Why the Web Revival Movement is so important during the age of Big Tech

Here is my essay in MLA format

In 1993, the World Wide Web became available to the public. The World Wide Web, also called w3*, WWW, or simply “the web” is the system (or “web”) of global connections between users to share information and content.
Launched in 1994, Geocities was one of the first free web hosting services– which meant that those without the resources or experience to host their own website could make their own. Websites on Geocities were sorted into cities or neighborhoods by topic– for example, everything art related would belong in SoHo, science fiction and conspiracy theories would belong in Area 51, theater and performing arts belonging in Broadway, and so on. According to Yahoo, there were 38 million websites hosted on Geocities. Online archivists downloaded web pages before GeoCities was shut down in the United States in 2009 (Geocities Japan shut down in 2019). An estimated million or so sites were saved due to archivism efforts like the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, which allows anybody to view archived sites (Geocities or otherwise) and GifCities, an archive of gifs from Geocities sites. Along with the end of Geocities, the popularity of having a personal website was declining as platforms like myspace and facebook became increasingly popular. MySpace would eventually become inactive as users migrated to twitter and facebook, beginning the era of big-tech social media sites.

The pipeline from geocities to myspace to facebook and twitter was not coincidental. Companies targeted users from previous platforms– by making their platforms easier to use, with pre-made homepages and direct messaging within the service, and for free. Easy usability came at the cost of user creativity. Users had gone from a completely “do-it-yourself” online presence like Geocities homepages to set layouts on MySpace to blue and white cookie-cutter profiles on facebook.
Users didn’t just give up their creative liberties but their personal information– social media platforms were getting money from somewhere. Most people now are aware of the concept of online targeted advertising– the collection of user data in order to advertise exactly what users want. Factors taken into account when targeting consumers are age, sex, race, sexuality, physical location, occupation, and a lot more things most people probably wouldn’t like shared with complete strangers. The thing is that this information is shared with complete strangers. Social media companies make their money by selling user data to third parties that partner with advertisers in order to make the most money possible off of users. If there is one thing that social media has taught us, it is that anything can be commercialized, and that users are the product. Most people are aware that social media is flawed at best– but when it comes to a solution, our reliance on social media has made it seem like there are no other options.
Supporters of the Web Revival movement would say otherwise; people have always been able to communicate with each other, social media or not. Web Revival refers to going back to using ideas, platforms, forms of communication, and aesthetics from the earlier days of the Internet (usually between 1993 and around 2010). Web Revival is defined slightly differently by each individual who is a part of it. Many webmasters (people who make websites) will share a manifesto– usually a page on their site that explains why they support Web Revival and their general beliefs relating to the topic. The site Yesterweb.org collects these web manifestos for everyone to read or add on their own.
One way to practice Web Revival is surfing the web– Alan Freedman of the Computer Language Company inc. describes web surfing as “Jumping from page to page on the Web. Just as in ‘TV channel surfing,’ where one clicks the remote to go from channel to channel, the hyperlinks on Web pages make Web surfing a snap to go from one page to another or one website to another.” Hyperlinks are an essential part of “surfing” the web. Cambridge Business English Dictionary defines hyperlinks as “a word, phrase, or image on a website or in a computer document which (users) click on in order to go to a different website, different part of the document, etc.” Using hyperlinks, webmasters can direct their users to any part of their own website as well as anywhere on the web. Websites may have a “links” page, or even be a member of a webring. A webring is a collection of sites and their respective owners that may share a common interest or hobby. Each site has a link to the next site, usually on their homepage or landing page. Users can go to the previous or next site, with some webrings even providing a “random” button that will take them to any random site in the webring. The reason that surfing the web is so important is that it is free of the algorithms that are used with social media, so that users are able to get a large range of content that they normally wouldn’t interact with– this means discovering new ideas and communities instead of staying in the same echo chamber or loop of recommended content. Also, it’s just fun. If you’re going to waste time online, it may as well be surfing the web instead of endlessly scrolling on social media. The point is to be more thoughtful and curious about what content we consume and how.

For those seeking alternatives to social media platforms and messaging run by facebook/meta (Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook are all owned by Meta), there are other social media platforms like Discord (great for chatrooms, messaging, and voice calling, but still a centralized platform) or Mastodon (one of the main alternatives to twitter, but with similar features to discord such as community-moderated content). There are even copycat projects of bygone platforms– for example, Neocities offers the same free web hosting service and community as GeoCities, and SpaceHey, a nearly identical iteration of MySpace (even using the same slogan “a space for friends”) made by a small group of developers as a fan project with no intention of making a profit. For those interested in making their own website, making a Neocities site is accessible to anyone, at no cost. Neocities even provides a brief introduction to HTML and CSS (the computer language for designing websites), as well as a built-in community of fellow webmasters. Many people pay for a web hosting service, and some people even host their own websites with their own domains. All of this is up to the individual.

Current social media platforms aren’t going to get better. No matter what changes in policy they make or privacy they claim to offer, social media users will always be a product. The Web Revival movement encourages going back to older forms of communication– such as email, online forums, webrings, blogs, chatrooms, even physical mail (there are penpal webrings!), calling or texting, and of course, going and talking to people you care about in real life. Web Revival encourages community and independence from social media to keep in contact with people.

*W3 is not to be confused with Web3, which some use to refer to the proposed “next generation” of the World Wide Web. Web3 is an idea of the web becoming decentralized with a focus on token-based interactions and cryptocurrencies. Despite Web Revival supporters and Web3 supporters sharing similar beliefs in terms of aiming to decentralize the internet, Web3 aims to do so by the use of tokens and ecommerce, whereas Web Revival supporters want to use characteristics of Web1, which refers to the era of the World Wide Web in the 1990’s-2000’s. The ideas associated with Web3—such as cryptocurrency and NFT’s—go against the ideals of Web Revival which generally support freedom of information, free-to-use software, and using the World Wide Web as a way to connect, have fun, and learn, rather than a way to make a profit. Many supporters of the Web Revival movement actively oppose Web3, with buttons or blinkies on their webpages reading “this is an anti-NFT site” or “keep the web free/say no to web3.”