Webmaster was a much more popular word to describe people who worked on websites during the early days of the internet. Today this role may be more commonly referred to as web developer, web designer, or the latest trending title: full stack developer.
As you can see by the results of this Google Ngram Viewer result for the frequency of the word “webmaster” from 1980 until 2019, the use of the word peaked around the years 2003-2004.
Adding the word “master” to the end of another word to imply complete knowledge of that topic has been popular for hundreds of years such as the old-timey titles like schoolmaster and quartermaster. It has been used by the public speaking organization, Toastmasters International, since its inception in 1924. But it gained a particularly nerdy bent from the late 1970s through the 1990s as it was used in fantasy fiction roles like the “Dungeon Master” from the game, Dungeons ‘n’ Dragons, and cheesy films like 1982’s, The Beastmaster. It was also a common word for businesses and products of that era like Ticketmaster and the popular kids’ toy, View-Master.
So, what does a Webmaster do?
Webmasters are responsible for every aspect of a website, from content planning, code development, and design, to hosting and troubleshooting IT issues with the database and even server hardware. One reason it is less common to see this title is that roles have become more specialized resulting in designers, database admins, developers, and of course marcom teams who can now focus on writing copy and selecting images like they do for all other promotional vehicles.
At Thrifty Webmaster, we don’t believe the term is completely dead. Nay! It is just reserved for the few who still master all aspects of website design and maintenance, an endangered species for sure.