In the following, we will discuss Usenet, which enables data as well as information exchange. Social networks, which also serve the exchange of information, are therefore a competitor to Usenet. First, we will explain Usenet and its components in more detail and give a brief summary of its development with the help of a timeline. Furthermore, we will compare Usenet with social networks and finally draw a conclusion. A more detailed explanation of the individual topics can be found in the e-book provided.
Definition and components of the Usenet
Usenet, originally "Unix User Network", is a worldwide electronic network of news servers for the exchange of information. It basically offers freely accessible discussion forums of all kinds, so-called "newsgroups", 
which are usually modified with the help of newsreaders. Newsreaders are special client-side software programs for reading and writing posts and for displaying the existing newsgroups on a news server [Sin]. A newsgroup is a virtual Internet forum in which text-based messages can be exchanged on a specific topic. To publish new articles in a newsgroup, the messages must be sent to a news server. This in turn mirrors the new articles on other news servers that also contain the newsgroup in question. Thus, a new message is also made available to other users who are not connected to the originating news server.
Technically, Usenet is a decentralized network of approximately 20,000 news servers that contain various news groups. Usenet is divided into nine main hierarchies and more than 100,000 newsgroups with quite a few sub-hierarchies (e.g., national, regional, or news server-only).
All important information under this link: how to connect to usenet server
History
Usenet was created when two Unix computers were joined in 1979 by students Tom Truscott, Steve Bellovin and Jim Ellis from the Universities of North Carolina and Duke University. Over the years, more and more universities joined the network and the original centralized structure of Usenet transformed into a decentralized network with newsgroups for organizing discussion topics based on the UUCP (Unix to Unix Copy Protocol). After the American military opened the Internet to the public in 1990, news servers were also able to use the Internet and its infrastructure. UUCP, which had been used for Usenet until then, was replaced by NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol), thus opening up Usenet to other operating systems. 
At the same time, companies participated to answer support requests. In 1993, AOL set up a freely accessible news server and thus opened Usenet to the public. Thereupon the data traffic of the decentralized network exploded and the latter experienced ever more influx. The first commercial news servers were set up. Due to the ever-increasing use of the WWW and the ever-increasing distribution of Internet forums, the number of users declined again. In 2002 the Usenet was extended by the possibility of binary data exchange. Due to this, the network experienced a second renaissance [Moe]. However, illegal file sharing became more and more prominent and became the trademark of the Usenet. Paid flat rates for file sharing were offered and the initially public network became increasingly restricted.
In the meantime, Usenet consists of news servers for a restricted group of people. These include news servers from universities and companies, Usenet providers, news server operators and resellers. In addition to the listed players, there are also free news servers, but they are characterized by their slow operation and very limited selection of newsgroups. Lin]
Social networks versus Usenet
Now that we have dealt with the classification and historical background of Usenet, we will draw a comparison between Usenet and social networks with the help of a comparison of pro and con elements. At the same time, we want to consolidate the thesis we established at the beginning that social networks represent a strong competitor to Usenet. [Lab] [Fra]
Conclusion
In summary, Usenet was in high demand for discussions at the beginning of its development. With the emergence of the Web and especially Internet forums, the network lost its appeal. However, it flourished again when the network was expanded to include the ability to share data. Along with this, discussion newsgroups declined more and more and Usenet got the reputation of being illegal and is mostly only associated with file sharing. The original Usenet is dying out. In the future it will become more and more a niche application and in the long run will be replaced by another service (e.g. by the social networks).
Compared to the social networks, the groups and discussion options of social networks are playing an increasingly strong role and are thus displacing the former competitor Usenet as an information exchange platform. Although Usenet shines through its almost anonymous exchange of data, we suspect that social networks will be expanded in the future to include the possibility of general data exchange, and that Usenet's basis for existence will thus dwindle.