Newsgroups are discussion groups that are open to anyone and the discussions can cover anything. These discussions are ongoing and are usually set up in a collection of topics.

     Newsgroups developed as a result of interactive mailing lists. The first actual online conferencing system was called Delphi, which debuted in 1970. Although Delphi was slow, it did allow hundreds of researchers at multiple locations to participate in an organized, ongoing, international discussion group. Usenet (the UNIX User Network) was developed, with Duke University and the University of North Carolina being the first two sites to connect in 1979. Usenet became the online conferencing system of choice on the Internet.

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