The Well, One of the Earliest Social Networks, Is Facing Destruction

Decades before Facebook, before MySpace and before Friendster, a small group of hippies in San Francisco banned together and created one of the earliest social network: The Well. Today, nearly three decades after its founding The Well’s online community faces imminent destruction after its owner, Salon.com, announced that the site would be put up for sale. This isn’t the first time that The Well has faced an ownership change, but since Salon also fired the entire staff and also put the site’s URL, Well.com, on the auction block, it’s a critical juncture. While upsetting to the members of The Well, the news isn’t particularly shocking. The site’s membership has dwindled to less than 3,000 — down from a peak of about 14,000 — and membership dues amount to only $380,000 a year. Salon itself is struggling to make ends meet. Its $2 million a year in revenue don’t even cover half of its costs, and its CEO and CTO both jumped ship in the past couple of months.

Though The Well’s future is murky, its past is downright historic. Started in 1985 by Larry Brilliant, a doctor, and Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog, The Well was one of the first social networks and most vibrant online communities in the early days of the Internet. Brilliant and Brand launched the site nearly five years before the World Wide Web existed, and outside of educational and corporate accounts, offered email addresses and a way from people to communicate in cyberspace. In fact, it was a Well member who pulled the word “cyberspace” from science fiction writer William Gibson’s canon and applied it to the Internet age.

In the early days, The Well was very closely tied to the San Francisco Bay Area where it was founded, and many of the community’s ideals were closely aligned with the Whole Earth mentality from which it grew. In other words, it was an antecedent of the flower power, free lover culture of the 1960s, a sort of hippie dream that crashed into the birth of the Internet and spawned a movement. As far as membership was concerned, they sought out diversity. Brand was adamant about recruiting hackers, journalists and activists to participate in discussions on The Well. There was a strong emphasis on real identities — no anonymity was allowed — and real-life social networks that existed in the Bay Area. The Well held regular parties at their offices in Sausalito, and many of the members met up with each other outside of their online interactions. The hippie vein ran deep, too. The Well’s first director was Matthew McClure, the former chief typesetter for the Whole Earth Catalog who spent 12 years living on a commune in rural Tennessee. It wasn’t uncommon for Well members to band together and help each other out. At one point, one not very well liked member lost everything in a moving van fire, and the community members helped replace his library with their own books.

Discussions on The Well are divided into topics called “conferences” and modelled on the French tradition of intellectual salons. A discussion leader would pick a thought-provoking topic, introduce it to the group and guide them through the conversation. Specific topics were as diverse as the members’ imaginations. One of the early drivers of membership on The Well, funnily enough, were Dead Heads who took to the community to share information about shows and what not. By 1987, about two-thirds of The Well’s membership were Dead Heads. However, the site continued to grow and became more general interest-oriented by 1991 when Bruce Katz, founder of Rockport Shoes, bought a stake in the site. He would eventually take on full ownership and sell the site to Salon.com, which was founded by members of The Well, in 1999.

It’s unclear if The Well will survive its split with Salon, but it’s worth recognizing that it might not happen. Salon also put The Well on the market in 2005 but took it off a few months later when it couldn’t find a suitable buyer. However, just a fraction of its former, hippied-out self, it’s clear that The Well isn’t what it used to be. Which used to be pretty fun if this 1989 video of a Well party is any evidence.

Update: Earl Crabb, the WELL host who helped launched the pledge drive effort, writes that the community is now looking for a large investor: “We are at a point where we need to be looking at this investment sector. If you have a minimum of $30,000 that you would be willing to invest, given that we have a reasonable business plan, please speak up, here… in email, whatever way you’re comfortable with.” E-mail him: esoft at well dot com. You can also join the private WELL conference color.pri to discuss the plan.

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