Stuff You Should Know: Sixdegrees.com – A Social Media Origin Story

Episode Release Date: July 10, 2025 | Hosts: Chuck Bryant & Josh Clark | Produced by iHeartPodcasts

Introduction to Sixdegrees.com

In this episode of Stuff You Should Know, hosts Chuck Bryant and Josh Clark embark on an enlightening journey back to the nascent days of social media, focusing on Sixdegrees.com—widely regarded as the first social media website. Launched in 1997 by Andrew Weinreich, Sixdegrees.com sought to connect people in ways that were revolutionary for its time.

Chuck Bryant [06:13]: "And it's kind of sad that 6 degrees has kind of gotten lost to history. Most people think Friendster was the first social media site. No, 6 degrees was."

The Genesis of Sixdegrees.com

Sixdegrees.com emerged during a period when the Internet was barely penetrating households. At its peak, the platform garnered approximately 3.5 million users, a significant number for the late '90s but modest compared to today's standards.

Chuck Bryant [01:39]: "What we're talking about here is the first, what's regarded as the first social media website... it was called sixdegrees.com spelled out s I x degrees dot com."

The platform was meticulously named after the "six degrees of separation" concept, which posits that any two people are connected by no more than six acquaintances. This idea was inspired by the seminal Milgram Experiment conducted in the late 1960s.

Josh Clark [07:32]: "So Six Degrees may sound familiar to people. It's actually very much related to the six degrees of Kevin Bacon or 6 degrees of separation..."

Challenges Faced by Sixdegrees.com

Despite its pioneering stance, Sixdegrees.com grappled with several formidable challenges:

1. Limited Internet Adoption:

   • In 1997, only about 18-36% of U.S. households had Internet access (Chuck Bryant [02:30]). This limited the potential user base drastically compared to later social platforms.

2. Technological Constraints:

   • Dial-up modems capped at 56 kilobytes per second, making activities like downloading images painfully slow.
   • The absence of digital cameras and limited digital image capabilities meant profiles lacked photographs, a significant drawback for a social networking site.

3. Economic Downturn:

   • The dot-com bubble burst in 2000 adversely affected funding and investor confidence, leading to the platform's eventual shutdown.

Josh Clark [04:29]: "And there were transfer speeds using dial up modems of 56 kilobytes per second... That was the transfer speed at the time and that was the maximum."

Features and User Experience

Sixdegrees.com was ahead of its time, incorporating several features that would become staples in future social media platforms:

• Profiles: Users could create detailed profiles including hobbies, professional affiliations, and personal information.
• Connections: Emphasizing the "degrees" concept, users could connect with friends, friends of friends, and so on, fostering a networked community.
• Messaging and Bulletin Boards: The platform offered in-network emailing and message boards categorized into various interests or "channels," reminiscent of modern Facebook Groups.
• Interactive Elements: Features like daily polls and trivia were integrated to boost user engagement.

Chuck Bryant [22:11]: "And then somebody around the table at the bowl session said, but wait, what if people want to start like, updating or changing their photos? And Andrew Weinreich maybe said, you know, let's just skip that."

Despite these innovations, the lack of multimedia integration, particularly images, limited the platform's appeal and user connection.

The Decline and Closure

Sixdegrees.com's downfall was swift and emblematic of the broader challenges during the dot-com era:

• Financial Instability:

  • Youth Stream Media Networks acquired Sixdegrees.com in 1999, selling it for $125 million in stock options. However, the company's heavy debt financing made it vulnerable when the dot-com bubble burst, leading to financial collapse shortly after.

• Technological Obsolescence:

  • The slow internet infrastructure and lack of critical features like image uploads made Sixdegrees.com less competitive as more advanced social platforms emerged.

• Monetization Struggles:

  • Early attempts at monetization through advertisements and sponsored content were insufficient to sustain the platform's operations.

Chuck Bryant [40:11]: "He sold in 1999 for 125 million in stock options in Youth Stream media networks. But this... shut down in 99."

Legacy and Impact on Future Social Media

Despite its short lifespan, Sixdegrees.com laid the foundational principles of social networking that subsequent platforms would refine and expand upon:

• Connectivity Models: The emphasis on interconnected networks and degrees of separation influenced platforms like Friendster, MySpace, and ultimately Facebook.

• User Engagement Strategies: Interactive features such as polls, trivia, and interest-based groups became standard in later social media sites.

• Privacy and Identity Verification: Early practices of using verified email confirmations and encouraging real identities prefigured modern concerns around privacy and authenticity online.

Josh Clark [41:31]: "But what's interesting about it is that later scholarship... supported what Milgram and his collaborator Jeffrey Travers found in that study."

Additionally, the sold Sixdegrees.com patent influenced the development of LinkedIn's networking algorithms, demonstrating the enduring intellectual legacy of Weinreich's work.

Andrew Weinreich: The Visionary Entrepreneur

Andrew Weinreich, the brain behind Sixdegrees.com, continued to demonstrate his entrepreneurial spirit post the platform's closure:

• mi Moi:

  • A location-based dating app that connected people physically near each other, sold to the parent company of Match.com.

• Indicative:

  • A data analytics company leveraging location tracking data, which was ahead of its time in utilizing mobile data for analytics purposes.

• Recent Endeavors:

  • Weinreich launched a podcast titled "Predicting Our Future," exploring forthcoming societal and technological changes.

Chuck Bryant [45:50]: "But that's why you're the heart of the show."

Notable Quotes

• Chuck Bryant:
  "It was like, who do your friends know that you want to know that you don't know yet?" [22:49]

• Josh Clark:
  "Six Degrees may sound familiar to people... it just was so far ahead of its time that it got lost to history." [06:43]

• Chuck Bryant:
  "MySpace ultimately got about 10 million, but they had a lot of technical problems, so they didn't last." [07:03]

• Josh Clark:
  "If you want to be like Matt and send us a world class email, we would love that." [47:58]

Listener Insights

The episode also features a heartfelt listener email from Matt, a 40-something man with autism, discussing the challenges of impression management and societal perceptions. The hosts highlight the importance of empathy and understanding diverse experiences, reinforcing the show's commitment to addressing a wide array of human knowledge and experiences.

Matt's Email:
"I cannot match the body language of others and have to fake it... Discrimination is very real... Hopefully people who listen will give people with a bit of a quirk some slack." [46:24]

Conclusion

Sixdegrees.com: A Social Media Origin Story offers a comprehensive look into the early days of social networking, highlighting both the visionary aspects and the inherent challenges of pioneering technological platforms. Chuck and Josh effectively illustrate how Sixdegrees.com set the stage for the social media explosion that would follow, underscoring the delicate balance between innovation and technological readiness.

Remember: To explore more intriguing tales from the digital frontier and beyond, subscribe to Stuff You Should Know on your favorite podcast platform!