I’ve worked with online marketing and e-commerce for over 15 years now, and during this time, we’ve seen huge changes in how we use—and relate to—the internet.
It goes without saying that the internet has given me the opportunity to take on many exciting projects. I’m both deeply grateful for this development and endlessly fascinated by it.
That’s why I’ve chosen to dedicate this post to a brief walk through the evolution of the internet, highlighting a few moments that, in my opinion, have truly shaped it into what it is today.
If you’re just as interested in the internet’s history as I am, I hope you’ll keep reading!
The first steps were taken in the USA
We have to go all the way back to 1969 to see the first steps in the development of the internet.
That year, the first email was sent between two computers in the United States.
The purpose of developing emails was to create an information network that didn’t need to be stored on external hard drives but could be accessed by anyone, no matter where they were located.
The American research project called ARPANET led the way in developing this first email exchange.
However, there were challenges—emails couldn’t be sent unless the two computers were on the same network. Solving this problem became a mission throughout the ’70s and ’80s—and eventually, it was resolved.
In 1990, the first website went live, and just eight years later, Google was launched with the sole purpose of organizing the now countless websites available on the internet.
This was an effective way to filter the growing amount of information found on the World Wide Web, introduced as the first web browser in 1990.
By 1991, the browser was made publicly accessible. The World Wide Web browser allowed consumers, for the first time, to click on links and be directed to websites.
E-commerce platforms of the ’90s
The 1990s saw massive growth, especially when it came to e-commerce platforms.
It all started in 1995, when eBay became the first platform to allow users to list products for sale and trade them directly with each other.
Today, eBay has over 135 million users, proving that being first with a great idea can truly pay off—even if the concept of an online marketplace seemed strange back in 1995.
It wasn’t long before others followed. That same year, Denmark’s own classifieds site launched its online platform, which was later acquired by eBay in 2008.
Amazon also joined the game in 1995, originally launching as an online bookstore. Since then, it has grown into the massive e-commerce marketplace we all know today.
Google’s massive influence
We can’t talk about the internet’s history without mentioning Google’s enormous impact.
In 1998, what would become the world’s biggest search engine was launched with the goal of making it easier to find specific information online.
With countless new websites popping up every day, it quickly became clear that the old search engines—which manually indexed information—were no longer sustainable.
Google introduced a groundbreaking solution by crawling and indexing websites at a speed and level of automation never seen before.
Since 1998, a lot has changed. Algorithms now determine how websites are ranked, giving rise to the entire field of SEO, which has become a livelihood for many.
Google’s algorithms continue to evolve, creating a constant need for experts who can navigate and adapt to them in order to build effective SEO strategies.
The 2000s gave users a voice
In 2001, Wikipedia was launched—one of the first major online encyclopedias that left a lasting impact on the availability of information online.
What made Wikipedia unique was that users were allowed to edit and update the content themselves, keeping the platform free from overarching organizational control.
Fast forward to 2003, WordPress was launched, giving users the ability to create their own blogs and websites.
In my view, this was a game-changer, empowering both businesses and individuals with a meaningful voice and presence on the internet.
The next three years turned the internet as we knew it in the ’90s completely on its head.
With the launch of Facebook in 2004, YouTube in 2005, and Twitter in 2006, the average internet user was suddenly handed a global megaphone.
These platforms—just a few among many social media giants—still play a huge role in our daily lives today and have opened up exciting new avenues for e-commerce businesses.
The internet today
A lot has changed since the early days of the internet back in 1969, when access was reserved for governments and authorities.
A 2021 statistic showed that 95% of people in Denmark between the ages of 16 and 74 were using the internet.
The internet has become universally accessible, and with the massive rise of social media, there are virtually no limits to the information we can now find and share online.
Social media continues to grow rapidly, and the rise of new platforms—most recently TikTok—means the landscape is constantly evolving with new voices and rules to navigate.
What does the future hold?
If you ask me, we’re going to see a lot more AI on the internet in the future.
We’ve already seen how tools like ChatGPT are changing the way we search for information.
With Bing and Google gradually integrating language models into their search engines, I believe this is just the beginning—and we can expect to see much more of it going forward.
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