“For a good time, get online” may soon replace the more familiar graffiti scribbled in bathroom stalls around the world.
Predictor: Dougherty, Jay
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article in Denver’s major daily newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News, Jay Dougherty writes: ”’For a good time, get online’ may soon replace the more familiar graffiti scribbled in bathroom stalls around the world. To see why, just log on to the ‘social’ areas of many online services or the Internet these days, and this is the kind of socializing you’re almost sure to run into: ‘BigOne27: Are you ready for some good loving tonight?’ ‘Mistress155: Maybe. What can you supply?’ … It was taken directly from a ‘chat’ area of a popular U.S. online service, and is representative of the kind of ‘information’ that many believe is the driving force behind the popularity and growth of the information superhighway. ‘The reason that online services are popular has a lot more to do with virtual matchmaking and sexy chit-chat than with anything else,’ writes John Dvorak, author of several books on telecommunications and computer columnist for PC Magazine. ‘Nobody wants to admit it, but the more anonymous and sexually explicit the service, the more successful it is,’ Dvorak said. America Online is the fastest growing commercial on-line service in the U.S. The company’s ‘chat’ areas, with titles such as ‘Flirts’ Nook’ or ‘Gay & Lesbian,’ encourage users to adopt pseudonyms representing either gender. And the subscriber base of America Online has tripled in the last 12 months.”
Date of prediction: November 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Community/Culture
Subtopic: Relationships
Name of publication: Rocky Mountain News
Title, headline, chapter name: Sexy Conversations Luring Many Users to Online Services
Quote Type: Paraphrase
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=e09a1118d2bb52d561f9f1081dd49d5f&_docnum=2&wchp=dGLbVtb-lSlzV&_md5=36bb5f90d9451f6af3ddfaeaabba2c36
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Cooley, Theresa M.