It's like the yearbook that high schools publish at the end of the year, but colleges published and distributed facebooks near the beginning of the year, so students could get to know their fellow students and promote a sense of... collegiality.
I remember seeing a printed one in 1995. It was an official college of arts and sciences publication, so did not include any hotness ratings or non-academic vital data. Basically names, photos, undergraduate year of study, and majors.
They moved to departmental websites during and after that time, which is how Zuckerberg was able to scrape names and photos for his own skeezy little project.
Sounds like some kind of term that was only known within certain circles, and maybe only at certain colleges. I was in college at that time, and I also never heard the word "facebook" until that company became large enough to be nationally known as the alternative to MySpace.
I think it was more common in smaller populations, either a small school or a unit within a school like a greek organization. Ohio State with 50K students at 10x10 photos per page would yield a 500 page book, and a pointless one at that.
Most places, yes. It's even printed on the cover. The word "facebook" was probably exclusive to East Coast US, from DC to Boston. I didn't even know it was a "facebook" until a local called it that.
I remember seeing a printed one in 1995. It was an official college of arts and sciences publication, so did not include any hotness ratings or non-academic vital data. Basically names, photos, undergraduate year of study, and majors.
They moved to departmental websites during and after that time, which is how Zuckerberg was able to scrape names and photos for his own skeezy little project.