Over the 50 years that society has lived with email, the profile of users has evolved, as has the service. Email has gone from being a tool that was only accessible to a small group of researchers in the 1970s to being part of the daily life of anyone anywhere in the world, becoming a relevant communication channel for organizations to keep in touch with citizens.
1970s – Intellectuals eager to communicate
When email was first invented in the 1970s. Its reach was limited to a small circle of university researchers. Government employees and the military. Its inventor, engineer ray tomlinson. Conceived it so that engineers at arpanet. The precursor network to the internet that belonged to the united states department of defense.
But as expected, shortly after its invention
It began to be used for personal matters. Which at that time were considered illegal. Leonard kleinrock, one of the fathers of the internet. Confessed in multiple interviews that he was the first person. To give it an “illegal” use. In 1973, kleinrock wrote to a colleague in the united kingdom. The razor he had forgotten on a business trip.
Email users in the 1970s saw the email user potential of email. Not only on a personal level, but also on a business level. In 1978, marketing expert gary thuerk sent the first mass saudi arabia mobile number owner name mailing of digital mail to 393. Addresses to announce the launch of new computers. His audacity earned him a reprimand from a senior pentagon official. Who accused him of violating internet usage. Despite these and other drawbacks. The campaign generated $13 million in sales for thuerk’s company.
80s – Geeks looking for connection
In the early 1980s, the use of email began to spread among academics and scientists worldwide, and gradually reached the general population with the commercialization building long-term relationships of personal computers and the development of the different pioneering networks of the Internet. It was a time when there were different network systems, protocols and email connections, which prevented global communication. The profile of the email user outside of academic, scientific or government circles is a young person with a great interest in technology who seeks immediacy in their daily lives.
1990s – Innocents facing globalization
Email became popular in the 1990s with the malaysia data world wide web and, above all, with webmail. Which was born with hotmail in 1996. The free service, its immediacy and ease of use won over millions of users around the world. It quickly became a trend. Its fame left no one indifferent. It was even the star of a romantic comedy starring meg ryan and tom hanks.
As spam became accessible to everyone, companies began to value its commercial potential. As gary thuerk had already done in 1978. Little by little, inboxes began to fill up with emails. The innocence of users, the lack of tools to filter emails and legal loopholes. The perfect ingredients for the phenomenon of spam to occur. Which became a global concern for governments and companies in the late 1990s.