Newsgroup

What Does Newsgroup Mean?

A newsgroup is an Internet-based discussion around an individual, entity, organization or topic. Newsgroups enable remotely connected users to share, discuss and learn about their topic of interest by exchanging text messages, images, videos and other forms of digital content.

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Newsgroups are also referred to as usenet newsgroups.

Techopedia Explains Newsgroup

Newsgroups were initially created in 1979 by some university students to exchange messages. Users can subscribe for free by submitting an email address, and the group generally consists of several topics/categories based around a main theme. The user/subscriber can post a message in a particular topic/category, which is either automatically visible in open newsgroups, or can only be viewed by approved members in moderated groups. All subscribers participating or following a particular topic/newsgroup will be notified of new messages and updates. Moreover, news/stories/topics in the newsgroup can be read through a downloadable news reader application.

Despite new technologies such as social media, newsgroups continue to thrive online.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…