The first day of June 2004 – at 20:36 and 54 seconds (CET), to be precise – saw the launch of #esc, a chatroom for fans of the Eurovision Song Contest. Today, on the first day of June 2014, we celebrate its 10th birthday and open a week of celebrations!
Tonight in the chat, we will mark the official anniversary of #esc. The champagne cork will be popped at precisely 20:36 and 54 seconds (CET), of course. And every day for the next week, we will present something special for you in the chat at the same time of the evening – so make sure you pay us a visit to see what we have in store.
The week will culminate with a very special event on Sunday 8th June, in which we look back at the favourites from the past decade of the ChatVote, #esc’s annual voting event on the year’s Eurovision entries. There will, of course, be a live vote in the chat to decide our “all-time” winner! And you’ve probably already guessed when the event will begin: at 20:36 and 54 seconds (CET).
As next Sunday night will demonstrate, a decade is a long time in Eurovision – and yet maybe not so long after all. The #esc chat was created in the wake of Ruslana’s victory for Ukraine with “Wild Dances”. Ten years on, Ruslana is still making an impact at national finals around Europe in her own unique way.
And while people come and go like in any online community, many of the chatters who began the journey with us in 2004 are still regulars in #esc now. Old and new faces alike have contributed to a vibrant and healthy community that is going strong – and many of our members have become close friends, both virtually and in real life.
One area where things have certainly changed is in terms of technology. Our community has moved with the times, too, as we have embraced the advances of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube along the way – and our website has also been through several relaunches since it first appeared in 2008 to get to the form in which you are reading it now.
At the heart of it all, though, remains the #esc chatroom. The webchat is now integrated into the website even better than before, making it simple for newcomers and regular chatters to use. And the proven IRC technology means the chat is still more instant, stable and lightweight than any other social platform or Eurovision forum.
So if you haven’t tried it yet: what are you waiting for?
We’re really proud of having reached this milestone, and it’s a great honour to be able to celebrate it with you over the next week. Come and join the fun as we look back at the past ten years – and look forward to the future!
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