Andrew Weinreich had a vision in 1997 that was, frankly, terrifyingly ahead of its time. While the rest of us were still figuring out how to stop our moms from picking up the landline while we were on AOL, he was busy patenting the concept of a "networking database." He launched https://www.google.com/search?q=SixDegrees.com, and in doing so, he basically invented the digital world we currently live in. It wasn't just a website. It was the first time the internet tried to map out who we actually knew in real life.
You’ve probably heard of the "six degrees of separation" theory. It’s the idea that everyone on Earth is connected to everyone else by six or fewer social connections. Frigyes Karinthy thought of it in 1929, and then Stanley Milgram tried to prove it in the 60s with a bunch of letters. But Weinreich? He wanted to build it.
The site was weirdly sophisticated for the 90s. You could create a profile, list your friends, and—this is the part that blew people's minds—see who your friends knew. It was the first time "the social graph" became a tangible thing you could click on. It grew to millions of users. It had a massive valuation. And then, it vanished.
The https://www.google.com/search?q=SixDegrees.com Blueprint That Facebook Stole
Most people think Friendster or MySpace started the social media revolution. They didn’t. https://www.google.com/search?q=SixDegrees.com was the true pioneer of the "friending" mechanic. Before this site, the internet was mostly anonymous chat rooms and static Geocities pages. You were "Slayer69" or "CoolCat22." Weinreich’s platform insisted on real identities. It was a radical shift from the anonymity of IRC or Usenet.
Why does this matter now? Because every single feature you use on Instagram or LinkedIn was road-tested here first.
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The site allowed users to send messages and post bulletin board items to people in their first, second, and third degrees of connection. Think about that for a second. In 1998, you could technically find a path to a stranger through your cousin’s roommate. It was the birth of the "People You May Know" algorithm, except the algorithm was just your own brain looking at a list of names.
The growth was explosive. At its peak, the site had around 3.5 million members. That sounds like a small town by today’s standards, but in the late 90s, that was a massive chunk of the people who actually had internet access. People were obsessed. They were also annoyed. The site was notorious for sending "invitation" emails to people who hadn't joined yet. If you think your LinkedIn notifications are spammy, imagine getting an email in 1997 from a "friend" telling you to join a database. It felt like a chain letter. It felt like the future.
Why the First Social Media Giant Actually Died
If https://www.google.com/search?q=SixDegrees.com was so smart, why aren't we all "SixDegreing" each other today? Honestly, the timing was just garbage.
The infrastructure of the late 90s couldn't handle the social web. Most people were on dial-up connections that screamed like a dying banshee every time they connected. Uploading a photo? Forget it. You’d go get a sandwich, come back, and the progress bar would still be at 10%. Without photos, social media is just a digital phone book. It’s boring.
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There was also the "what do I do now?" problem. Once you added your friends and saw their friends, there wasn't much to do on the site. There was no newsfeed. No "Like" button. No infinite scroll. You just sat there looking at a list of people you mostly didn't want to talk to.
The Infrastructure Gap
In the 90s, the internet was a destination, not a lifestyle. You "went online" for thirty minutes then left. Social media requires a "constant-on" connection to thrive. https://www.google.com/search?q=SixDegrees.com was an island in a sea of people who only visited the beach once a week.
The Financial Collapse
In 1999, YouthStream Media Networks bought the site for $125 million. It was a staggering amount of money at the time. But the dot-com bubble was about to burst, and the business model—which relied on advertising—wasn't ready. By 2000, the site was shuttered. Weinreich later said that while they had the users, they didn't have the "broadband" to make the experience sticky.
The Patent That Could Have Owned Everything
Here is a detail most people miss: Andrew Weinreich held the patent for "Method and apparatus for networking users in a computer network."
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This wasn't just some vague idea. It was a legally binding claim over the very concept of a social network. When https://www.google.com/search?q=SixDegrees.com was sold, that patent went with it. Years later, when the "Social Network Wars" began between MySpace, Facebook, and Tribe.net, those patents became a massive weapon.
In 2003, a company called Steinhardt Holdings bought the SixDegrees patents. They eventually used them to form a company called Tribe, and later, they were used in legal maneuvers against other social networks. It turns out the most valuable part of the first social network wasn't the users—it was the legal right to the idea of "friending" someone.
What We Can Learn From the 1997 Social Experiment
We tend to look back at old tech and laugh. "Oh, look at the clunky UI! Look at the lack of mobile support!" But https://www.google.com/search?q=SixDegrees.com proved something fundamental about human nature that Mark Zuckerberg would later bank on: we are voyeurs. We want to see how we fit into the social hierarchy.
The "Six Degrees" theory itself has been updated for the digital age. A 2011 study by researchers at the University of Milan and Facebook found that the average distance between any two people on Facebook was actually 4.74, not 6. As our networks grow, the world gets smaller. Weinreich knew this. He just didn't have the fiber-optic cables to prove it to the masses.
Privacy and the First Red Flags
One thing https://www.google.com/search?q=SixDegrees.com did right was privacy—sort of. It allowed you to see connections, but it didn't just give away your data to everyone. However, it did spark the first real conversations about what it means to have your "real name" attached to a digital profile. Before this, the internet was a playground. After this, it started becoming a permanent record.
The Legacy of the Six Degrees Concept
The site might be dead, but the ghost of https://www.google.com/search?q=SixDegrees.com is everywhere.
LinkedIn is perhaps the closest spiritual successor. When you see "1st," "2nd," or "3rd" degree connections on a job seeker's profile, you are looking directly at Weinreich's original vision. He didn't want a place for teenagers to post emo song lyrics; he wanted a professional and social mapping tool.
It’s easy to forget that social media was originally intended to be a utility. It was supposed to be a tool to help you navigate the world. Today, it’s an attention economy focused on keeping you eyes-glued to a screen for ad revenue. https://www.google.com/search?q=SixDegrees.com was a lot more innocent. It was just a way to see if you knew someone who knew someone who could help you get a job or a date.
Modern Takeaways for Founders and Users
If you're looking at the history of social media, don't start with 2004. Start with 1997.
- Timing is everything. You can have the best idea in the world, but if the hardware isn't there to support it, you'll fail.
- The "Social Graph" is the gold mine. The value isn't in the content; it's in the map of the relationships.
- Privacy is an afterthought until it isn't. Early users were wary of putting their names online. Now, we put our entire lives there.
Actionable Next Steps to Understand Social History
To truly understand how we got to the current state of social media, you should look into these specific historical milestones:
- Research the Milgram Small World Experiment. It's the psychological basis for the "six degrees" theory. Understanding the "why" behind the social connections helps you see why these apps are so addictive.
- Look up Andrew Weinreich’s later talks. He’s still active in the tech scene and often speaks about the "Network Era." His insights on the evolution of the web are far more nuanced than the "move fast and break things" mantra.
- Check the Internet Archive (Wayback Machine). You can actually see snapshots of https://www.google.com/search?q=SixDegrees.com from 1998. It’s a haunting look at what the "future" used to look like. It will make you realize that the features we think are "new" have been around for nearly thirty years.
- Audit your own "Degrees." Look at your LinkedIn. See how many people are in your 2nd-degree network. That number is the actual legacy of the 1997 experiment. It’s a reminder that your network is likely much larger and more powerful than your follower count suggests.