The Web's Most, Biggest, Best, and Worst of 2007

2007 was a frenzied year for all things digital, and could be marked as when the revolution really began to take hold. Social media took center stage, impacting everything from politics to major corporate maneuvers to raising awareness of social causes.

There were lawsuits, mysteries, legal abuses, policy shifts, embarrassments, scandals, oppressions, miscalculations, bubble discussions, and significant innovations. All and all, 2007 was a big year for anybody with a stake on the Net.

So, without further ado, we present the Most, the Biggest, the Best, and the Worst of 2007.

You know your product's hit a nerve when people pair it up with the savior of the world. Apple CEO Steve Jobs induced a Web-and-media-wide paroxysm by Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin proved himself to be such a abuse of power. Well done, Kevin. Or at least you will be when the grilling's finished.

Even though Second Life lit up 2006 with the possibilities and issues virtual worlds presented to marketers and lawyers, and even influenced philosophies regarding virtual goods and currencies in 2007, those accumulated Linden dollars may soon be doing as poorly as the real dollar, or worse. Recent reports show Second Life has become a bit of a ghost town.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) bullied, fought, and sued its way to infamous villainy in both 2006 and 2007 by targeting not just file-sharing networks but also file-sharers themselves. But 2007 marked the year the recording industry began to walk away from DRM (digital rights management). EMI, Universal, and Viacom slapped the company with a billion-dollar lawsuit in March for fear of losses to Google-owned YouTube. Microsoft ironically cried antitrust when Google bought online ad company DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. And Google's presence in the federal 700 MHz spectrum auction pushed behemoths like AT&T and Verizon to reevaluate their strategies and open up their networks. As Google stock continues to Microsoft complains to the government that another company will have an unfair advantage in the marketplace. It's even harder to keep that laughter in when very soon after Microsoft complains about Google's purchase of DoubleClick and lack of competition in the online ad space, Microsoft turns around and buys aQuantive for $6 billion, twice what Google will pay for DoubleClick.  Microsoft's complaint appears to be more strategic than legitimate.

Google rocked the webmaster world by dropping webpages with lying to bloggers about funding and impending payment, but also accused TechCrunch's Michael Arrington of sabotaging Blognation's efforts with investors. As Blognation spiraled toward non-existence, Arrington shot back by implying Sethi's dishonesty contributed to the sudden death of a Blognation editor.

Dissatisfied with the company's growth, Yahoo shareholders booted CEO Terry Semel at the beginning of the year and put Jerry Yang and Susan Decker at the helm. Either new policies are slow to take hold or that was a bad decision, as the company continues to lose market share to Google.

Though some would argue Facebook had the best year ever – crazy valuations, Microsoft investment, substantial growth as a result of an open platform, and constant media attention – it wasn't without its share of major problems. In addition to the yonker CEO Mark Zuckerberg having to face old classmates over accusations of stealing their idea, he was also forced to apologize for and revamp Facebook's marketing service, Beacon, which broadcasted what Facebook users were buying at partner sites. Privacy advocates, in a mess when it was revealed that an executive had not been truthful when a Congressional committee grilled him about Yahoo's knowledge of Chinese authority's reason for requesting information about a Yahoo Mail user. Yahoo assistance to the Chinese government resulted in the jailing of two journalistic dissidents.

Comcast raised proof of concept, when the company was discovered to be interfering with peer-to-peer traffic in order to prioritize traffic. The incident provided nice fodder for Net Neutrality advocates.

A 24-year-old hacker developed a way results were stunning, with questionable edits coming from government agencies, major corporations, and media entities all looking to control their messages.

Don't like what someone's saying about you online? Lawyer up and send out a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice in order to bully their comments offline. This practice become more and more common in 2007, and at the pinnacle of abuse was one lawyer copyrighting the notice itself in order to sue when a blogger posted it on his blog.

Popular rock group Biggest Social Media Breakthrough: YouTube/CNN Debates

Another step toward a more populist democracy, Republican candidates were subjected to questions from everyday people, rather than just the media elite.

LonelyGirl is so 2006. This year, the favorite mystery to be solved was Frozen Pea Fund. Expect Twitter to be acquired in 2008.