The History of the Internet Is Not Always What You Think
For those who haven't been around since the start of the internet, the system's history seems relatively straightforward: email is invented, simple web pages constructed, and then social media and commerce sites took over. The actual history is a lot more complicated and extensive, and it can surprise people because what they thought was true often isn't. Much of this has to do with the internet formerly being an academic and technology-nerd domain until the arrival of a more interactive online world.
Social Media Isn't a New Thing
One big misconception is that social media is fairly new, with sites like LiveJournal and MySpace getting the ball rolling. Old internet hands will tell you this isn't the case. Bulletin board systems and newsgroups (e.g., sci.lang) were a form of social media for years, for example, and while they might not look like the media of today, they were interactive frameworks for people to get together over the internet long before the World Wide Web came into existence. Keep that in mind that if you are younger and apply for a social media manager job, you're dealing with newer platforms, but not newer concepts.
Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0
It seems almost unbelievable now, but the internet used to not be very interactive unless you were logged into special networks like Telnet or using an FTP server. When the World Wide Web started gaining attention, it was not very interactive and consisted mainly of informational web pages. You could click to go to another page on a site, but it was mainly about pages where people or companies could put information about themselves. This version was later termed Web 1.0 because a more interactive version slowly took over and was called Web 2.0. This is the web people know today, with interactive sites, e-commerce, coupon codes, comment sections, and more.
Convenience Is the Mother of Invention, at Least in the Webcam's Case
The webcam has become a necessity in this age of Zoom and Instagram, but it wasn't always meant for such lofty personal promotion. The first webcam was created out of a need for convenience. In 1991, researchers and staff at the University of Cambridge used to interrupt their work and walk all the way over to a room known as the Trojan Room to get some coffee. It was never good when they made that trip only to find the coffee pot empty. So, the staff set up a camera that people could watch remotely to see if the coffee pot was full.
The history of the internet is much more extensive, of course, and it's been a wild ride for much of the time. Reading up on the history can be very enjoyable.
