The History of the Internet

I just got done reading some history about the internet, I focused mainly on the invention of email and how it developed into a useful and convenient medium of communication. One of the more interesting things I learned about email was that the basic applications we use in our email programs today in the 21st century, existed at the very beginning of the invention of email. These applications were developed further and improved upon, but I was interested to learn that these things were created so early on in the process of email development. Another thing I found in the article about email was a table about the growth of the server Usenet-which was the platform for which email was developed and put to use-over the years from 1979-86. During this time the number of sites grew from 3 to 2500 and the number of articles went from 2 to 500. I have always been fascinated at the power of the internet as a mass medium. It's influence and ability to reach a large number of people far surpasses that of any other mode of communication. Sites such as Google and Facebook grow exponentially each year and even in the early beginnings of the internet it was growing in leaps and bounds. A video that provides further evidence on this was done by XPlane about 5 or 6 years ago. There are now 5 versions. Version 4.0 is attached below. This video contains information about how the Internet is thriving so much that every other mass medium is suffering as a result. Some staggering statistics you will find in the video:

-There are a little over 200 TV stations, there are 1 TRILLION unique Web pages

-There has been more content uploaded to YouTube in the past 2 months than if ABC, CBS, NBC had been airing new programming 24/7/365 since 1948.

-The above 3 networks get 10 million unique visitors per month, collectively. MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube combined get 250 million per month.

These 3 facts alone show how much the internet is favored over the other mediums, namely Television. Since its creation the internet has steadily increased and continues to grow without signs of slowing down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8