Old social networks that still exist: this is what the pioneers look like more than 20 years after their birth
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2025 5:21 am
The social graveyard is populated by big names, but there are still old social networks that survive (with difficulty).
old social networks
By Alberto Gonzalez
Marketing4eCommerce Editor
TThey had their big moment and, just like now with Facebook, TikTok or Instagram , if you didn't have a profile or account on these social networks you were the odd one out of the group. You've probably used them, but you've replaced them for a while now. If you think they don't exist anymore, you're wrong. In this article we'll review old social networks, with more than twenty years of history, created in the first 5 years of the 2000s, to find out, like in the best television revivals, what has become of them?
Forocoches
As its founder, Alex Marin , told us, Forocoches was founded in 2003 and has not stopped growing since then. However, it soon stopped being a "car forum" to become a place to go to resolve doubts or comment on current events, in all their broad spectrum, generating multiple controversies and becoming a reference at a social level.
As Marín himself told us in that interview, “ A notable example of the fusion database of Forocoches on national events was the case of Rodolfo Chikilicuatre and his song “Baila el Chiki-chiki” in 2008. Although the original idea came from a comedy sketch on television, it was the Forocoches community that became actively involved in promoting, voting and supporting the candidacy, which ended up making it to Eurovision in 2008. In 2010, the case of John Cobra was repeated, who was at the RTVE selection gala, causing one of the most surreal moments on Spanish public television. This is just one example of the strength of the forum.”
Thus, Forocoches has grown significantly since its beginnings and the exact number of registered users currently is around 900,000 .
History of social networks : how they were born and how they evolved
My Space
MySpace was founded in 2003 and after a period of great success in which there were even companies specialising in creating MySpace designs for music groups, it seems to have fallen somewhat into oblivion. Although open to all types of users, MySpace's strength was that it functioned as a platform for artists to show their music, their photos and their tours to the world .
Its musical heritage is a real gem because it was the place where emerging artists, big bands or indies went to make themselves known. That's why it hurt so much when they lost 53 million files (all photos, videos and files) uploaded between 2003 and 2015. It happened in 2019 due to a server migration , luckily, the Internet Archive platform managed to gather a small percentage of this loss in a collection called 'The Myspace Dragon Hoard (2008-2010)'.
Despite all this, this network is still active, although it has lost many of its functionalities. It does not allow uploading new files and according to the latest available figures, from 2021, it has about 7 million users.
old social networks
By Alberto Gonzalez
Marketing4eCommerce Editor
TThey had their big moment and, just like now with Facebook, TikTok or Instagram , if you didn't have a profile or account on these social networks you were the odd one out of the group. You've probably used them, but you've replaced them for a while now. If you think they don't exist anymore, you're wrong. In this article we'll review old social networks, with more than twenty years of history, created in the first 5 years of the 2000s, to find out, like in the best television revivals, what has become of them?
Forocoches
As its founder, Alex Marin , told us, Forocoches was founded in 2003 and has not stopped growing since then. However, it soon stopped being a "car forum" to become a place to go to resolve doubts or comment on current events, in all their broad spectrum, generating multiple controversies and becoming a reference at a social level.
As Marín himself told us in that interview, “ A notable example of the fusion database of Forocoches on national events was the case of Rodolfo Chikilicuatre and his song “Baila el Chiki-chiki” in 2008. Although the original idea came from a comedy sketch on television, it was the Forocoches community that became actively involved in promoting, voting and supporting the candidacy, which ended up making it to Eurovision in 2008. In 2010, the case of John Cobra was repeated, who was at the RTVE selection gala, causing one of the most surreal moments on Spanish public television. This is just one example of the strength of the forum.”
Thus, Forocoches has grown significantly since its beginnings and the exact number of registered users currently is around 900,000 .
History of social networks : how they were born and how they evolved
My Space
MySpace was founded in 2003 and after a period of great success in which there were even companies specialising in creating MySpace designs for music groups, it seems to have fallen somewhat into oblivion. Although open to all types of users, MySpace's strength was that it functioned as a platform for artists to show their music, their photos and their tours to the world .
Its musical heritage is a real gem because it was the place where emerging artists, big bands or indies went to make themselves known. That's why it hurt so much when they lost 53 million files (all photos, videos and files) uploaded between 2003 and 2015. It happened in 2019 due to a server migration , luckily, the Internet Archive platform managed to gather a small percentage of this loss in a collection called 'The Myspace Dragon Hoard (2008-2010)'.
Despite all this, this network is still active, although it has lost many of its functionalities. It does not allow uploading new files and according to the latest available figures, from 2021, it has about 7 million users.