WI: Facebook in 1994

wasn't the alternate history side of Usenet alt.soc.what-if or something

Yes, there was first alt.history.what-if when it wasn't as established what alt. groups were, then when alternate history became more mainstream as more people discussed it it migrated to a soc. group and became soc.history.whatif. David Tenner, for one, was a regular member there and still quotes some of his posts from there.

I still remember in law school taking a break and posing an AH question on a history group, and someone kindly telling me which group discussed alternate history - I suspect in those early days of Usenet, when it was pretty much just college students and such using Freenets, that they got a few of those.

I really wanted this thread to discuss the social, culture, economic, and political effects a earlier internet would bring more so then the technical feasibility

Okay, here is one *big* one with a glorified chat room Facebook (where there aren't many images, etc.):

In 1995, the Cleveland Browns announced they were moving to Baltimore. There was a lot of fan outrage at the next game, but it wasn't very organized because there wasn't social media to allow it to be. Now, this is perfect because Cleveland, thanks to Case Western where I had been a while earlier, had one of those Freenets.

Even if there aren't huge multitudes on the Internet yet, there can be a good deal more with AOL, etc.. And, what would happen is that you would get a few people who have dozens of friends posting the idea of a mass demonstration. The next opponent is the Packers. So, they all start posting to their friends through their own timelines, and suddenly, you could see a few thousand fans in Packer gear from Cleveland. You might see organized protests by a few weeks after of people burning Browns gear. (Remember how they burned LeBron jerseys when he went to Miami?)

By the last game of the season, you might have the entire city turning out to see the Browns off wearing the other teams' gear and cheering for the opponents. Facebook might crash because of Clevelanders posting all these pictures from their scanners showing how they are taking the news - indeed, the Internet might, it was so vocal even in OTL.

In other words, the idea of mass protests would have just been ratcheted up many times, with organization much more doable.
 
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