Arguably it is its lack of commerciality, as well as its anonymity, that its millions of users value most. It is doubtful whether 4chan, which Poole has run as a hobby rather than a business, would ever be capable of monetizing its audience in the same way as Facebook or Twitter. The site’s subconscious imitators, not least BuzzFeed and Snapchat, have taken its essence and surpassed it with a far superior user experience and a more 'brand-friendly' community. Whether brands or creative agencies would still look to 4chan as an innovator or creator of future web culture is debatable, however. The move could even mark a return to the early days of the social web where everything was about serving the needs of a given community, with advertising seen as an anathema to the spirit of building and serving that community. Poole described his decision to sell 4chan to Nishimura this week as 'coming full circle,' calling Nishimura the 'great-grandfather of 4chan.'Ĥchan, the anarchic website dubbed 'the id of the Internet,' looks set to stay true to its ethos under Nishimura. 'Would a cell phone carrier feel responsible when somebody receives a threatening phone call?' The words of Hiroyuki Nishimura, the founder of 2channel, explaining in an interview why he has no intention of paying the millions of dollars in penalties he’s received over the content on his site.Ģchannel, one of the earliest anonymous online message boards, inspired a host of copycat sites after its launch in 1999 and eventually led to the creation of 4chan by Christopher Poole.

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