As a result of this, in later years, the term grew to mean something akin to an ephemeral currency, e.g., "I got a lot of egoboo for editing that newsletter."
The term later spread into the open source programming movement, where the concept of non-monetary reward from community response is a key motivator for many of the participants.
However, it has been in use in science fiction fandom since 1947 or earlier, being referenced in the 1959 collection of fandom-related jargon Fancyclopedia II.
The first print citation available electronically is in a 1950 issue of Lee Hoffman's Quandry, where it is spelled "ego-boo";[5] later usage dropped the hyphen and blended the two words, a common feature of fannish jargon.
The earliest online citation recorded is a reference to it being used in 1982, describing InConJunction, a science fiction convention in Indiana;[6] the high proportion of science fiction fans on Usenet, and the Internet generally, in early years helped spread it into the wider computing community.