A lot has changed over the twenty years since the internet started affecting our day-to-day lives, and the life we live in 2015 bears almost no resemblance to the one pre-internet.
But which websites have had the biggest impact on society and set themselves up as the foundation on which the web can continue to evolve? Check out our choices for websites that changed the world:
Google has a large influence on almost everything we do online. With humble beginnings as a search engine to sort through the increasingly vast amount of information online, Google have grown to reach across all forms of technology – from web browser to watches to developing a self-driving car.
With the term ‘Google it’ and ‘Googling’ a part of everyone’s vocabulary, the company are synonymous with search and every tool we can think of usable in our personal lives and business lives is available from the company.
Though Myspace introduced the world to social networking, it wasn’t until Mark Zuckerberg introduced his behemoth to the world in 2004 that online socialising really took off. Since then the website has become such an intrinsic part of our day to day life and communicating with friends and family that few can go without it for longer than ten minutes.
Since then the company have expanded their scope, acquiring other social brands such as Instagram and WhatsApp to boost their dominance, Facebook are poised to be at the hub of most major online conversations.
Wikipedia
Scourge of university tutors and loved by everyone else, Wikipedia has quickly become the most useful repository of information in the modern world – with articles on everything from the moon landing to Manicheism – and is one of the most widely-viewed sites of any kind of the world.
Due to the open nature of the website, there have been a variety of examples of content being changed for comedic or malicious purposes and due to the sheer size of the site – hosting 5,033,989 articles and attracting over a million visitors a day – these can go unnoticed for long periods of time. Despite this, it remains the go-to page for anyone wanting to know about anything.
YouTube
Long established as the go-to site for video content, YouTube was a revelation from the day it was introduced to the world in 2005. Established as a place for people to upload videos people long expected to never be able to see again – from live band footage to ancient episodes of TV shows – in the decade it has been established, people around the world have been able to make a living from uploading videos including professional gamers and toy reviewers.
Just don’t read the comments.
eBay
With a heartwarming story at its inception – founder Pierre Omidyar started the website so his girlfriend could continue to collect Pez when they moved to Silicon Valley – this online car boot sale has essentially made it easy for shoppers to find anything they want for a bargain. eBay remains a global giant in the online world allowing users to sell and buy ‘til their heart’s content.
Are there any more websites that changed the world which you think we missed out? Let us know!
