“The offline part was the essence of it” – the social history of iWiW, the Hungarian online social network

Abstract

iWiW was one of the first Hungarian online social networks (OSNs) and the largest ever. The site was launched in 2002, and at its peak in 2010 it had 4.5 million members, more than two-thirds of all internet users in the country. The site was shut down in 2014 by its then-owner, Hungarian Telekom. As the first socio-historical account of the site, based on oral history interviews, this paper aims to shed light on a lesser-known chapter of local digital media history by providing insights into the development of iWiW. This examination includes a focus on the social meanings and values that underpinned the OSN’s development strategies, which were contested by a changing set of relevant social groups. The paper shows how the debates of the five main relevant social groups (entertainers, early enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, mass users, and corporate entrepreneurs) shaped the development of the site during the OSNs three main eras. In each era, the site had different goals, technological features, business and development strategies, favoured and represented by the most influential relevant social groups at the time. In this sense, the "offline part" of the network has always played a decisive role in the history of iWiW, from the beginning to the end.

Keywords:

• Digital media history
• Hungary
• iWiW
• online social networks
• relevant social groups
• social history

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 However, iWiW was nor the very first and neither the only venture in this fashion in Hungary. For instance, in 2001 a site aiming at refreshing lost elementary or high school relationships, called osztalytarsam.hu (literally translating to myclassmate.hu) was founded, and later social networks such as MyVip and Privi.hu gathered large user bases but never managed to get even close to the volume and social significance of iWiW.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was supported by the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Media Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Notes on contributors

Tamas Tofalvy

Tamas Tofalvy, PhD, habil, is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology and Communication at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics where he is head of the Digital Media MA Programme, and the project leader of the Hungarian Online and Digital Media History (MODEM) project. Between 2013 and 2017, he was Secretary General at the Association of Hungarian Content Providers (MTE) and, between 2010 and 2014, co-founding chair of IASPM Hungary. In the period 2012–2013, he was a Fulbright fellow at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. His works have been published by academic journals and publishers such as New Media & Society, First Monday, Media History, Routledge, and Palgrave Macmillan.