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Finger: the 1971 social network that never died
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Finger, a 1971 social network, still works and is preinstalled on many systems. It shows that decentralized, text-based social networking can survive for decades.
Background
Finger was created in 1971 at Stanford to show who was logged in and their idle time. It later supported .plan files, which users filled with updates, making it an early microblog. The protocol was formalized in RFC 742 (1977) and RFC 1288 (1991). It remains functional today, with clients preinstalled on many operating systems.
How it unfolded
- 1971Les Earnest at Stanford created Finger to show user presence and idle time.
- 1977RFC 742 formalized the Finger protocol, with only 3 sites supporting it.
- 1991RFC 1288 became the definitive specification, replacing earlier versions.
- 1996 -2010John Carmack used his .plan file as a development journal, announcing the Doom source code release in 1997.
- recentlyThe article highlights that Finger still works and is preinstalled on many systems, suggesting a possible comeback.
Who’s saying what
- Author
- Finger is a functional, decentralized social network that predates modern platforms and still works today.
- Historical
- Finger is considered the first social network, with .plan files as the first microblog.