Peter Kafka

Recent Posts by Peter Kafka

Nostalgia Trip of the Day: Web 1.0 Buzzwords That Won’t Go Away

old-printing-pressYou know things are bad when you find yourself pining for the good old days of the Dotcom Bubble crash. But that’s what many folks I know are doing these days–fittingly, perhaps, since the stock market has now retreated to levels last seen during that era.

In that spirit, here’s a walk down memory lane for anyone who worked in tech, media or public relations during that era: a list of Web 1.0 buzzwords–and real-world translations–circa January 2002.

It comes via Buzzkiller, a side project that a group of my former co-workers at Forbes put together; this chart in particular was something they assembled for Inside.com, a Web 1.0 era publication that didn’t survive the crash. But many of the buzzwords listed here did–remember when “ping” was something you rarely heard used as  a verb?

Here’s an excerpt (click to enlarge):

buzzkillernet

Sadly, Buzzkiller itself hasn’t really survived, at least in its gloriously snarky former incarnation, which can you still see here. But maybe some unemployed or underemployed folks can pick up the torch.

[Image Credit: Library Of Congress via Flickr]

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Another gadget you don’t really need. Will not work once you get it home. New model out in 4 weeks. Battery life is too short to be of any use.

— From the fact sheet for a fake product entitled Useless Plasticbox 1.2 (an actual empty plastic box) placed in L.A.-area Best Buy stores by an artist called Plastic Jesus