Jerry Seinfeld hinted at the popularity of social media back in 1992

Jerry Seinfeld's observational comedy has been acclaimed for decades. Now it seems that his understanding of human nature allowed him to predict the popularity of social media years before any actually existed. In 2011, YouTube user Anh Pham uploaded a clip of Seinfeld performing a routine about answering machines, but the clip may have picked up more notice recently around the 30th anniversary of the first episode of Seinfeld airing. In the 1992 episode The Bubble Boy Seinfeld opens with the conceit that people call in the hope of reaching an answering machine rather than an actual person. "The phone machine is like this relationship respirator keeping these marginal brain-dead relationships alive," he said. READ MORE: * 'Seinfeld' at 30: Remembering a comedy machine * Seinfeld's guide to internet etiquette * The five best Seinfeld episodes * Guy Williams: 'I've got too much irrational self confidence' * 'Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee' has run out of gas - is that Seinfeld's fault? * Jerry Seinfeld: Why he is a master of comedy The idea of this quick, impersonal check-in mimics the kind of interactions that social media can encourage. "When we come home you can see that little flashing red light, you go all right; messages. Y'see people need that. It's very important for human beings to feel they are popular and well-liked amongst a large group of people that we don't care for." Five years later the first site comparable to modern social media, SixDegrees.com, was launched. Friends Reunited started in 2000, and the first truly big social media sites MySpace and LinkedIn were online in 2003.

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