10. Craigslist– Changed classified ads
Before the Internet if you ever had interest in a classified ad,
you’d probably go straight to the local newspaper and see what you can
find. Of course then the Internet came along and while you could find
classified ads online, most of the websites were filled with spam posts
or people looking to set you up while others were just unorganized and
most of the time classified ads for smaller locations were nonexistent.
However, today, if you’re ever looking for anything, and I mean
anything, all you need to do is go to Craigslist.
You can find plenty of things on the classified ads website; from cars, to
pets,
to jobs, homes, and even a place to discuss anything you have on your
mind. Despite recently coming under fire for its “personals” section of
the website, Craigslist continues to be extremely popular among people
all around the world. You can find ads in your state and then narrow
down to a city which makes finding what you need much easier.
But, just like older classified ads websites, you will find spam ads
and you will run into ads that are created by people looking to get your
money and run. The website offers a service to report spammers and
often shows a warning page explaining how many scammers work and what to
look out for when using the site.
9. Geocities – Changed internet accessibility
Even though nowadays anyone and everyone can access the Internet, from your 3
rd
cousin to your great-grandmother, when the Internet was first created,
those who used it were mainly those involved in the technology or
scientific fields and many times these people were looking for
bugs,
fixes, and ways to improve the technology that existed. As crazy as it
seems, at one point in time, the Internet was pretty boring and bare.
However, as websites began to pop up, more and more everyday people
started to use the Internet. To continue this growth, websites such as
GeoCities were created, which opened a whole new world to those people
who weren’t the most tech-savvy as others. GeoCities allowed people to
easily create their own website.
The website was started in 1994 and was first known as BHI (Beverly
Hills Internet), which at the time was a small web-hosting company based
out of Southern California. The company offered free service to people
within various locations in California and years later became a
country-wide service and then world-wide.
Today the website is defunct in the U.S. and Canada, but is still
offered as a service in Japan. When Yahoo purchased the service after 10
years of success during what is called the dot com bubble, it is said
that almost 38 million GeoCities pages were shut down. Despite only
being offered in
Japan, it’s safe to say that GeoCities allowed for some of the earliest web designers.
8. Blogger– Changed the blogging scene
Blogging is the way of the world now. Who needs to scribble in a
personal diary or to write random things on ripped pieces of notebook
paper when you can hop on your computer, log in, and type all of your
thoughts onto your computer screen, press upload, and have the
opportunity to have the entire world read what you’ve got to say.
Blogger was launched in 1999 and since then has allowed the blogging
world to flourish.
While many want to credit LiveJournal or some other
blogging
site with raising the bar in the blogging world, Blogger most
definitely came first and is often credited for setting the stage for
the format of a common blog. The website has been designed and
redesigned and most recently has begun to work closely with Google to
include some of their most popular features.
The website on the Alexa scale is ranked #8 and each day over 388
million
words are published on the website. Even though competitor websites
such as WordPress, LiveJournal, and TypePad have come about, Blogger is
easily credited with starting the blogging revolution.
7. Pandora – Changed how we listen to music
The way we listen to music has drastically changed over time. Today
MP3s and MP4s are the way of the world, but let’s not forget records,
music cassettes, and of course, the radio. However, even though MP3s and
digital music seem to be the latest fad, Pandora has stepped up and
offered a way to listen to music online while you surf.
Pandora is an online radio station that basically lets you create
your own station based on the music like you like to listen to. Of
course, listening to music on the Internet isn’t something new, but
being able to create your own music station is. Anyone can tune into
music that is played on Yahoo or listen to your favorite
radio
station online, but the fact is that most of those songs are played
every hour (or so it seems) and sometimes the song playing isn’t one
that you particularly care for.
But, when it comes to Pandora, website will play a song and based on
whether you like the band or not, the website will play similar music.
The great thing is that Pandora often throws in new bands that are on
the rise. You can easily type in a band on the website, listen to a
song, and then have the chance to listen to a new band that is similar
to your tastes.
6. Facebook – Changed how we interact
First there was the telephone, then pagers, then cell phones, then
along came the internet with instant messaging services and chatrooms,
and before all of this when people wanted to communicate, there was
conversational speaking and letters. Today, we have Facebook, and this
one social networking site has seriously taken the world by storm.
Though technically not the first social networking site created, many
will argue that it is the most useful and is the one that has made the
largest impact on our society.
It seems like everything we do is based on Facebook these days.
Pictures, friends, relationships, gossip; it all ties into Facebook in
some way of another, and wherever you go, you’ll usually find something
Facebook-esque. Musicians are asking fans to add them on
Facebook as are authors, political candidates, businesses, and anything and everything between.
The website was launched in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg six
years later the website has exploded, attracting more than 500 million
users, ranging from your average Joe, to celebrities, and even political
world leaders.
