Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) emerged in the late 1970s and reached peak popularity during the 1980s and 1990s. One notable development was the introduction of voting features, such as the voting booth on Telegard BBS, which provided users with a way to submit votes within a community software interface.
In a significant development for web browsing, Mosaic introduced bookmarking functionality, known as “hotlists,” allowing users to save content for future reference.
A groundbreaking moment in computing that revolutionized the way people interacted with personal computers. Windows 95 introduced a user-friendly interface and set the foundation for modern operating systems. The release helped popularize PCs for everyday users and cemented Microsoft’s dominance in the tech industry.
TiVo revolutionized user interaction by introducing a remote control with voting functionality, featuring a green thumbs-up and a red thumbs-down button
Worldwide celebrations mark the end of 1999 and the start of the new millennium in the Gregorian calendar. New Zealand was the first nation to celebrate the year 2000 owing to their position just west of the International date line.
Everything2 introduced a content rating system that allowed users to express approval through an “I like it” link, making it the earliest known use of the word “like” in a social website context.
HOT or NOT, founded by James Hong and Jim Young, launched with a rating bar at the top of its interface, allowing users to quickly rate profiles.
By December 2000, Xanga introduced a feature allowing users to give “eProps” on weblogs, an early form of digital endorsement.
StumbleUpon, founded by Garrett Camp, Geoff Smith, Justin LaFrance, and Eric Boyd, was a social bookmarking service that let users rate web pages with up and down buttons.
Del.icio.us, founded by Joshua Schachter and Peter Gadjokov, introduced a social bookmarking system that allowed users to save and organize other people’s content.