I do not think the barrier to entry was so high. Some years ago (before facebook or even earlier), it was common to see all kind of people chatting in cybercafe

I do not think the barrier to entry was so high. Some years ago (before facebook or even earlier), it was common to see all kind of people chatting in cybercafes, and also not so long ago in countries or places with poor connections. They either used some installed client or, most often, a web interface. And people could manage quite well, even non tech savvy people. But, except for that, I totally agree with your comment. It did never have the power that social networks have today, and as soon as more interesting tools were available, most people moved on.