The year 2006 was a major year for all things Internet related. In fact, it might remembered as the year the Internet exploded. Record broadband adoption, major government attention, and the advent of video and social media made it, to borrow from VH1, the Internet's best year ever.
To commemorate that, we've come up with a list of Internet winners, because everybody loves a good end-of-the-year list.
Internet Winners In 2006
1. Google
Every year for Google has been a breakout year for the eight-year-old company, but 2006 was a blockbuster. Besides adding user-generated video phenom YouTube to its roster for $1.65 billion in stock, Google remained a favorite of Wall Street, with stock catapulting over $500 per share. That spike was more than enough to cover the cost of purchasing YouTube.
And then they moved in with NASA.
2. YouTube
If Google was a winner just for acquiring YouTube, then YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steven Chen, who created a site and flipped it for major moolah in just a year and a half, without even demonstrating how the site could turn a profit, are the biggest table scrap winners of the year. They still run their company and still got those stock certificates.
3. Broadband
Dialup Internet access has become akin to having outdoor plumbing. In the US, broadband access hit nearly 80 percent of the population. Because people no longer had to begin downloading a large file and then go to dinner while it finished, they spent more time actually enjoying video and audio content on the Web.
4. Lawyers
Happy days are here again for the corporate attorney. As Internet companies become Web giants, the window for lawsuit, valid or not, frivolous or not, gets a lot bigger. Google settles with advertisers angry over click fraud for $90 million - that's $60 million in advertising credit for the advertiser and $30 million cash for the attorneys who won that case. Yahoo's lawyers are so good, all they had to say was 'sorry about that' and write a check for $5 million to the complainant's attorneys.
5. Social Media
For the end user it's been all about friends' lists, blogs, wikis, amateur videos, vlogging, podcasting, and instant messaging. From the consumer end, it's been a communication bonanza and the official creation of the citizen media. Ideally, the elite and powerful only provide the means by which the people communicate, not control the communication itself, and the people are eating up. And for the professional media, if we hear the words "MySpace" or "YouTube" one more time...
6. Podcasting
The word "podcast" may have been Oxford's
Found an error or have a suggestion? Let us know and we'll review it.
 {
function initCopyableSections() {
document.querySelectorAll('.article-content .copyable-section').forEach(function(section) {
if (section.querySelector('.copyable-section__btn')) return;
var btn = document.createElement('button');
btn.type = 'button';
btn.className = 'copyable-section__btn';
btn.setAttribute('aria-label', 'Copy to clipboard');
var label = section.getAttribute('data-copy-label');
btn.textContent = label ? 'Copy ' + label : 'Copy';
section.appendChild(btn);
btn.addEventListener('click', function() {
var contentEl = section.querySelector('.copyable-section__content');
var text;
if (contentEl) {
text = contentEl.textContent.trim();
} else {
var clone = section.cloneNode(true);
var btnClone = clone.querySelector('.copyable-section__btn');
if (btnClone) btnClone.parentNode.removeChild(btnClone);
text = clone.textContent.trim();
}
if (!text) return;
navigator.clipboard.writeText(text).then(function() {
var t = btn.textContent;
btn.textContent = 'Copied!';
btn.classList.add('copied');
setTimeout(function() {
btn.textContent = t;
btn.classList.remove('copied');
}, 2000);
});
});
});
}
if (document.readyState === 'loading') {
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', initCopyableSections);
} else {
initCopyableSections();
}
})();
</script>
<!-- Tags -->
<!-- Correction Form -->
<div class=)
Suggest a Correction
Eight Internet Winners In 2006
0 views
Comments (0)
Please sign in to leave a comment.
No comments yet. Be the first to comment!