by Tiffany Davis
We all know that the internet has revolutionized not only the way in which we do business, but also the way in which we interact internationally through an array of online portals. Social networking sites have aided in gaining an added advantage in finding former classmates and coworkers, while still retaining the worldwide web connection. Many social networking sites exist in order to expand your followers, either by adding old acquaintances or finding new ones through various portals and group memberships. This new influx of sites is only the latest addition in an ever expanding internet world.
With the creation of the internet came the creation of various websites that allowed you to communicate with people from around the world; Geocities was one of the pioneers in this venture, although their doors are closing later this year. America Online additionally aided in gaining a massive audience of users who had never previously used the internet; it succeeded in making the internet user-friendly, even incorporating a new method of communication: the instant message. While this became a fad of the late 1990s, incorporating a substantial amount of revenue, this particular web provider has lost much of its target client base and has been somewhat left in the dust with the advent of newer browsers and new methods of communications.
The creation of the blogging world in the late 90s has additionally helped to revolutionize the way in which the internet is run. While we now consider the concept of a blog to be a normal part of our internet lives, the original blogs of OpenDiary and LiveJournal were far from what we construe them to be now. These original blogs were more diary-formatted and encouraged users to use them as such, thereby providing their followers with an insight into their lives. This has since transcended into many social networking sites through the many various “status updates”, albeit on a smaller scale. Blogs were upgraded in 2002 when the Iraq War presented many political pundits with a forum upon which to express their thoughts on the war or for reporters to display their coverage of the war. This later escalated in 2004 to include a wide array of blog sites, allowing users of all genres to create their own personal site in which they “blogged” about their chosen topic.
Since the early days of these sites, the internet has expanded to include all varieties of social media, from online dictionaries (Wikipedia), to virtual existences (Second Life). In between it all are the more popular sites of Twitter and Facebook that attract an amazing following per day. These sites have presented us with a new way in which to keep in contact with classmates, business colleagues, and family through the many updates they provide to the user. An entire business can now be run out of a particular social media site; Facebook has added many different applications to allow their users to effectively run a business from the site, incorporating conference calls as well as slide show presentations. This way of doing business has attracted a younger audience because of their affinity with the internet and shows promise of becoming a new wave of the future.
This post was contributed by Tiffany Davis, who writes about accredited online universities. She welcomes your feedback at TiffanyMDavis82 at gmail.com
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