Grayling Blog

Web of wonders

Posted on 25.01.2010 by Dirk Moser

The international Academy of the Digital Arts and Sciences has honoured the most important achievements, which have changed the internet in the first ten years of the new millennium with a Webby Award.

The extent of technical developments, which have changed our lives in the past 10 to 15 years is big and continues to happen with increasing pace. So it is good to stop sometimes and reflect on these achievements. Below is what the Academy of the Digital Arts and Sciences considered to be some of the most important web-moments.

• The foundation of Wikipedia in 2001 made Jimmy Wales the Godfather of the collective intelligence movement. According to the web-statistics from Alexa.com, Wikipedia is the sixth most popular website.
• Napster: In February 2001 the P2P-network Napster had to close. A victory for the music industry. Napster-users quickly dispersed onto other P2P-services, but its destruction is still a sore point for internet users.
• For six years the founders of Google, the duo Brin/Page, backed on slow growth without the help of the stock market. They survived the Dotcom-crisis and then in 2004 decided to list the company on the stock exchange and established the most ‘influential and mighty company of the decade’.
• In 2006, the founders of YouTube Chad Hurley and Steven Chen introduced the flash player to their videoplatform and this lead to the ‘Online-Video-Revolution’. In November 2006 Google bought their site for 1,65 billion dollars. YouTube continues to be the most popular web-videosite, but does not make any profit.
• In 2006 Facebook became the social network for everybody and Twitter went online. Together, the two systems made the social networks available to the masses. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, privately owns the company and several investors finance the business. Whilst Facebook has been profitable since September 2009, Twitter is still missing a business model.
• The iPhone, 2007: Apple-boss Steve Jobs has started to link the computer firm with the entertainment business with its iTunes service and the iPod. Jobs has now moved onto the mobile phone industry and redefined the product. Only the iPhone has made Internet applications on a mobile phone sexy. It is already a technical icon, which competitors try to mould themselves on. The iPhone was also the initial spark for the mobile-web boom and several developments like the Googles Android.
• The Obama electoral-campaign 2008: The internet has played an increasing role over the last ten years in US electoral campaigns. In 2008 a so-called outsider got into the Oval Office. Barack Obama and Chris Hughes professionally used the web like nobody before. Together they utilised social media, video-websites, and orchestrated grass-roots movement via the web.