Lynx was actually the earliest Web browser - it was text based. Archie, et al preceded that and preceded the Web itself. Newsgroups also preceded the Web and still exist. They are not as popular now as they used to be for discussion topics - I think have been largely replaced by blogs like ER. They are still popular for trading binary files (pirated software, porn, etc.) DejaNews archived all the old news groups and then got bought up by Google which still hosts many. My favorite newsgroup was rec.windsurfing which is still active and available as a Google Group:
Discussions - rec.windsurfing | Google Groups
Edit: actually Lynx was one of the first browsers. It looks like something called WorldWideWeb, later renamed Nexus to differentiate it from the WWW itself was the first actual browser. I think Mosaic was the first "graphical" browser (you could view images, initially GIFS and later JPGs) but it was Mac only. I used an early graphical windows based browser named Cello which quickly got blown away by Netscape.