Facebook revives GeoCities

Facebook’s experimental NPE team have recently launched their latest creation, E.gg, a goofy personal webpage creator that is reminiscent of the 90’s. The app feels very nostalgic, a hat tip to the days of GeoCities and MySpace.

Kevin, from NPE, shared;

“It all started when a few of us found ourselves missing the raw and exploratory spirit of The Early Internet and began to wonder things like: Is this misplaced nostalgia? What was _actually_ so special about that time?”

The result of this train of thought was E.gg. A blank canvas for self-expression with GIFs, text, and shapes. The idea is that you can be ‘off-beat’ and ‘mis-matched’ without drawing a critical eye from peers to represent your half-formed ideas and passions.

Early feedback from the community is largely positive;

“Tumblr, Google Sites, WordArt, ~a e s t h e t i c~, it’s all in the beautiful and zany world of e.gg!” - Khoi

“This gives me early internet vibes — that landing page is crazy (in a good way)“ - Anthony

“I... I'm in love 🥺 Literally can hardly wait to try this out, mind is BUZZING with ideas” - Alexander

E.gg isn’t the only site drawing early 90’s internet vibes of late. Dating app Struck's aesthetic is very retro and reminds us of Poolside Fm, itself a visceral throwback for the senses. Could it be that with all the progress and complexity of modern technology, we’re craving the simpler times where we could all just innocently hang out with everyone’s first internet friend, myspacetom?

If you want to take a step back in time, there are plenty of products out there tugging at our nostalgic heart strings:

Stackoverflow 90’s: Bring back the '90s to StackOverflow with this retro looking Chrome Extension

Icon rewind: Don’t like change? Get old icon logo’s for the apps on your phone with MSCHF’s 22nd drop

Retro Wave Generator: Bring back the 80s with this throwback image creator

My 90’s TV: Watch the TV shows from your childhood and wind back the years

Macintosh.js: A 1991 Macintosh in an app - for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Transfer files in and out, mount disk images, and time-travel back to the 90s.

GifCities: Discover the GIFS of the early internet with this retro animated GIF search engine

The Internet Arcade: 900+ classic arcade games from Joust to Paperboy, free and playable in your browser

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