The End of GeoCities

Back in 1995, well before the dot com bubble burst, the internet was an exciting and vast place, like the wild west. And for those looking to hang their shingle on the information superhighway, came an easy on-ramp called GeoCities. The site was precursor to online networks and blogging platforms.

Users could quickly create personal homepages or star wars fan sites, and update them regularly. Then, of course, came blogger and metafilter and myspace. A decade and a half later, GeoCities is a virtual ghost town and the butt of internet jokes. The site's owner, Yahoo, announced this spring that it plans to shutter GeoCities for good.

Phoebe Connelly wrote about what gets lost in the demise of an online community. She's web editor of The American Prospect, where we found her article.

The American Prospect: The Life and Death of Online Communities

(Photo via Krissa Corbett Cavouras via Flickr/Creative Commons)