I was reading the Clown College thread about shills and read that AOL was the first large scale moderation and curation of what people saw online. AOL at one time, worked very hard at getting Americans ONLINE, sending several CDs out per household per WEEK to encourage online use. Users had to go through their portal, see their curated news, use their moderated chats. Eventually it declined, but what was behind AOL's push to the web and what parts of AOL's software are still around today?
WE know that the CIA's Lifelog became Facebook. AOL's Bebo and Q-link appear to have become part of Facebook as well.
Digs:
Excerpts from Wikipedia:
The service traces its history to an online service known as PlayNET, which hosted multi-player games for the Commodore 64. PlayNET licensed their software to a new service, Quantum Link (Q-Link), who went online in November 1985. PlayNET shut down shortly thereafter. The initial Q-Link service was similar to the original PlayNET, but over time Q-Link added many new services. When a new IBM PC client was released, the company focussed on the non-gaming services and launched it under the name America Online. The original Q-Link was shut down on November 1, 1995, while AOL grew to become the largest online service, shoving aside established players like CompuServe and The Source. By 1995, AOL had about 20 million active users.
AOL was eventually spun off from Time Warner in 2009, with Tim Armstrong appointed the new CEO. Under his leadership, the company invested in media brands and advertising technologies.
On June 23, 2015, AOL was acquired by Verizon Communications for $4.4 billion.[3][4] In the following months, AOL also made a deal with Microsoft and acquired several tech properties, including Millennial Media and Kanvas to bolster their mobile ad-tech capabilities.
Quantum Computer Services: Q-Link becomes AOL
On May 24, 1985, Quantum Computer Services, an online services company, was founded by Jim Kimsey from the remnants of Control Video, with Kimsey as Chief Executive Officer, and Marc Seriff as Chief Technology Officer. The technical team consisted of Marc Seriff, Tom Ralston, Ray Heinrich, Steve Trus, Ken Huntsman, Janet Hunter, Dave Brown, Craig Dykstra, Doug Coward, and Mike Ficco. In 1987, Case was promoted again to executive vice-president. Kimsey soon began to groom Case to take over the role of CEO, which he did when Kimsey retired in 1991.[7]
Jim Kimsey changed the company's strategy, and in 1985, launched a dedicated online service for Commodore 64 and 128 computers, originally called Quantum Link ("Q-Link" for short).[6] The Quantum Link software was based on software licensed from PlayNet, Inc, (founded in 1983 by Howard Goldberg and Dave Panzl). The service was different from other online services as it used the computing power of the Commodore 64 and the Apple II rather than just a "dumb" terminal. It passed tokens back and forth and provided a fixed price service tailored for home users. In May 1988, Quantum and Apple launched AppleLink Personal Edition for Apple II[8] and Macintosh computers. In August 1988, Quantum launched PC Link, a service for IBM-compatible PCs developed in a joint venture with the Tandy Corporation. After the company parted ways with Apple in October 1989, Quantum changed the service's name to America Online.[9][10] Case promoted and sold AOL as the online service for people unfamiliar with computers, in contrast to CompuServe, which was well established in the technical community.[7]
Bebo, one-time largest online platform, owned and sold by AOL:
On April 6, 2010, AOL announced plans to shut down or sell Bebo;[60] on June 16, the property was sold to Criterion Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount, believed to be around $10 million.[61] In December, AIM eliminated access to AOL chat rooms noting a marked decline of patronage in recent months.[62
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Facebook hires ex Bebo Chief: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/7544310/Facebook-hires-ex-Bebo-chief-and-expands-operations.html
Bebo weirdness with its ownership passed from Criterion Capital to ? and CEO Adam Levin
https://gigaom.com/2012/10/12/the-strange-tale-of-bebo-ceo-adam-levins-secret-german-play/