nOde, a history
The date was June 28, 2011.
I'd graduated college back in September 2010, and I was just beginning to navigate my way through a number of part-time jobs while I applied all over the country for full-time work. Remember, this was just after the recession and unemployment was raging at a rate of over 9%. The day before, I applied to Random House for a job and received a standard "we have received your application and now you must wait to hear back" automated response. I never heard back. Also, Lady Gaga had just joined Tumblr.
But, more importantly, it was the day that Google+ was released to the public, and, for this reason, I remember June 28, 2011 quite well. Not the events of the day, but rather a feeling of rage akin to someone who has just had something dear to them stolen from under their nose.
Why?
Because, a few months beforehand, I had begun sketching concept notes for a new social media channel that wound up looking strikingly similar to Google+. In fact, after Google+ was released, I had the following exchange with one of my acquaintances at school:
I know it's stupid. How many times have you (or someone you've known) come up with an idea with absolutely no knowhow or means to make it a reality and then you suddenly see it in action elsewhere? I imagine it's fairly common.
In retrospect, my anger was definitely over-the-top. The Google engineers had probably thought of and developed the idea of Google+ months, if not years, before I drew anything related to my social network, which I had dubbed "nOde". And, even if I did have the means, the likelihood that it would become anything remotely as large as Facebook or Twitter - or experience the rapid growth that Google+ generated immediately out of the gate - was... let's just admit that that wouldn't have happened. Period.
But I only admit that now. I'll always think: what if? And I'll always be reminded when I see the Google+ logo emblazoned throughout the internet.
It haunts my dreams...
But, luckily, I saved the original sketches, allowing me the opportunity to one day tell this bittersweet story.
Without further ado, I present a new type of social media/email that's Google+-like, but sketched out slightly before Google+... aka nOde.
