How has the internet changed and evolved since the early 1990s?
I am old enough to remember the web-olution. One day we were all playing snake on our original monotone laptops and only the most important of our parents had huge brick sized mobile phones or phones in their cars. Fast forward 20 years and we have a computer in the palm of our hand which acts as our personal assistant, our phone, our diary, our watch, our alarm clock and our "go to" to ask any question that pops into our head. Beyond deep life wisdom and emotional support and reassurance, there isn't much we can't figure out with our smartphone.
When it first entered the mainstream commercial market, the internet was considered a mighty powerful platform that opened up this world of inter connectivity and allowed us to communicate with someone over the other side of the world in real time. Today it's just a way of life.
The websites of today are a far cry from the original websites we were introduced to in the early 1990s. Originally websites were a tool of the technologically advanced and were only accessible to a select chosen few with advanced skills in computing. Today, if you have a computer, you can launch a website. And it's not as hard as you might think.
Now
Then
- You would need a team to create a website
- No one tracked what you looked at online
- There was a battle of search engines
- Search engines only had basic algorithms
- Search engines didn't have advertising
- Only a few browsers (IE strong for a while)
- Mobile phones were only used as phones
- There were no social media websites
- Internet chat rooms were revolutionary
- You can launch a website by yourself
- Your browsing behaviour is tracked
- Google reigns and monopolises the market
- Search engine optimisation is a science
- Search engines control online advertising
- The browser battle continues
- Smartphones morphed into PAs
- Social media main communication channel
- Instant messaging is a way of life
Technology used to be a "subject" at school. Now it's the environment that businesses operate and rely heavily upon to do well. There are specialist areas in digital marketing now that didn't even exist three years ago, the landscape is shifting that quickly.
For small business owners, however, this is all good news. It means that the internet is now more accessible and that anyone with the drive and motivation can master it. It takes time and you need to develop new skills but the rewards are plentiful.
Learn how to make your own website by booking one of Salt Brands & Marketing private DIY website workshop for just $840.