At the time it was written, what you now call "social media" didn't exist.  You had to subscribe to a news service and have a newsreader, then decide which groups interested you.  I saw it on rec.aviation.soaring, but it might have applied more to alt.fan.karl_malden.nose or alt.alien_vampires.flonk.flonk.flonk.

Newsgroups are still alive and kicking, though they're more likely peopled by die-hards and some professionals who appreciate communities that tend to have more mature posters. I haven't messed around with newsgroups in years, though. Just too little time.

Everything that happens has happened before... There's nothing new in internet discussions that didn't happen fifteen-years ago on newsgroups. Before that, it was BBS and those were the same, but with much smaller groups.