial AOL accounts just to take advantage of the free 100 hour promo CDs” social media years old.
Nefertari: I’m “beep boop boop beep boop beep boop blip scratch beepboop brrrr breeeeee brrrrroop ding-ding-ding-BUZZZZZZZGRRRRRRRR-ding bing bong bing bong bing bong beeeeeeeeeeep beeeeeeeeeep boop YOU’VE GOT MAIL!” old.
MeMe: I’m “I was on BlackPlanet, spending hours customizing my page, signing other folks guestbook, before there was even a Facebook, still on AOL” years old.
Audrey: I’m “Computers were so new when I went to college that you had to go to the library to use them” old. I’m also “I remember dial-up” old.
Lindsay: I’m “I still say mapquest when I’m really talking about google maps” old.
Regina: I’m “Typed in the wrong code for the background on my Blackplanet page and had random symbols and letters scrolling from left to right but lost my password and never fixed it” years old.
Daco: I’m “Turn up my Mary J. Blige TAPE in the background while I record my answering machine” old because there is no digital voicemail/email!
Chemere: I’m “BlackPlanet, MySpace, and AOL/Excite chat rooms, had to for real be in college for Facebook” years old.
Tasha: I’m “I had a College Club account I could only access in the campus computer lab” old.
Kim: I’m having a different AOL email every 30 days when the free trial ran out years old.
Nancy: Remember the “Flair” pins?
Christina: I’m Compuserve years old… AOL chat room years old…AND Napster years old. It was lit!
Tessie: MySpace was the best thing ever. That’s my age.
Lauren: “I played Oregon Trail in school during free time and thought it was so decent” years old.
April: I’m “yall stole all this shit from Blackplanet” years old.
Christina: I’m “AOL didn’t even exist till I was in college” years old.
Lynn: I’m “computer games were played on multiple floppy disks” years old.
Courtney: I’m “made tripod/geocities pages with my message board friends over dialup” years old.
Harmony: I have emails in my university inbox from “The Facebook” circa 2004.
Andrea: I guess I’m “Carry around 25 cents for a phone call” years old.
Franchesca: I’m “I had a Tandy computer from Radio Shack” years old…
Kaye: Been on Facebook since your ONLY friends were those on your college campus!!
Karen: I am “honey you need to take that AOL address off your resume if you want employers to think you’re relevant” years old.
Jennifer: “First tried online dating when people still thought it was “safer” to meet someone by answering a newspaper classified dating ad” years old. #genX
Ana: I’m “didn’t have email in college, cause it was still only used by the military at the time ” years old
Drea: I’m “I’m so glad they didn’t have social media when I was school” social media years old. #mymemorieswouldhavebeenahotmess #changerelationshipstatuseveryhour
Read this thread on Twitter for other people’s social media ages.
How old, in social media years, are you?
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12 Comments
I’m ‘it was actually a big deal to see yourself on the internet’ years old.
I’m “got my first email address from my university as an undergrad and no one else had personal or work emails yet so we all mostly just emailed each other” years old. Also known as “it took the sysadmins a while to realize that having an all@[university].edu email address that actually messaged every user was probably a bad idea” years old.
I’m I remember the first time I used Google instead of ask.com years old.
I joined facebook in 2004 when I was a freshman at UNC Chapel Hill. I might be the only person out of my facebook friends still using their original page.
I met soooooo many people using AIM. That was my origjnal way of texting
I’m so old that the guy I met in a chat room is now my EX-husband.
I’m “installed my own internal modem” years old. I’m dialing individual bulletin board phone numbers years old.
I’m used-Prodigy-to-message-older-guys-and-order-makeup-samples old. The Internet before the Web old! Taught people how to use email once I had my MLIS old. Know how to use microfilm and a card catalog old. Learned HyperCard in college old. Too suspicious to use Facebook old. Old old old.
If the telephone is a social medium, then I am rotary-phones-still-in-common-usage years old.
If the social medium has to be internet enabled, then I’m Prodigy-chatrooms/bulletin boards years old.
I’m “how did i forget to type ‘‘ in my page, now the whole thing is in italics” social media years old.
I’m “Microsoft Frontpage allows me to do what?” social media years old.
I’m “set up a table and in the left hand column have a table of contents that links to a page that shows up in the right hand column” social media years old. #Trendsetter
I’m “Abilene Christian University isn’t accepted by facebook so there’s another thing called http://www.collegefacebook.com for you to sign up for but it’s terrible and janky” social media years old.
I’m “I was on a website called Bolt in the eighth grade” years old.
I’m “who TF is this person in the top left hand corner of ‘thefacebook’s’ logo?” social media years old.
I’m “if I put my new boo in my top eight, who do i take out?” social media years old.
I’m VI, RN and soc.culture.aa social media years old…
I’m “had an MCI email address that let you choose to send your email as a paper letter that someone printed out and mailed to your recipient” old.
I’m “thought I was the shit because my brother in law (not even me) had a cell phone that came in a bag the size of car tire” old.
I’m “again thought I was the shit with my flip phone from Sprint” old.
I’m “thought Facebook was for the kids yet was on BlackPlanet daily” old.
I’m “the peanut butter jelly time dancing banana was entertaining and cutting edge flash” years old. And I’m also “the PBJtime banana came out after I graduated college” social media years old.