Top 10 amazing ways the Web has changed the world

… So here’s the question. What are the top 10 amazing ways the web has changed the world?

Free access to knowledge for everyone who has access to the Internet
Connecting friends and family all over the world
Promoting the rise of startup entrepreneurs
Increased awareness and Increased responsibility, especially amongst the youth
Power to the people. More people creating, joiningÃ‚Â and participating in worthy causes.
Greater Freedom of Expression.
Job Creation
Increased Innovation, with the ability to brainstorm with people across the globe and right next door with increasing ease and effectiveness.
More engaging entertainment. Rather than one way TV and Radio, Internet provides us with ways to give feedback, participate and engage with others.
Making the world a smaller place where my next door neighbour could be next door, or across the world.

Question: What do these things all have in common? Everybody know…

👐How Can Beginners Enter The Social Media Marketing Industry? Businesses everywhere, no matter how competitive their industry is, agree on one thing; a business should have some kind of social media…

👐Progressive Web App Teaches you to Read Arabic With the most improtant month in the Islamic calendar coming up Muslim Central has introduced their new Progressive Web App, Alif Central…

👐Win R25000 with the TravelStart.co.za Paper Jet Challenge #BeAKidAgain I use travelstart.co.za to compare flight prices across multiple airlines every single time before I travel. When they contacted me to collaborate…

6 Responses to "Top 10 amazing ways the Web has changed the world"

esvl says:

22 September 2007 at 22:47

Interesting stuff.

Reply
warren says:

23 September 2007 at 19:59

‘for everyone who has access’. Thats the most important point on your list. So you title should read something like, ‘Top 10 amazing ways the Web has changed the parts of world’

The web has had an incredible influence on the world, but it’s important to be realistic when considering the scope of it’s impact. Take a look at UNESCO’s World Communication and Information Report and you’ll see just how deep the digital divide still runs.

These are 10 really cool points, but ask yourself, for who? who is ‘everyone’? power to which ‘people’?

Reply
Miguel dos Santos says:

23 September 2007 at 22:20

I know what you mean. According to Internet World Stats the highest Internet penetration in Europe, North America and Australia. Asia is the top Internet users in the world mostly because of China’s vast population and Japans advanced technology.
Anyway, the point is that the Internet has mostly benefited them so far, but Internet penetration will only grow.
17.8 % World Internet penetration currently growing at a rate of 225.0 %.

I’m realistic, I know that even with all the attention Africa has been getting it, together with Asia and the Middle East, still has the lowest Internet penetration in the world, and it will take time to build that infrastructure. But things are moving forward, and we need to be grateful and celebrate what has been achieved so far.

Reply
warren says:

27 September 2007 at 15:14

i hear you, but it’s worth remembering that some of the celebrated changes brought about by the internet, were the very same change introduced by technolgies like the telegraph and the telephone

“Within 29 years of its first installation at Euston Station, the telegraph network crossed the oceans to every continent, making instant global communication possible for the first time. Its development allowed newspapers to cover significant world events in near real-time, revolutionized business, particularly trading businesses, and allowed huge fortunes to be won and lost in a flurry of investment in research and infrastructure building”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_telegraph

sound vaguely familiar? so while the web is unique in many ways, some of it’s effects aren’t.

this is just me playing devils advocate. we need to be able to tell the difference and at least be away of the failings of the past so that the enormous benifits of the internet can be reallised.

Reply
Miguel dos Santos says:

27 September 2007 at 16:00

Then again the Internet hasn’t reached it’s full potential yet and will form the foundation for further innovations to come, like mobile telecommunications, which is basis enough to celebrate it as a world changing innovation in my opinion.

Innovations that can’t be built upon sucks, and the Internet is the best platform innovation to date in my opinion. That and perhaps TV, as it gave rise to the whole film industry, by which so many people live their live by nowadays.

Reply
warren says:

27 September 2007 at 17:10

yeah, totally. the internet is unrivalled as a platform for innovation. thats the really exciting thing about it. i agree with you there.

my arguement is just world changing for who? just take cape town for example. a short one hour drive will take you from an area with a pretty reasonable internet penetration to one with virtually none. all the innovation in the world is absolutely meaningless to folks who have no access to it…

thats why projects like OLPC are important, they’re a move in the right direction.

the internet is only a tool, not a panecea

Reply