The Internet's 2000s Top Ten

The iPhone, social networking and YouTube are among the top 10 defining moments of the Internet in the first decade of the millennium, according to the people behind the online Oscars, the Webby Awards.They’ve compiled a Top Ten list of the most influential Internet moments of the 2000s. "The Internet is the story of decade because it was the catalyst for change in not just every aspect of our everyday lives, but in everything from commerce and communication to politics and pop culture," said David-Michel Davies, the executive director of The Webby Awards. "The recurring theme among all of the milestones on our list is the Internet's capacity to circumvent old systems and put more power into the hands of ordinary people."The list includes: Wikipedia launches (2001) “Containing 20,000 articles in 18 languages by the end of its first year online, Wikipedia today boasts more than 14 million articles in 271 different languages. The free open source encyclopaedia epitomises the Internet's power to bring strangers from around the world together to collaborate on projects both big and small.”Online video revolution (2006) “In 2006, a perfect storm of faster bandwidth, cheaper camcorders, and the groundbreaking use of Adobe's Flash 9 video player by YouTube combined to launch the online video revolution. The trifecta led to a boom in homemade and professional content - the Diet Coke and Mentos guys, lonelygirl15, SNL's Lazy Sunday, and Senator George Allen's ‘macacagate’ - that has reshaped everything from pop culture to politics.”Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter takes off (2006) “In September 2006, a social networking site for college students changed its user qualifications to include anyone 13 and older with a valid email address. Facebook struck an immediate chord – and almost overnight, social media went mainstream. Less than a month later, the creators of Twitter acquired the company and its assets from its investors, paving the way for the service to take off in 2007. Both companies took social media mainstream, radically changing the way we connect, collaborate, and communicate with everyone from friends to colleagues to customers.”The iPhone debuts (2007) “The iPhone was released on June 29, 2007. By the end of the weekend, half a million had been sold, and smartphones had gone from a luxury item to a necessity. The iPhone inspired the development of operating systems like Google Android, as well as an app for just about every aspect of modern life. Over the next decade, it's estimated that a billion new users will come to the Internet for the first time through mobile devices.”The full Top Ten list can be read at www.webbyawards.com/press/topwebmomentsdecade.php