5. Wikipedia – Changed how we research/learn
Before Wikipedia came along, high school and college students had to
do their own research the hard way. In all seriousness, before Wikipedia
became one big booming e-encyclopedia, many of those that were offered
online either required a paid membership to have access to information
or the encyclopedia altogether lacked a lot of information. It was
either go to the library to find the
research you needed or dish out some money to get it.
However, Wikipedia changed all of this and really made research a
breeze. The website became the first of its kind: a free e-encyclopedia
that has grown and will probably continue to do so as long as the
Internet is available. On April 16, 2010, the website had its 1
billionth edit and today it is ranked the #7 most visited website by
Alexa. In the U.S. it is the 6
th most visited website in the country.
The amazing thing about Wikipedia is that you can literally fin
anything and almost everything on Wikipedia. With 3,410,052 articles and
growing, there isn’t much you can’t find. If you can’t you can easily
edit and add information yourself. The website appeals to Internet users
from all over the world, offering information in various languages such
as Spanish, Russian, French, German, Italian, and many others. And yes,
Wikipedia has a Wikipedia page.
4. Amazon – Changed the face of retail shopping
When you need food, you go to the grocery store. When you need
clothes, you go to the mall or your favorite retail store. If you need
pet supplies, you go to the pet store. If you want to listen to music,
you go purchase a CD at a store. All of this is common sense, and
generally when people need things, they visit a brick and mortar store.
However, when Amazon was launched in 1995, the company, based out of
Seattle, changed the entire face of retail shopping. Their name says it
all; Amazon is the largest
river
in the world and Amazon.com is the largest online store on could
imagine. Where else can you buy jewelry, MP3s, clothing, vitamins, dog
toys, and anything else from the same location?
Most recently Amazon even began selling food products that can be
delivered to your door. With the creation of Amazon, it’s safe to say
that less and less people are visiting brick and mortar stores to
purchase certain items. The website offers free shipping with a $25
purchase as well as a Prime account which promises free 2-day shipping
or $3.99 next day shipping. The point is, anyone can count on Amazon to
have what they need. It’s truly amazing how an e-shop can stock and
supply such a wide array of items.
3. YouTube – Changed daily entertainment
When it came time to looking or watching videos online, there wasn’t a
wide variety of options. At times people would upload videos for people
to watch, but many times due to bandwidth and other factors, those who
owned websites just opted to stay away from the videos and other high
bandwidth features. However, an easy fix to this problem came about in
February 2005. YouTube, which has been successfully running for 5 years
now, solved any and all problems when it came to entertainment on the
Internet. Not only can you watch videos but you can also listen to music
and even blog through videos.
Millions of people from all over the world enjoy the features of YouTube each day. Because of
YouTube
there is one great place for everyone to look at videos and even
comment and review them. The website allows you to really watch anything
you could ever think of. From music videos to bloggers, to tutorials
and just outright random videos, you can surely find it on YouTube.
The website is ranked #3 on the Alexa scale and offers 29 different
languages for users who live outside of the United States. Though other
video websites are available, such as Hulu, none have been as successful
as YouTube has been.
2. eBay – Changed how we buy and sell
While online shopping has become a great fad that it seems everyone
has latched onto, eBay is one of many websites that should have credit
for advancing this online phenomenon. Even though most websites today
offer users the ability to purchase what they want online, eBay not only
offers online shopping it also allows users to bid on some of the
hottest items each year. eBay has most definitely made shopping
something that anyone can do without having to get in the car, drive to a
store or the mall, and then look around to find the right size or
color.
With online shopping with a few simple clicks your shopping is done.
eBay allows users from all over the world to bid and buy items. The good
thing about the website is that many times you pay a lot less than you
would in stores and even better is the fact that items are available
that may not be sold in a store local to you. eBay has made it easy to
find some of the most popular items as well as items that aren’t sold in
stores anymore.
eBay is also well known for its ability for users to sell various
items, from perfume to clothing to replica shoes and anything and
everything in between. eBay is one of the very few websites that offers
live real time auctions for products.
1. Google – Changed virtually everything
As extreme as it sounds, it’s pretty safe to say that when it comes
to the Internet Google can be found anywhere and everywhere. No matter
what kind of activity you do online, from watching videos, to blogging,
to just reading the local news online, you’re probably some way, somehow
using a service provided by Google, and many times you don’t even know
it. When you watch a YouTube video, you’re using a Google service. If
you’ve ever used Blogger, that’s a Google service. Chrome: Google
browser. If you’ve ever seen a Doubleclick ad; yep, that’s Google too.
So in essence, Google is everywhere; ubiquitous. From watching videos
to uploading pictures to show to friends and family, whether you know
it or not, Google is a very well used service all over the world. If you
ever need to get somewhere, you probably go to Google.com. If you need
to search for something, Google.com is probably the first place you go
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