A
bulletin board system, or
BBS, is a
computer server running
custom software that allows users to connect to the system using a
terminal program. Once logged in, the user can perform functions such as
uploading and
downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging messages with other users through
email, public
message boards, and sometimes via direct
chatting. Many BBSes also offer
on-line games, in which users can compete with each other, and BBSes with multiple phone lines often provide
chat rooms, allowing users to interact with each other. Bulletin board systems were in many ways a precursor to the modern form of the
World Wide Web,
social networks and other aspects of the
Internet. Low-cost, high-performance modems drove the use of
online services and BBSes through the early 1990s.
Infoworld estimated there were 60,000 BBSes serving 17 million users in the United States alone in 1994, a collective market much larger than major online services like
CompuServe.