The New Internet
How has the internet changed since 2001? According to a listing of the Top 10 sites in 2001 compared to 2006, it looks like the last five years saw the rise in dominance of social networking websites over search engine sites.
But this impression may be a bit too shallow.
While on its face 2001 seemed dominated by search engine sites like Yahoo, Google, MSN, Excite, AOL, and Go, there were a few social networks already in play then. Neopets.com, a community of pet owners around the world ranked fifth on the list and eBay, an auction community of buyers and sellers, ranked third. And while they were probably used mostly for search, Yahoo, MSN, Excite, and AOL.com also included many social networking tools, including email, instant messaging, and personal profile pages. While the social networking tools available in 2001 were not as sophisticated as today’s social network sites, they were still quite effective at bringing together people across the globe in ways unimaginable before the internet.
It is probably no surprise that MySpace tops the list for 2006. The social network phenomenon boasts more than 110 million profiles, more than 50 million unique monthly users, and more than 40 million members in the US. But aside from the generic social network that is MySpace, several other social networks serving niche communities figure prominently in the Top 10.
Whereas Neopets and eBay were the niche communities in 2001 on the Top 10, in 2006 the list grew significantly. eBay still ranks third, while Neopets is gone. But the rise of Facebook, which services students and education communities; Craigslist, which is practically an underground economy in its own right; and Pogo, a gaming community; are quite different from MySpace in their role servicing very specific types of social interactions.
Additionally, the big search engine sites have significantly beefed up their social networking tools. Yahoo (360), Google (Groups and Gmail), MSN/Live.com, and even AOL have seen significant evolution. Where the lay of the land in 2001 lent credence to the notion that the internet is an information revolution, 2006 reveals the truth—that the internet is a communication revolution and information is just a commodity that is exchanged on it.