First came AOL, then came PictureTrail. I can't remember exactly what year the obsession began but I do know that it was sometime in middle school (we're reaching the mid 90s here). PictureTrail became the new stalker network for tweens and adults alike.
In case you were living in a cave in the mid-90s, PictureTrail was an online photo sharing site where users could post album upon album of the going-ons in their daily lives. Riveting, I know. I googled (thank gd for Google) PictureTrail and it actually still exists. However, it is now used for sharing photos and "image hosting," whatever the hell that means.
Anyway, let me refresh your memory on how PictureTrail actually worked. Your average dork would create a link to their PictureTrail and display it in their AOL or AIM profile. From there, the other dorks could click the link and begin to stalk pictures of people they knew and people they only knew through association. The obsession with viewing pictures of other peoples lives slowly began.
Somewhere down the line someone thought to themselves, "There's got to be a way to view information about someone and view their pictures as well." Pictures and profiles, that's genius! If only I had thought of it. And just like AOL, PictureTrail started its slow decline into the world of forgotten websites.
Which leads us to the Evolution of Facebook: Part III...
